Happy Feet Two

Warner Bros. Pictures | Release Date: November 18, 2011

CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION

50	METASCORE Mixed or average reviews based on 25 Critics

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

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Critic Reviews

Critic score Publication By date

Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumNov 16, 2011

Earnest messages about bad climate change and good parenting skills have been replaced by a we-all-share-a-planet sense of fun that's more "Finding Nemo" than National Geographic. Read full review

Philadelphia InquirerSam AdamsNov 17, 2011

Although it's set on the same frozen continent, Happy Feet Two is worlds away from its predecessor. Read full review

TimeRichard CorlissNov 17, 2011

Everything that happens in Happy Feet Two is good-to-great. Read full review

Boxoffice MagazinePete HammondNov 15, 2011

This new round of toe-tapping musical numbers from the penguin population is shot in eye-poppingly gorgeous 3D. Read full review

The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Jennie PunterNov 18, 2011

Pitt and Damon deliver the best lines (wisecracks about the food chain, predators and evolution, etc.) but their characters also represent most of us. Read full review

The A.V. ClubTasha RobinsonNov 16, 2011

In some ways, it's a more grown-up story than Happy Feet, with more complicated messages delivered in subtler ways. Read full review

Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertNov 16, 2011

For me, Happy Feet Two is pretty thin soup. 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. Read full review

MovielineStephanie ZacharekNov 17, 2011

Robin Williams, who's sometimes too overbearing in real-life live action, makes a great cartoon-character voice. Read full review

Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzNov 16, 2011

A jumbled, messy movie that has some winning moments but jumps around too much to hold your interest for long. Read full review

Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranNov 18, 2011

Dazzling panoramas, no matter how impressive, are no substitute for the involving story Happy Feet Two has had to do without. Read full review

The New York TimesManohla DargisNov 17, 2011

An amiable sequel with not much on its mind other than funny and creaky jokes, and waves of understated beauty. Read full review

USA TodayStaff [Not Credited]Nov 17, 2011

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

Boston GlobeTy BurrNov 17, 2011

Little kids, of course, will swallow it whole without thinking twice. Read full review

Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsNov 17, 2011

The sequel's themes of friendship and interdependency fail to generate much momentum. Read full review

Orlando SentinelRoger MooreNov 16, 2011

A clever and adorable original film remade with most of the charm wrung out of it. Read full review

The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyNov 14, 2011

Even with the addition of new characters, such as the ones voiced by Brad Pitt and Matt Damon, George Miller's animated sequel just isn't very funny. Read full review

VarietyJustin ChangNov 14, 2011

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 for which the slender narrative framework provides far too indulgent a showcase. Read full review

New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanNov 17, 2011

As a low-cost baby-sitter, this high-energy sequel definitely does the trick. Read full review

Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenNov 16, 2011

Although appealing to look at, Happy Feet Two is noisy, busy, and unable to spark much emotional involvement in the viewer other than fear for the characters' well-being and a touch of existential angst by way of a couple of krill. Read full review

Village VoiceNick PinkertonNov 15, 2011

Really, the movie 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. Read full review

Time OutKeith UhlichNov 15, 2011

The trek to get there is sluggish at best, torturous at worst. March away, penguins. Far away. Read full review

New York PostKyle SmithNov 18, 2011

"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. Read full review

St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsNov 17, 2011

The best thing you could say about Happy Feet Two is that it doesn't have any product placements or potty jokes. Other than that, this charmless Antarctic cartoon is what it looks like when hell freezes over. Read full review

Slant MagazineJaime N. ChristleyNov 15, 2011

There's something about these films, something about the working-over these songs suffer--a wrongness that's intangible but inescapable, like the unseen menace of a bad dream. Read full review

San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleNov 17, 2011

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. Read full review