Happy Feet Two

Happy Feet Two ~ I read a synopsis in the newspaper of this movie well after I had seen it. The synopsis made sense, a hell of a lot more sense than the film itself, and I wish I'd read it beforehand. Maybe Happy Feet Two should have had a narrator, or one of those long scrolling intros like in Star Wars - if only to remind the writers what it was about, because it felt like they were forgetting every ten minutes.

This was a sore disappointment as the original was so good and so emotional. It's almost as if director and co-writer George Miller had forgotten everything about the first Happy Feet. When the film is on point, it's about Mumble (Elijah Wood) having fatherhood troubles, but oddly enough, based on his coloring, as opposed to his size, Mumble isn't even an adult yet. I guess it's a trademark thing, but it was very distracting.

I liked the addition of P!nk and Common, but couldn't help wondering where Hugh Jackman and Brittany Murphy were. Hank Azaria manages to be more annoying than Robin Williams here, a feat to be sure. Although, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon come very close to taking the annoying crown as krill who have very little to do with any of the plots, sub or otherwise.

There are several other annoying and seemingly pointless subplots thrown in as well as a baseball bat beating of ecological messaging, which even the thoroughly green first film didn't do. The music and the CGI animation are still top rate and worth seeing, but all the other little irritating stuff ruined the flick for me. I also didn't care for the original songs. I couldn't help but think that when "Glee" started doing new music over covers, they jumped the shark.

Wait for DVD or free TV, it's not worth the theatre experience. Except if you want to see the cartoon before the movie, then definitely put out the cash. It's a Warner Bros. Looney Tunes classic, "I Tawt I Taw A Puddy Tat," featuring Sylvester and Tweety, that was originally done for a record back in the 1940s - so it has Mel Blanc and June Foray's voice work - and animated with today's technology. This is amazing, the movie not so much.