Happy Feet Two

Happy Feet Two is a 2011 computer-animated musical comedy film directed, produced and co-written by George Miller. It is the sequel to the 2006 film Happy Feet, and features an ensemble voice cast that includes Ava Acres, Elijah Wood, Hank Azaria, Robin Williams, Sofia Vergara, P!nk, Meibh Campbell, Lil' P-Nut, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Common, Hugo Weaving, Richard Carter, Magda Szubanski, and Anthony LaPaglia. In this movie, Erik, the son of Mumble and Gloria, must stop the Apocalypse of Antarctica.

Happy Feet Two
Theatrical release poster
Directed byGeorge Miller
Produced by
Written by
Starring
Music byJohn Powell
Cinematography
  • David Dulac
  • David Peers
Edited byChristian Gazal
Production
company
Distributed by
Release date
  • November 18, 2011 (2011-11-18) (United States)
  • December 26, 2011 (2011-12-26) (Australia)
Running time
100 minutes
Country
  • Australia
  • United States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$135 million[2]
Box office$150.4 million[3]

Kennedy Miller Mitchell and Dr. D Studios[4] from Sydney, Australia, produced the film, which premiered in North American theaters on November 18, 2011 in Digital 3D and IMAX 3D. The film was released with an attached 3D Looney Tunes short entitled I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat, based on the 40s children's song of the same name, starring Sylvester and Tweety, with archival recordings by the legendary Mel Blanc.[5] Another Looney Tunes short, Daffy's Rhapsody, starring Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd, was supposed to premiere with the film, but was switched in production. That short instead premiered with Journey 2: The Mysterious Island in 2012. The film received mixed reviews and grossed just $150 million against its $135 million budget, becoming a box office bomb which resulted in the closure of Miller's Dr. D Studios.[6]

Plot

Erik, son of the penguins Mumble and Gloria, is unable to dance like the other penguins. Erik and his two best friends, Bodicea and Atticus, follow Ramón to Adélie-Land and find that Adélie-Land has been ruled by a puffin con artist named the Mighty Sven, who survived the loss of his native fishing grounds due to his "miraculous" ability to fly and hired Lovelace the Rockhopper as his partner. Sven and Lovelace choose Erik to stop Antarctica's destruction, causing the other penguins to deem him as a demigod. They then proceed to tell the others that they were saved by humans. The two eventually flee (under Sven's mistaken assumption that the humans were going to eat them) and end up on Antarctica, where Sven performs his first miracle by revealing moss to the local penguins. Sven uses his power of "Sven Think" to help Ramón find a mate. Ramón instantly falls in love with Carmen, another Adélie penguin who is uninterested. After Mumble orders the chicks to return to Emperor-Land to no avail, Sven sends Erik back to Emperor-Land with Mumble.

Meanwhile, a couple of krill are in the midst of a swarm. Will is an adventurous and existentialist krill determined to discover what lies beyond the swarm. His implied partner, Bill, reluctantly follows him to ensure his safety. Once separated from the swarm, Will and Bill realize that krill are at the bottom of the food chain and Will ventures out to evolve and "move up the food chain" by eating a real creature.

Mumble tells Erik that he is unique to the world and that he will someday find his calling, but Erik is oblivious. While trying to cross a perilous ice bridge, the penguins encounter Elephant Seal Bryan the Beach Master and his two young sons, who refuse to let the penguins pass. After Bryan is trapped below the ice. Mumble sets out to free Bryan by luring a leopard seal to chase him down. Seeking acceptance from Erik, Mumble is devastated to learn Erik attributed the feat of courage to Sven Think. Bryan returns to the southern elephant seal beach.

When the penguins return to Emperor-Land they discover that a large iceberg has trapped the emperor penguin population below large walls of ice. Bodicea plans to go to Adélie-Land to get the Amigos and the Adélie penguins to bring fish to the doomed Emperor penguins. Meanwhile, Mumble, Erik and Atticus deliver meager supplies of fish to the trapped penguins. Erik attempts to deliver a fish to Gloria by flying and nearly tossing himself over the edge of the iceberg. Mumble tells Erik that no penguin can fly and that none of the emperor penguins will be able to escape. Gloria sends Mumble off to hunt for fish, calming Erik and the rest of the hysterical Emperor-Land. In the process, Bill becomes inspired to create another swarm of krill but Will prefers to adhere to his new predator lifestyle.

The next morning, a large flock of skua attack the trapped Emperor-Land. Noah the Elder encourages the penguins unite and fight the birds. When all hope seems lost, Bo returns with the entire Adélie-Land, led by Sven, to aid the trapped emperor penguins. Sven orchestrates a cooperative effort to feed the trapped emperor penguins through hunting and bringing back a flow of fish from the sea. Meanwhile, Will becomes increasingly agitated with Bill's behavior and leaves him into the Adélie feeding swarm, to join "fellow predators". In the process he is attached to a fish carried by Sven and down into the trapped Emperor-Land.

The humans who saved Sven and Lovelace come to Antarctica again to help the penguins find a way out. However, a blizzard approaches and causes the humans to flee. Erik urges Sven to teach the penguins how to fly, but Sven reveals that he is not a penguin but a Tufted puffin. Mumble, after watching snow fall into a crevice between chunks of iceberg, begins to tap-dance on the ice and lead the Adélie penguins in a dance to force snow between the ice and weaken it. The plan works until several chunks break loose, sending Bo, Atticus, and a portion of the Adélies as well as several chinstrap, little blue and Magellanic penguins into the doomed crevice. Erik and Lovelace tumble towards the edge, and Mumble grabs the thread from Lovelace's vest. The thread snaps and Lovelace falls on Sven. Mumble and the Amigos pull on the thread that Erik is holding onto and pull him up but Mumble injures his foot, unable to dance and lead the Adélies. Ramón realizes Carmen is trapped below and, risking his own life, jumps off the iceberg to be with her and professes their love to each other. Sven becomes aware of the dancing and proves himself to be a worthy dancer despite public outcry against him. He leads the remaining Adélies in dance while Erik and Mumble venture off to the elephant seal beach. Meanwhile, Will went back in search of Bill and reunited with all others.

Mumble and Erik arrive at Elephant Seal Beach where Bryan is in the middle of a fight of dominance between another large male. Mumble pleads to the elephant seals to help free the emperor penguins. Hesitant to return a favor at such a pivotal time of the year, Bryan declines. Using his singing abilities, Erik commends Mumble for his bravery and lectures Bryan for his lack of kindness. The elephant seals travel en-masse to Emperor-Land. The emperor penguins and the seals begin slamming the ice to the beat of Queen's "Under Pressure", joined by Will, Bill, their krill swarm, the Amigos, Carmen, Lovelace and the newly-reformed Sven. Finally, the iceberg crumbles enough for the emperor penguins to climb out of the crevice and reunite with their families.

Cast
Robin Williams, who voiced Ramon and Lovelace, at the film's Australian premiere in Sydney

Live action cast featured Septimus Caton as the guitarist and Ivan Vunich as the beanie man.

Production
Director George Miller at the film's Australian premiere in Sydney

Elijah Wood, Robin Williams, Magda Szubanski and Hugo Weaving reprised their previous performances as Mumble, Ramón, Lovelace, Ms. Viola and Noah. Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman make a brief cameo as Norma Jean and Memphis. Also returning for the film are Carlos Alazraqui, Johnny A. Sanchez, Lombardo Boyar and Jeffrey Garcia as Nestor, Lombardo, Raul, and Rinaldo.[14] No other actors repeated their earlier performances. Miriam Margolyes didn't come back for the sequel as Mrs Astrakhan before she was written out of the sequel. Fat Joe was replaced by Common as Seymour.

Brittany Murphy, who originally voiced Mumble's love interest Gloria, was set to reprise her role and scheduled to begin recording some time in 2010,[15] but died from pneumonia and anemia on December 20, 2009. Steve Irwin, who voiced Trev the elephant seal and an albatross, died of a stingray injury on September 4, 2006. P!nk replaced Murphy's roles (P!nk had already contributed a song "Tell Me Something Good" to the soundtrack of the first film). Brad Pitt and Matt Damon voiced the tiny krill, Will and Bill.[16][17] Hank Azaria also signed on to voice The Mighty Sven.[18] E.G. Daily, who played young Mumble in the previous film, played the vocals for Mumble's choreophobic son Erik and the daughter of Miss Viola, Boadicea, as well as additional voices. Sofía Vergara appears in the film as a new character.[19] There is a live action scene in the movie as in the first Happy Feet.[20] Mitchell Hicks signed up as the movie's choreographer.[21]

Release

Home media

The DVD, Blu-ray, and 3D Blu-ray release of Happy Feet Two were released on March 13, 2012 from Warner Home Video.[22]

Reception

Box office

The film grossed $64 million in the United States along with $86 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $150.4 million.[3] Produced on a budget of $135 million,[2] the film ended up losing the studio around $40 million.[23]

On its opening weekend, Happy Feet Two earned $21,237,068 while playing on 3,606 screens.[3] This was barely half of the $41,533,432 that the first Happy Feet made on its opening weekend in November 2006. Approximately 50% of Happy Feet Two's box-office take came from the 2,825 screens that showed it in 3D.[24] Thus, when adjusted for ticket price inflation, Happy Feet Two achieved less than 45% of the attendance figures of its predecessor. Major box-office prediction websites were almost unanimously predicting an opening weekend of $35 million - $45 million, so Happy Feet Two's box-office performance has thus far been underwhelming. Among 2011's animated films, Happy Feet Two's opening weekend ranks 8th. Kurt Orzeck of the Vancouver Sun has reported that "due to the poor performance of Happy Feet Two, 600 of the 700 employees at the Sydney-based Dr. D. Studios, the digital production studio behind the animated movie, have reportedly received their walking papers."[25]

Critical response

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 45% based on 120 reviews, with an average rating of 5.48/10. The website's consensus reads, "The animation is as eye-popping as ever, but Happy Feet Two's narrative is too noisily incoherent to recapture the Oscar-winning charm of its predecessor."[26] On Metacritic the film has a score of 50 out of 100 based on reviews from 35 critics.[27] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.[28]

Richard Corliss of Time gave the film a positive review and said that Miller is "not content to duplicate the pleasures of his first penguin film; he dares to go bigger, deeper, higher — happier."[29] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film two-and-a-half stars (out of four) stating that "The animation is bright and attractive, the music gives the characters something to do, but the movie has too much dialogue in the areas of philosophy and analysis."[30] British newspaper The Telegraph named Happy Feet Two one of the ten worst films of 2011, saying "Happy Feet Two is an appalling 3D animated sequel about a colony of all‑singin', all-dancin', all-infuriatin' penguins."[31]

Accolades
AwardCategoryRecipientResult
Central Ohio Film Critics Association Awards Actor of the Year Brad Pitt (also for The Tree of Life and Moneyball) Nominated
Houston Film Critics Society Awards Best Animated Film Nominated
San Diego Film Critics Society Awards Best Animated Film Nominated
Satellite Awards Best Original Song "Bridge of Light" by P!nk and Billy Mann Nominated

Video game

Happy Feet Two: The Video Game, released November 8, 2011, was developed by KMM Games for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii. WayForward Technologies developed the Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo DS versions.,[32] published by Warner Bros.

Soundtrack
Happy Feet Two
Soundtrack album by
John Powell
ReleasedNovember 15, 2011
Recorded2011
GenreScore
Length73:00
LabelWaterTower Music, Atlantic
ProducerJohn Powell
John Powell film scores chronology
Kung Fu Panda 2
(2011)		 Happy Feet Two
(2011)		 The Lorax
(2012)
Singles from Happy Feet Two
  1. "Bridge of Light"
    Released: December 2, 2011

The soundtrack album for the film was released by WaterTower Music on CD on November 21, 2011 and on iTunes on November 15, 2011. Unlike the previous film's two album releases—one for its songs and one for its score—both the songs and John Powell's score are included on this album. The songs "Happy Feet Two Opening Medley," "Bridge of Light," and "Under Pressure/Rhythm Nation" are led by P!nk, who lends her vocals to the character Gloria, taking the place of Brittany Murphy from the first film.

  1. "Happy Feet Two Opening Medley" – P!nk, Common, Lil' P-Nut, & the Happy Feet Two Chorus
  2. "The Mighty Sven" – Robin Williams, Hank Azaria, and the Happy Feet Two Chorus
  3. "Bridge of Light" – P!nk, featuring the Happy Feet Two Chorus
  4. "Papa Oom Mow Mow" – Happy Feet Two Chorus
  5. "Dragostea Din Tei" – Hank Azaria & the Happy Feet Two Chorus
  6. "Erik's Opera" – E. G. Daily and Omar Crook (based on the Puccini aria "E lucevan le stelle")
  7. "Rawhide" – Elephant Seal Chorus
  8. "Under Pressure/Rhythm Nation" – P!nk, & the Happy Feet Two Chorus (the film version also features Lil' P-Nut, Common, E.G Daily, Robin Williams, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon; that version is only heard in the film) (written by Queen & David Bowie, Janet Jackson, James Harris III, Terry Lewis)
  9. "Tightrope (Ice Cold Mix) [featuring Lil' P-Nut & the Happy Feet Two Chorus]" – Janelle Monáe
  10. "In the Hole" – John Powell
  11. "Ramon and the Krill" – John Powell
  12. "Lovelace Preshow (feat. Judith Hill)" – John Powell
  13. "Searching for the Kids" – John Powell
  14. "The Doomberg Lands" – John Powell
  15. "I Don't Back Up. ... ." – John Powell
  16. "Trapped in Emperor Land" – John Powell
  17. "Skua Attack/Adelie Rescue" – John Powell
  18. "Dinner a la Sven" – John Powell
  19. "We Are the Champions" – John Powell (written by Freddie Mercury)
  20. "Snow Stops Play (feat. Steven Pence)" – John Powell
  21. "No Fly Zone" – John Powell
  22. "Krill Joy" – John Powell
  23. "Tappin' to Freedom" – John Powell

The deluxe edition of the album contains an addition of 5 songs performed by Ozomatli; these songs and more can also be found on the soundtrack for the video game, which was released on iTunes on November 8, 2011.

Charts
Year Chart Peak
2012 Australian ARIA Albums Chart[33] 70

References
  1. "Film - Happy Feet". Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia. Retrieved June 7, 2014.
  2. Kaufman, Amy (November 17, 2011). "Movie Projector: 'Breaking Dawn' to suck life out of 'Happy Feet'". Los Angeles Times. Tribune Company. Retrieved November 17, 2011.
  3. "Happy Feet Two". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved December 15, 2018.
  4. Bullbeck, Pip (October 20, 2011). "From 'Great Gatsby' to 'Happy Feet Two': 7 Hot Movies, Series Coming Out of Australia". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved April 30, 2017.
  5. B. Vary, Adam (November 14, 2011). "Tweety Bird and Sylvester the Cat do battle in new Looney Tunes short -- EXCLUSIVE CLIP". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved May 31, 2014.
  6. Quinn, Karl (May 31, 2013). "Happy feet no longer tapping as animation studio sells up". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved March 21, 2014.
  7. Dargis, Manohla (November 17, 2011). "Happy Feet Two - Review". The New York Times. Retrieved October 13, 2014.
  8. "Another New Character". Trailers.Apple.com. Retrieved June 14, 2011.
  9. "Sofia Vegara's role in Happy Feet Two revealed". News.com.au. June 4, 2011. Retrieved June 14, 2011.
  10. "Happy Feet 2's first look at Pitt, Damon". RTÉ Ten. September 30, 2011. Retrieved October 13, 2011.
  11. "Hugo Weaving's confirmed". CineMovie.tv. Archived from the original on August 13, 2011. Retrieved June 17, 2011.
  12. "More Cast". HappyFeetTwo.WarnerBros.com. Retrieved June 15, 2011.
  13. Joseph, Raveena (July 28, 2016). "Tales from a journeyman". The Hindu.
  14. "Record Brilliance, Feb 4, 2010". Malamar.BlogSpot.com. Retrieved November 19, 2010.
  15. Byrnes, Holly; Crawford, Carly (December 21, 2009). "Brittany Murphy planned to have New Year in Australia". News.com.au.
  16. "Enticing glimpse of projected triumphs". TheAustralian.com. Retrieved November 19, 2010.
  17. "George Miller Casting: Teresa Palmer in Mad Max 4: Fury Road, Matt Damon and Brad Pitt in Happy Feet 2". /Film. Retrieved May 27, 2011.
  18. Antonette Collins (February 4, 2010). "Sydney welcomes patter of Happy Feet 2". ABC News. Retrieved February 14, 2010.
  19. "Sofia Vergara Joins The Smurfs & Happy Feet 2". ComingSoon.net. Retrieved November 19, 2010.
  20. Garth Franklin (June 5, 2011). "Live action in Happy Feet Two?". DarkHorizons.com. Archived from the original on July 31, 2012. Retrieved June 13, 2011.
  21. "A New Dancing Expert". TheSauce.info. Archived from the original on September 5, 2009. Retrieved June 14, 2011.
  22. Sarto, Dan (January 23, 2012). "Happy Feet Two Arrives onto Blu-Ray, DVD and Digital Download on March 13". Animation World Network. Retrieved September 29, 2012.
  23. Feinberg, Scott (July 16, 2013). "Midyear Awards Report: Warner Bros. (Analysis)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved September 18, 2015.
  24. Weekend Report: 'Breaking Dawn's Huge Debut Just Shy of 'Twilight' Record Box Office Mojo
  25. Orzeck, Kurt (November 25, 2011). "'Happy Feet Two' flop leads to 600 layoffs (Report)". TheWrap. Retrieved December 15, 2018.
  26. "Happy Feet Two Movie Reviews". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved February 12, 2012.
  27. "Happy Feet Two". Metacritic. Retrieved December 15, 2018.
  28. "Cinemascore". CinemaScore. Archived from the original on December 20, 2018. Retrieved July 31, 2019.
  29. "Movie Review: Happy Feet Two: Mr. Miller's Poppy Penguins Save Their Own Planet – Entertainment – TIME.com". Time. November 17, 2011.
  30. Roger Ebert (November 16, 2011). "Happy Feet Two". Chicago Sun-Times. rogerebert.com. Retrieved February 12, 2012.
  31. "Ten worst films of 2011". The Telegraph. London. December 15, 2011. Retrieved December 17, 2011.
  32. "Official Video Game of Happy Feet 2". PRNewsWire.com. May 1, 2011. Retrieved June 13, 2011.
  33. ARIA Report 1141. Retrieved 2012-03-06

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