Just like the first Happy Feet, the second installment begins as wholesome family fun with toe-tapping renditions of popular music. But then once you let your guard down it becomes a human hating ode to environmentalism. In case you haven’t seen the films, I’ll let you know that it turns out that all humans stink. Maybe I should take a step back for a minute.
The film follows Mumble (Elijah Wood) and his son Erik (Ava Acres,) as they try and help save all the emperor penguins from being trapped in a giant crevice. With help from Ramon (Robin Williams) and a mysterious flying penguin (Hank Azaria) they try a number of ways to get all of the penguins out, but it proves quite difficult.
With themes centered on being unique and overcoming your fears, Happy Feet Two does well speaking to the malleable minds of a child audience. That is until we get the oil tanker involved. Don’t get me wrong, oil spills are a tremendous ordeal and I wish they never occurred, but a song and dance number about it is completely unnecessary. In addition to that, there is a significant dig at humans eating meat even though penguins eat fish. Apparently fish don’t count? Then when humans actually do try to help in the film they are depicted as uninterested quitters. You don’t put these things in a film advertised as cartoon penguins singing Justin Timberlake.
If you are able to block out the overt political messages long enough, then Happy Feet Two is funny for both kids and adults. Williams and Azaria carry the comedic weight throughout, but small roles from Common and Sophia Vergara also work well. And I almost completely forgot about the krill played by Brad Pitt and Matt Damon, which really should be a separate movie. They only indirectly interact with the characters and they essentially echo what the rest of the movie is already saying. It’s almost as if the film ran short so they added the krill to pass time. The movie has promise but ends up going too far. (6.3 out of 10)
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