Happy Feet Two

Critic Reviews

For all the noise and flapping, the movie, like its heroes, remains flightless.

Happy Feet was one of the greatest and most original animated films, but the sequel can't even decide what it's about for the first 40 minutes.

-Kyle SmithFull Review

We get a feeling we've seen it all before.

-Linda BarnardFull Review

The gotta-move protagonist of the first animated, Antarctica-set feature -- a misfit young Emperor penguin named Mumble -- returns for the sequel. Only this time he's all grown up... and a lot less fun.

-Michael O'SullivanFull Review

The film reminds viewers young and old that to make a positive change, sometimes the little guy at the bottom of the food chain needs to stomp his feet.

-Jennie PunterFull Review

Other than commercially, more is less in this antic, not so funny sequel to the 2006 blockbuster.

-Todd McCarthyFull Review

The disjointed, undercooked sequel to the Oscar-winning 2006 hit aims to tell life lessons and celebrate pop music, but this would-be toe-tapper is curiously out of step.

-Adam GrahamFull Review

Much like its Oscar-winning predecessor, the story focuses on lads and dads, though there are strong mama figures and daughters, too.

-Lisa KennedyFull Review

Follows in the original's footsteps on a more reasonable scale while sparing audiences an emotional ambush.

-William GossFull Review

It's hard to resist dancing penguins, but "Happy Feet Two" may make you want to try.

-Kenneth TuranFull Review

The movie's bereftness of invention can be measured by how no story element builds on another. Instead, "Happy Feet Two" is plotted so that a bunch of disparate things happen, until it's time to end the movie.

-Mick LaSalleFull Review

97 minutes of nonstop joy.

-Richard CorlissFull Review

It's hard to resist a children's movie where two comic krill named Will and Bill toss off a reference to existential angst one minute and make really bad wordplays, as in "Goodbye, krill world" and "one in a krillion," the next.

-Nancy ChurninFull Review

For a computer-animated movie about dancing penguins, it's surprisingly leaden. Not even the impressive voice talent can rev up this clumsy spectacle.

-Full Review

Like father, like son; like Disney, like everyone else. And like first movie, like sequel.

-Manohla DargisFull Review

If it weren't for the comic relief provided by Will and Bill, tiny shrimplike crustaceans known as krill and voiced by Brad Pitt and Matt Damon, this would be a forbidding return to Antarctica indeed.

-Michael PhillipsFull Review

It's familiar enough not to spook fans of the (highly profitable) first, but Happy Feet Two branches out beyond prefab coming-of-age stories and gimmicky pop-song set pieces.

-Sam AdamsFull Review

Centuries from now, cultural historians will look at "Happy Feet Two'' and ask one question: What the heck were they smoking?

-Ty BurrFull Review

The animation remains impressive, and there are some very funny moments, courtesy of the talented cast. But fans of the original will want to lower their expectations.

-Elizabeth WeitzmanFull Review

Happy Feet 2 may not be blazing a trail as smoothly and distinctively as the original film did... but you and your kids will find it a pleasant enough journey.

-James RocchiFull Review

Miller makes nice, subtle points about interdependence on earth. Meanwhile, the earthmates in Happy Feet Two continue to dance, sing, and, yes, charm.

-Lisa SchwarzbaumFull Review

The original won an Oscar for best animated film. I wouldn't hold out the same hopes for the sequel.

-Bill GoodykoontzFull Review

Aside from novel and smart uses of 3D effects, the new movie is largely a bore, all but sidelining Williams and straining to offset the monotony of a protracted rescue story with the sour misadventures of a pair of fussy krill.

-Tom KeoghFull Review

For me, "Happy Feet Two" is pretty thin soup.

-Roger EbertFull Review

Has absolutely everything except the light touch required for unaffected charm -- the mugging is savage -- a single piece of memorable original music, or a production number that's celebratory rather than trampling.

-Nick PinkertonFull Review

Though it retains the buoyant musical stylings and splendid visuals that made its predecessor so distinctive, this chatterbox of a sequel loses its way with a raft of annoying side characters.

-Justin ChangFull Review

"Happy Feet Two" is to 2006's "Happy Feet" what "Babe: Pig in the City" was to "Babe," a clever and adorable original film remade with most of the charm wrung out of it.

-Roger MooreFull Review

Sticks to the formula of the original while adding enough variety to give it a life of its own.

-David GermainFull Review

Happy Feet Two is a fun uplifting family flick that accomplishes exactly what it sets out to do.

-Amy CurtisFull Review

"Happy Feet Two" is to 2006's "Happy Feet" what "Babe: Pig in the City" was to "Babe," a clever and adorable original film remade with most of the charm wrung out of it.

-Roger MooreFull Review

More Critic Reviews

Critics

45%

Audience

61%

Critic Reviews