“There’s plenty of reasons to dance.” “What’s mine, Pa?” That’s Mumble (voiced by Elijah Wood), the master of tap dance in the penguin world, trying to convince his son, Erik, to join in on the fun but finding out the hard way that his son has zero dancing talent in the 3-D animated film, Happy Feet Two.
After being laughed at by most of the crowd, Erik runs away with his two best friends and meets up with Ramon (Robin Williams) who is heading back to his own tribe of penguins. Not long after arriving, Ramon and the boys are introduced to the Mighty Sven (Hank Azaria), a penguin who can fly! Stunned and amazed by his soaring ability, Erik sees Sven as his hero and dreams of soaring up into the sky himself.
Hot on their trail is Mumble who waddles into Sven’s big flying show and is not happy about Erik running away or about the charismatic Sven’s influence on his son. To make matters even worse, powerful forces shake the penguin’s Arctic world and trap almost the entire clan of Emperor Penguins. What used to be their home is now their prison with no way out. So it’s up to Mumble to bring together the penguin nations, as well as giant Elephant Seals and tiny Krill, to work together and find a way to set the imprisoned penguins free.
Fun, colorful, and bright, Happy Feet Two is an animated musical adventure that accomplishes something very rare for a sequel…it matches the original film. Elijah Wood returns effectively as the voice of everyone’s favorite penguin, Mumble, and Robin Williams doesn’t miss a beat returning to voice Ramon, the penguin who is forever seeking love, and the wise Barry White-sounding penguin, Lovelace.
Hank Azaria joins the cast as the voice of the mighty flying Sven with just the right goofiness and charm. Perhaps the best addition to the film though are the vocal talents of Brad Pitt as Will the Krill, determined to work his way up the food chain and become a predator, and Matt Damon as the voice of Bill the Krill, his buddy who is terrified of everything in the ocean.
The film has sharp writing with plenty of laugh-out-loud humor and a few sweet and touching scenes that work beautifully. It also has an original plot focusing not just on the dancing, singing, and the classic old tale of fitting in but creating the threat to the penguin world and what being a real hero is all about.
The 3D animation works wonderfully in the film, adding real depth to the ocean scenes both above and under the water as well as the flying scenes with Sven and when the trapped penguins try in vain to fly out of their prison.
Cute, charming, and funny, Happy Feet Two is a crowd-pleasing, toe-tapping, family-friendly, worthy adventure that will have both adults and children cheering and rooting for the penguins and their friends.
GRADE: B
Happy Feet Two hits theaters on November 18, 2011 and is rated PG for some rude humor and mild peril.
