The soundtrack is, if anything, more obnoxious this time around (instead of Prince, Boyz II Men and Elvis, we get Justin Timberlake, Pink and Wham), but at least the filmmakers have the minimal sense to sanitize the lyrics - for instance: “Get your fluffy on” instead of “Get your sexy on.” (Compare that to lines like “I just need your body, baby, from dusk till dawn” in the original.) (No, I’m not kidding.)įor what it’s worth, none of these caveats is quite as much of an issue in the sequel. I think it highly overrated, a lumpy coming-of-age tale soured by inappropriately racy lyrics, explicitly anti-religious/authority/tradition themes, and a coy homosexual subtext. The Oscar-winning original Happy Feet, about an Emperor penguin named Mumble (voiced by Elijah Wood) whose tuneful colony was slow to accept his tap-dancing ways, is fondly remembered by many for its singing and dancing penguins. It’s nothing I would consider for my own children. It’s also worth noting that the animation is far more spectacular this time around. In its penguin protagonist, now a father with a chick of his own, the sequel has one of the most positive animated father figures in recent memory, along with Pixar’s Marlin from Finding Nemo and Bob Parr from The Incredibles. Happy Feet Two does offer moments of comfort, humor and redemption.
Not that Happy Feet Two is a horror show equivalent to the movie I like to call Babe: With a Vengeance, where the heartache was almost uninterrupted from beginning to end.