Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Happy Feet Two (2011)

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 11-18-2011, 10:28 AM:

I will confess up front that I wasn't looking forward to this one. I don't remember much about the original Happy Feet and I don't like rap music, especially when performed in "speeded-up" voices by cartoon characters. I also find Robin Williams annoying in the extreme when he's doing some goofy foreign accent.

But I'll focus on the good stuff first, and that's the animation. It's amazing. It's really a wonder to behold, all these massive crowd scenes, and beautiful snow and water and ice renderings. The human characters, seen only briefly, are not animated (I don't think, at least) and are integrated amazingly into the animated landscapes. I can't imagine the amount of work that must have gone into this.

The use of the 3D is very good, but this movie will look better in 2-D because of the bright white snow scenes.

All the animation wonderment, however, can't make up for the crappy story, annoying voices, parade-of-80s-hits-medley musical numbers and overall schlocky cashing-in feel of the movie as a whole.

The absolute nadir comes near the end when little Eric (son of the main character, Mumble) has to save the day by singing a pleading song to a stubborn walrus-like character named Bryan the Beachmaster (he's not a walrus but I forget what he is). I hereby nominate this song for the worst performance in the history of animated movies. Really, I would prefer a multiple root canal than have to endure listening to this screeching mess for the next two weeks. For the first time I find myself wishing I could NOT hear the sound of the theatre from my office.

Another thing I found myself getting tired of was the dual characters of Bill and Will, who are a couple of krill (whatever that is). They are clearly meant to be this movie's version of Scrat from the Ice Age movies -- two being better than one, except that's not true in this case. They're not funny, and they pop up too often. The best thing about their segments is the animation, which is among the best of the movie.

I think the kids will enjoy this because it moves along briskly -- thank God it's only 90 minutes. Adults will be another story; my wife, who usually loves cute-animal flicks, kept falling asleep, which is another sign it's a bad movie. Myself, I kept making mental comparisons to "The Lion King" which we played two months ago, with its great story, memorable songs and real emotion, none of which this movie has.

The main film is preceded by another one of those modern-era Looney Tunes-type shorts. This is easily the best part of the whole show. Kudos to Warner Bros. for taking a page out of the Disney playbook and giving the people an extra bonus for their moviegoing bucks.

For the cartoon, the filmmakers simultaneously saved a lot of money and improved the film by using an old song recorded by classic voice artists Mel Blanc and June Foray, creating the animation to fit the song. It captures the spirit of the classic Looney Tunes and stays true to the characters, unlike the recent Road Runner shorts. We laughed out loud several times, which is something I can't say about the main feature.

"Happy Feet Two:"
Animation: 4.5 out of 5
Movie as a whole: 1 out of 5

Cartoon:
3.5 out of 5

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 11-19-2011, 10:27 PM:

Really makes you wonder when movie makers are going to get a good story to make a movie with instead of covering up a lousy story and plot with all the sugar coated, over loaded eye candy created by the filmmaking..

Saw 10 min of this thing and that was enough - originality was gone, lots of thin this and that...

C'om, George Miller: You made great "Mad Max" movies and earlier children's fliks, et.al. ... time to get Gibson and make another "Mad Max" movie...

1 out of 5 for me.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 11-20-2011, 10:13 PM:

quote: Mike Blakesley
The absolute nadir comes near the end when little Eric (son of the main character, Mumble) has to save the day by singing a pleading song

I found out by reading a review that the song I mentioned here is actually based on an opera by Puccini. That goes a long way to explaining why I hated it so much.

Posted by Frank Cox (Member # 6258) on 11-20-2011, 10:57 PM:

So you know it's over when the fat penguin sings?

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 11-30-2011, 10:03 PM:

It's over after tonight's show for us. We had zero people last night. Talk about a fast fade. A pretty good 2nd weekend though.