Happy Feet 2

There's singing and dancing again in the Arctic: the penguins from the 2006 animated hit Happy Feet are back. Director George Miller delves deeper into the world of the penguins in this sequel to his Oscar-winning film, and he's brought the visual aspect to near perfection. Whether it's the fluffy penguin kids, melting ice or the fascinating underwater world, rarely has this been brought to the screens so convincingly. The 3D effect, which in this case finally succeeds once again, also contributes to Happy Feet 2 being a real visual treat. It's just a shame that the script can't really keep up.

Penguin Mumble from part 1 has grown up in the meantime and has now fathered offspring of his own with his great love Gloria. Little Eric, like Mumble himself once was, is different from the other little penguins. While they sing and dance for all they're worth, Erik doesn't really see the point. But when he does try to dance for the first time, he makes a terrible fool of himself. So he decides to leave the emperor penguin colony and accompany Ramon to his fellow penguins, the Adelie penguins. While Mumble sets out to find little Erik, who has been accompanied by his two best friends, the melting of the polar ice causes a disaster: Mumble's colony, and with it Gloria, become trapped in their valley. There seems to be no way in or out. Only the somewhat odd-looking Sven could bring salvation.

Happy Feet 2 is obviously concerned with injecting new impetus into the successful formula of the first film, thus avoiding too much of a repeat effect. The subplot around the two Krills Will and Bill, for example, belongs to these fresh aspects that really do the film good. What doesn't work, or only to a limited extent, are the numerous dancing and singing interludes, which wear out quickly and only bore in the long run. Especially when the cuteness factor of the penguin chicks is also pushed to the limit. It's supposed to be so cute, when the little fluffy rascals give cheeky raps or say touching things with a sad look and a slightly lisping voice. It may be that this works for the little viewers, too. Adults, however, are likely to quickly catch on to how manipulative this aspect of the film is used, so that a heartfelt Ahhhh is soon followed by an annoyed Ohhhh.

It's to Miller's credit that in the second film he has again packaged his ecological message not only brightly colored and funny, but also dark and menacing. And it is precisely the dark moments that stand out and remain in the memory. Breaking ice, dark clouds, heavy storms, all these things give the penguins a hard time this time. On the other hand, Miller also relies on much more obvious humor than in Part 1, with the best laughs once again belonging to Ramon, voiced by Robin Williams in the original and convincingly dubbed by Rick Kavanian in the German version. His desperate courtship of the penguin lady Carmen is one of the most amusing aspects of the film.

As for the music, the songs are well chosen to become a direct part of the story. For this reason, all the songs have also been translated into German. Although this makes the songs more understandable especially for small viewers who could also not read subtitles yet. However, German viewers thus also do not get to enjoy the beautiful song Bridge of Light, which is sung in the original by Pink, who here replaced the much too early deceased Brittany Murphy as the voice of Gloria.

Happy Feet 2 is a feast for the eyes, both in 2D, but especially in 3D. However, the story, the overly intrusive cuteness effect of the little penguins, and the rather tedious dancing and singing on the second go-around make this animated film a rather dubious pleasure that might, at most, give children a few enjoyable minutes.

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp