Title: Happy Feet Two Director: George Miller Starring: Elijah Wood, Robin Williams, Hank Azaria, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Alecia Moore (P!nk), Sofia Vergara, Common, Hugo Weaving, Richard Carter, Magda Szubanski, Anthony LaPaglia Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures Genre(s): Musical Rated:       (For some rude humor and mild peril)

CONSUMER ADVICE

Parents, with the exeption of a joke involving a urinating penguin I see nothing too wrong with this. Recommended for ages 5 and up.

If you find a movie this year that has scenes cuter than “Happy Feet Two,” you need to show me because I don't believe you. The sequel to the Oscar-winning “Happy Feet,” “Happy Feet Two” looks just as good as the previous film and has some awe-inspiring scenes of beauty. Kids enjoy the musical numbers because they're fun, while adults get a kick of the choice of songs (tell me you don't smile when a bunch of penguins sing and dance along with Queen's “Under Pressure”). Where the sequel fails, I think, is that the storyline is much less compelling but tried to be more epic than the previous film. However, many people found the simple storyline of the previous film to be its greatest strength.

Everyone could relate to Mumbles (Elijah Wood) dilemma of feeling different and wanting to impress the girl that seemed way out of his league. That it told a simple story with great music and animation elevated it for many people (myself included). “Happy Feet Two” has a convoluted story though, where almost the entire penguin colony gets trapped in a ditch surrounded by ice. How does this happen? Global warming, I suspect, though it's not mentioned by named since penguins don't know what global warming is. Neither do most kids, I assume, so I wonder if this story element is going to confuse them more than anything. Never mind.

This is the main storyline, but for some reason director George Miller seems to think this isn't enough to carry the movie. He also throws in Latino penguin Ramon (Robin Williams) wanting a wife, two krill looking for the meaning of life (and discovering it in each…never mind), a flying penguin called “The Mighty Sven” (Hank Azaria) who preaches a type of self-help spirituality (those who've read “The Secret” will have a clue to what I'm talking about), and…yeah folks, it's all over the place. I'm not sure if all of these storylines are neccisary. Cut the krill sequences out, and I'd at least give the film three stars.

As it is though, “Happy Feet Two” is at least four amazing movie sequences surrounded by a movie that is confusing and not as much fun on the whole as it should be. I expect kids to enjoy themselves for most of it. I think most parents will even be able to enjoy some of musical numbers that are so good they are comparable to some of the musical numbers from the classic “West Side Story.” Again though, when I added it all up, I was bored more than I was entertained. With the upcoming “Hugo,” “Arthur Christmas,” and “The Muppets” all being released next week, I expect “Happy Feet Two” dance of victory to be short lived. If you're on a budget, re-watch the first movie on DVD and see one of the above mentioned films instead.

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