Happy
Feet Two in IMAX 3D
You
can count on one flipper the number of sequels that are better than the
original movie. The Godfather
Part II? Arguable. The Matrix sequels? Eh,
no. The Empire Strikes Back? Definitely. Mad
Max 2? Oh,
yes… Which brings us to Mad Max-director George Miller’s
latest film, Happy Feet Two, the sequel to his enormously successful 2006
cute-dancing-penguin movie, Happy Feet.
Five
years on from the events of Happy Feet, dancing Emperor penguin Mumble (Elijah
Wood) and his mate Gloria are now parents but their chick Erik (Ava Acres) is
definitely a chip off the old block.
Like his father in the first film, Erik’s a little neurotic and lacks
confidence. He’s too scared to
dance and feels like an outcast.
When the other penguins laugh at his ungainly attempts footwork, Erik
does what any self-respecting, cute, juvenile, talking animal in an animated
kids movie would do; he and two friends run away from home, taking with them
Mumble’s motor-mouthed best buddy, Hispanic-penguin Ramon (Robin
Williams).
With
a worried Mumble in hot pursuit, they head for the neighbouring Adelie-land,
home to penguin guru Lovelace (Williams again), Ramon’s Amigos and the Adelie
penguins, where Ramon has convinced them they’ll be accepted for who they
are. Once there, Erik is dazzled
by his new hero, Sven the flying ‘penguin’ (who looks suspiciously like a
puffin and is voiced by Simpsons favourite Hank Azaria) who’s worshipped
like a messiah by the Adelies who practice his feel-good mantra “If you want it, you must will it. If you
will it, it will be yours.”
But
when climate change causes a rogue iceberg to trap Gloria and the Emperors,
cutting them off from the ocean and its fish, threatening them with starvation,
it’s up to Mumble and Erik to save the Emperor nation.
Meanwhile,
two tiny krill, Will (Brad Pitt) and Bill (Matt Damon) just realised they’re at
the bottom of the food chain and set out on a spiritual and philosophical quest
to evolve…
A
kids film that’s actually intelligent as well as exuberant, feel-good fun,
Miller ups the pleasure ante on the original film without softening or dumbing
down the film’s eco-message. While
the colony was under threat before from human overfishing, this time round it’s
global warming and the effects of rapid climate change that endanger the
penguins. In a none-too-subtle but
still effective plea for global cooperation and brotherhood, Mumble and Erik
enlist a host of other Antarctic creatures to help save the colony, everyone
working together for the good of the whole. If the drive of the first film was Mumble’s quest for
identity and battle for acceptance, this time round it’s son Erik who must
rebel and find his way in life while Mumble must prove himself as a father and
win back his son’s love leading to possibly the most naked tugging of
heartstrings in a film this year as Erik adapts Cavardossi’s aria from Tosca into a loving ode to his
father that would make Puccini proud and bring tears to a glass eye.
Visually
the film is stunning, the seductive 3D immersing you in the film’s world of
dazzling snowy vistas and murky ocean depths, and if you see it in IMAX (as I
did at London’s BFI IMAX which boasts the UK’s largest screen) the effect is
jaw-dropping; battalions of penguins dancing around you, swimming in the midst
of a swarm of krill. There’s
nothing quite so joyous as looking around at an audience of under-7s and
watching them duck as a predatory whale glides past overhead, try to catch snow
or reach out and try and pop 3D air bubbles.
The performances
are fantastic with Elijah Wood’s Mumble a credible new parent trying
desperately to relate to his offspring and Ava Acres making Erik as cute and
lovable as he looks while Pink replaces the late Brittany Murphy seamlessly as
Gloria. Williams again pulls
double duty as latin-lover Ramon and laidback Lovelace, breathing life into
these two very different characters but this time he shares comedy duties with
Hank Azaria’s deluded, puffed-up puffin and Pitt and Damon who practically swim
off with the film as the philosophical krill, Will and Bill, who could have
wandered in from a Beckett play.
Pitt’s
Will is a blustering adventurer, gripped by existential crisis when he realises
that he matters little in the grand scheme of things and resolves to move on up
the food chain by becoming a carnivore (“I want to chew on something that has a
face!”), Damon is the sensitive Bill, a timid critter who worships the water
Will swims in. Their homoerotic
bromance and quest to discover their individuality provides both the funniest,
smartest exchanges in the film (“I fear the worst,” says one, the other
replying “I fear the worst too because fearing the best is a complete waste of
time.”) as well as some of the dumbest, corniest krill-based puns (“I’m one in
a krillion!”) ever uttered. Though
they appear to matter little to the tale and seem to be on hand merely to
provide comic relief much as Scrat in Ice Age does, ultimately their intervention is
crucial, cementing Miller’s theme of community.
The
songs are jukebox sing-along fare with a particular highlight being the opening
medley of Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation and Justin Trousersnake’s SexyBack, adapted into something more
child and penguin friendly as a troop of fluffy penguin chicks sing “I’m bringing
fluffy back,” while regiments of Emperor penguins dance their flippers off, the
hesitant Erik an oasis of stillness while the employment of Queen and David
Bowie’s Under Pressure leads to a soaring, chest-swelling climax.
Funny,
intelligent and heartwarming, Happy Feet Two is the kids film to beat this
Christmas.
David Watson
Director
George Miller
Cast
Elijah Wood, Ava Acres, Pink, Robin Williams, Brad Pitt,
Matt Damon, Hank Azaria, Anthony La Paglia, Common, Hugo Weaving.
Country
Australia
Running time
99 minutes
Year
2011
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