Review of Happy Feet Two (2011) by Michael M — 11 Jun 2013

I had a lot of problems with the first Happy Feet movie. Don't get me wrong, I loved the idea of it, but I found thought the execution was slow and unnecessarily dark.

This one is more like what I wanted to see in the first one. It's even more gorgeous than the first, funnier than the first, and the musical numbers are bigger and more impressive than the first. Not only that, but it fixes virtually every problem I had with the first. There's still an environmental message, but it's handled with much more grace and subtlety and ends up being more effective. There's also a message about the power of the individual, and other general human themes, that are all handled with the grace to be done effectively. It gets serious at times, but never to an extent where it just becomes unpleasant like in the first one. The serious moments work because they aren't hammered in, and they feel genuine. The characters are genuine, and their motives understandable. There are characters who could be considered the antagonists, but they're motives and behavior are still understandable and even sympathetic. Even the dialogue feels genuine! These characters are more human than most human characters in film.

It has its faults to be sure, the biggest one being that it tries to cram a lot of plot elements in and doesn't always do so gracefully. There are some plot points that go nowhere, or are just forgotten about. For as great as the dialogue and characters work, the overall story suffers somewhat. Even though it doesn't have the smoothest plot, and it can drag a little now and then, it's still a way better movie than I expected. The philosophical dialogue might be a bit heavy for younger viewers, but I really dug it. The movie is gorgeous, beautifully directed, and has some surprising depth.