Happy Feet Two

Happy Feet Two
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	George Miller
Produced by	George Miller Bill Miller Doug Mitchell
Written by	George Miller Gary Eck Warren Coleman Paul Livingston
Starring	Elijah Wood Robin Williams Hank Azaria Brad Pitt Matt Damon Pink Sofía Vergara Common Hugo Weaving Richard Carter Magda Szubanski Anthony LaPaglia
Music by	John Powell Pink
Cinematography	David Dulac David Peers
Studio	Village Roadshow Pictures Kennedy-Miller Mitchell Films Dr. D Studios
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date(s)	November 18, 2011 (2011-11-18) (United States) December 26, 2011 (2011-12-26) (Australia)
Running time	105 minutes
Country	Australia United States
Language	English
Budget	$135 million
Box office	$124,196,834

Happy Feet Two is a 2011 American-Australian 3D computer-animated family film directed by George Miller, who co-directed the original film Happy Feet. The film is a sequel to Happy Feet and stars Elijah Wood, Robin Williams, Hank Azaria, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Pink, Sofía Vergara, Common, Hugo Weaving, Richard Carter, Magda Szubanski and Anthony LaPaglia. Dr. D Studios in 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 a Looney Tunes short called I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat starring Sylvester Cat and Tweety Bird.

Plot

Erik, son of the penguins Mumble and Gloria, is reluctant to try dancing as most of the penguins in Emperor-Land do. Erik's first attempt at dancing embarrasses and outcasts him from the rest of the penguins. Erik and his two friends, Boadicia and Atticus, follow Ramon to Adélie-Land and finds that Adélie-Land has been ruled by a God-like penguin named The Mighty Sven. Sven is the last of his kind who survived death by his ability to fly. Erik instantly becomes enamored with Sven, who takes a liking to him. Sven and Lovelace tell the others that they were saved by humans. The two eventually flee and end up on Antartica, where Sven performs his first miracle by revealing moss to the local penguins. Sven uses his power of "Sven Think" to help Ramon find a mate. Ramon instantly falls in love with Carmen, another Adélie penguin who is uninterested. Mumble follows the chicks' footprints to Adélie-land and orders them to return to Emperor-Land, but they refuse. Sven sends Erik back to Emperor-land with Mumble.

Meanwhile, a group 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 friend, 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, created to be eaten. Inspired, Will ventures out to evolve and "move up the food chain", eating a real creature instead of being eaten.

Meanwhile, Mumble tells Erik that he is unique to the world and that he will someday find his calling, but Erik dismisses his advice. While trying to cross a perilous ice bridge, the penguins encounter Bryan the Beach Master and his two young sons, who refuse to let the penguins pass. Suddenly the ice gives away and Bryan is trapped in a deep crevice below the ice. Mumble sets out to free Bryan by antagonizing a sleeping leopard seal until it chases him down. Unknown to them, Bill and Will try to eat a creature with a face that awakens the seal, but Mumble saves him. Seeking acceptance from Erik, Mumble is disheartened to learn Erik attributed the feat of courage to Sven Think. Bryan returns to the Elephant Seal beach, but not before thanking Mumble and promising to return the favor to him at any time.

When the penguins returns to Emperor-Land they discover that a large iceberg has trapped the Emperor Penguin population below large walls of ice. Boadicia ventures out to Adélie Land to recruit the help of Ramon, 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 scolds Erik for his beliefs, saying that no penguin can fly and that none of the Emperor Penguins will be able to escape. Once Erik realizes Emperor-Land is destined to die, he begins to break down. 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 refuses, preferring 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 to stand up to the birds through perseverance and unity. When all hope seems lost, Boadica 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 that saved Sven and Lovelace come to Antarctica again to help the penguins find a way out. However, a storm approaches and causes the humans to flee. Sven reports that the ocean has frozen over significantly and there is no chance of the humans returning or the Adélie Penguins transporting food over such a distance. Erik urges Sven to teach the penguins how to fly, but Sven reveals that he is a Puffin. He admits that after the loss of Svenland, he was lonely and grew to love the penguins who accepted him as a family. 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 a portion of the Adélies into the doomed crevice. In attempting to save Erik from plummeting over the edge, Mumble injures his foot and is unable to dance and lead the Adélies. Ramon 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, weary from the dangers he experienced as a predator on the surface, ventures back into the sea to find Bill, but not before experiencing the penguin's dancing. He is suddenly forced down a crack in the ice and into the sea beneath Emperor-Land. He reunites with Bill and his swarm, who tell him he has the purpose of changing the world and evolving the swarm. Once Bill told the swarm of their position on the food chain and their lives as pure herbivores, they followed him to the safety of the inaccessible ice below Emperor-Land.

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. Bryan, initially hesitant to return a favor at such a pivotal time of the year, becomes aggressive and threatens Mumble off the beach. Erik, unnerved by the lack of honor and respect from Bryan, commemorates his father as his hero for his acts of bravery and lectures Bryan for his lack of compassion and gratitude towards him though opera. Touched by Erik's song, the elephant seals travel to Emperor-Land to free the penguins. The penguins and the seals begin slamming the ice on the beat, joined by the krill below the ice. Finally, the iceberg crumbles enough for the Emperor Penguins to climb out of the crevice and reunite with their families.

Cast

• Elijah Wood as Mumble
• Robin Williams as Ramón and Lovelace
• Hank Azaria as The Mighty Sven
• Ava Acres as Erik (singing by Elizabeth Daily)
• Brad Pitt as Will the Krill
• Matt Damon as Bill the Krill
• Pink as Gloria
• Meibh Campbell as Boadica (singing by Elizabeth Daily)
• Lil P-Nut as Atticus
• Sofía Vergara as Carmen
• Richard Carter as Bryan the Beach Master and Trev
• Carlos Alazraqui as Nestor
• Johnny A. Sanchez as Lombardo
• Lombardo Boyar as Raul
• Jeffrey Garcia as Rinaldo
• Magda Szubanski as Miss Viola
• Anthony LaPaglia as Alpha Skua
• Michael Cornacchia as Frankie
• Danny Mann as Dino and Brokebeak
• Hugo Weaving as Noah the Elder
• Common as Seymour

Development

Elijah Wood, Robin Williams and Hugo Weaving reprised their previous performances as Mumble, Ramón, Lovelace, and Noah. Also returning for the film are Carlos Alazraqui, Johnny A. Sanchez, Lombardo Boyar and Jeffrey Garcia as Nestor, Lombardo, Raul, and Rinaldo. No other actors repeated their earlier performances.

Brittany Murphy, who originally voiced Mumble's love interest Gloria, was set to reprise her role and begin recording sometime in 2010, but died from pneumonia on December 20, 2009. Steve Irwin, who voiced Trev the elephant seal and albatross died in a stingray attack on September 4, 2006, so Pink and Richard Carter both replaced Murphy and Irwin, and Pink contributed a song ("Tell Me Something Good", also by Pink, was contributed to the soundtrack of the first film), and Brad Pitt and Matt Damon voiced the tiny krill, Will and Bill. Hank Azaria also signed on to voice The Mighty Sven. 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. There is a live action scene in the movie as in the first Happy Feet. Mitchell Hicks signed up as the movie's choreographer.

Reception

Critical response

Happy Feet Two received mixed reviews from film critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 44% of critics gave positive reviews, based on 99 reviews. Happy Feet Two currently holds a Metascore of 50 out of 100 on Metacritic. 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." However, 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."

Box-office performance

As of Jan 26, the film has grossed $62,696,834 in the United States along with $61,500,000 in other territories, for a worldwide total of $124,196,834.

On its opening weekend, Happy Feet Two earned $21,237,068 while playing on 3,606 screens. This is 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. 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."

Accolades

Award	Category	Winner/Nominee	Result
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"	Nominated

Merchandise

Video game

Happy Feet Two: The Video Game was developed by KMM Games for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii. WayForward Technologies developed the Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo DS versions.

Home media

The DVD, Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D release of Happy Feet Two has been announced for March 13, 2012 from Warner Home Video.

Possible Sequel

The only mention of a third Happy Feet film comes from an interview in which director George Miller was asked if he had any plans for Happy Feet Three:

"If you put a gun to my head and said, 'You have to come up with a story for Happy Feet 3,' I’d say shoot me. I would have no idea. I really would have no idea. The stories creep up on you. You just have to allow the stories to come, and then they get in like little ear worms in your head and they won’t go away. If that happens and we’ve got the energy, we’ll do a third one. If it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen. That’s the only way you can do it. It has to be authentic. I really wanted to make this film better than the first one. Otherwise, at my age, what’s the point? You really want to make it better. If something comes up that’s really exciting and I can convey that enthusiasm to other people, then there would be a third one."

Soundtrack

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 film's theme song, "Bridge of Light", is performed by Pink, who also lends her vocals to the character Gloria.

Tracklist

1. "Happy Feet Two Opening Medley" (featuring the Happy Feet Two Chorus) – Common as Seymour, P!nk as Gloria & Lil' P-Nut
2. "The Mighty Sven" (featuring Robin Williams as Ramon) – Hank Azaria as Sven and the Happy Feet Two Chorus
3. "Bridge of Light" – P!nk as Gloria & the Happy Feet Two Chorus
4. "Papa Oom Mow Mow" – Happy Feet Two Chorus
5. "Dragostea Din Tei" – Hank Azaria as Sven & the Happy Feet Two Chorus
6. "Erik's Opera" – E. G. Daily as Erik and Omar Crook. Based on the Puccini aria "E lucevan le stelle"
7. "Rawhide" – Elephant Seal Chorus
8. "Under Pressure/Rhythm Nation" – P!nk as Gloria & the Happy Feet Two Chorus
9. "Tightrope" (Ice Cold Mix) [featuring P-Nut & the Happy Feet Two Chorus] – Janelle Monáe

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, released on iTunes on November 8, 2011.

External links

• Official website
• Happy Feet Two at Box Office Mojo
• Happy Feet Two at the Internet Movie Database
• Happy Feet Two at Rotten Tomatoes