There was a time when penguins were the silver screen’s hottest birds — or coolest chicks, if you want to be climactically correct — with movies such as Surf’s Up, Happy Feet, March of the Penguins , and Madagascar . With Mr Popper’s Penguins and with Happy Feet 2 , will 2011 be seen as the start of the Second Penguin Wave?
One hopes not, if only judging by Happy Feet 2 (in 3D), in which director/co-scriptwriter George Miller sneakily enlists the services of some gorgeous animated fluffballs — baby penguins — as a distraction to mask the fact that the sequel has no reason for existence, or a coherent story.
Happy Feet , on the other hand, which won the 2006 Oscar for best animated feature, had a quirky storyline that was as clearly articulated as the tap dance-moves of Mumble, a daringly individualistic penguin who dances rather than sings.
In part deux, dancing Emperor penguins have become the norm in Antarctica. Mumble (voiced by Elijah Wood) is now a daddy, having to deal with the self-actualisation problems of baby son Erik (voiced by Ava Acres) who is uninterested in dancing. “There are plenty of reasons to dance,” says Mumble encouragingly, to which Erik counters “What’s mine, pa?”
Also returning from the original are Adelie penguins Ramon and Lovelace (both voiced by Robin Williams). Ramon had thrown in his lot with the Emperor penguins, but unable to find a soul mate, decides to return to his tribe. Wee Erik and friends slip off with him, in search of some adventure.
Mumble chases after, and returns with, the young runaways — to find that earth tremors have shifted the landscape, so that the Emperor penguin colony is trapped by an encircling wall of ice. If global warming is the subtext here, a cautionary tale about faux motivational speakers resonates in the character of The Mighty Sven (voiced by Hank Azaria), who is both a “penguin” who can fly and self-help guru. Sven’s mantra — “If you want it, you must will it. If you will it, it will be yours” — has little Erik convinced he too can fly.
Which brings us to the father-son theme, and Mumble’s need to reassert himself as the heroic father figure in the light of Erik’s infatuation with Sven. Meanwhile, tough-talking elephant seal Bryan the Beachmaster (Richard Carter) is the unlikely vehicle to air ideas about team spirit.
There’s more: comic relief, as provided by a pair of krill called Will and Bill (voiced by Brad Pitt and Matt Damon) who are trying to reshape their destiny from bottom-rung inhabitants of the food chain to predators.
Lots of potentially interesting storylines and characters — who unfortunately intersect with the main event of “Rescue the trapped penguins” to no coherent end, resulting in much muddled story-telling.
Penguins performing synchronised dances to Janet Jackson’s ‘Rhythm Nation’, a stunning voice cast, gorgeous icy landscapes, and a healthy dose of self-discovery — on paper everything about Happy Feet 2 looks golden. On screen, the gloss is seen to be tarnished.
Happy Feet 2
Genre: Animation/Family entertainment
Director: George Miller
Voiced by: Elijah Wood, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Robin Williams, Hank Azaria
Storyline: Penguins, and other Antarctic creatures, unite to save the penguins
Bottomline: Middling, muddled sequel
