Mumbles (Wood) is all grown up, and now has offspring of his own to worry and fret about. And worry and fret about him he does. Until he discovers that his entire colony of penguins – included his missus (now voiced by Pink, given that Brittany Murphy is no longer with us) - have, after a glacial shift or two, ended up trapped in what can only be described as a valley of death. Surely Mumbles will be able to save them? But what’s this, there’s a flock of seagulls intent on eating the penguins’ young ‘uns! And the concerted rescue attempt by a passing trawler crew has to be abandoned because of heavy snows! And Mumbles has probably got cancer, and doesn’t know it yet!
THE VERDICT: A sequel that, just like its 2006 predecessor, is a kiddie cartoon that’s far more Stanley Kubrick than it is Walt Disney, Happy Feet Two is another dose of existential angst wrapped up in a winter wonderland of furry critters and ethnic stereotypes. This is Frozen Planet as directed by Roland Emmerich and produced by Simon Cowell, as each new threat of death and distinction is met with yet another gospel-fueled cover of an r’n’b power ballad. Only this particular Glee club has very little to be gleeful about.
The darkness is all down to writer/director George Miller, an Australian doctor-turned-filmmaker whose obsession with death and destruction gave us the Mad Max trilogy. And that sick and twisted Babe sequel, Pig In The City. As with Rango, this is another middle-aged, cynical, stoner filmmaker toying with the mainstream, throwing up another poison slushie for the idiot masses. Still, it sure looks pretty.
Review by Paul Byrne