Review: Happy Feet Two

Often when critics often chastise a film for valuing “style over substance,” that’s not what their actual problem with the film is. Let’s consider some recent examples where the criticism was most popularly applied: Transformers 3, Cowboys & Aliens, and Green Lantern. Certainly, these three summer blockbusters don’t boast much substance, but their respective styles are also deeply flawed. Thus, what the critic really meant to communicate in each of those contexts was, “The style is not involving enough to mask the lack of substance.” Case-in-point: the derogatory “style over substance” line was rarely uttered in the many raves for Drive and Rise of the Planet of the Apes, even though both unabashedly meet the criterion.

Happy Feet Two is an extravaganza of style over substance, but that does not mean it is lacking in any way. In fact, as Roger Ebert said of Kill Bill: Volume 1, the style here is the substance. To gaze at the film’s groundbreaking 3-D CGI animation–easily the best of its kind in a film that doesn’t use motion capture–is to become enveloped by a silver-screen world. Frankly, the written narrative doesn’t need to be anything beyond perfunctory — each image leaves so much for the eyes to digest that the viewer is always captivated. 3-D’s notorious hawk, James Cameron, has long championed the technology’s purported ability to reinvent cinema as much as color did and, while I still have my overarching doubts, Happy Feet Two has brought me a few inches closer to being a believer.

I can only describe the wonder of the film’s aesthetic accomplishments to a certain point; you will have to see them for yourself to understand their significance. What impressed me the most was the level of detail — I don’t think I have ever seen the level of resolution in Happy Feet Two, and certainly not in a 3-D movie (where motion-blur has long been a chief problem). Sequences with two microscopic krill (voiced by none other than Brad Pitt and Matt Damon) are particularly stunning — the fine detail on their tiny bodies, including translucent tissue that looks completely real in the 3-D seascape, will make your mouth drop. Likewise, every hair on the bodies of the penguin cast has a life of its own. Combined with the franchise’s existing accomplishments–the epic, Bollywood-esque dance sequences and the colorful renderings of aurora borealis–these breakthroughs make Happy Feet Two the most visually rich film of the year so far.

For as secondary as the movie’s story is, it is important to note that it is not disarmingly political, as the first Happy Feet was. It is understandable that parents would have reservations about taking their kids to this sequel after seeing its predecessor, which featured subliminal commentary on homosexuality and a rather scary view of global warming — important social issues, yes, but not for a family film. Thankfully, this time around, co-writer/director George Miller tones down the rhetoric considerably. While there are still numerous of appeals for parents to talk to their kids about climate change–the plot involves the Emperor penguins getting trapped due to melting ice–only the most adamant global warming deniers will find these objectionable. Likewise, some conservative critics like The New York Post’s Kyle Smith have suggested the relationship between the krill is a nod to gay families, but I think this is a real reach (whatever Miller’s intent). Happy Feet Two is appropriately uncontroversial for its genre.

Would it have been nice for Happy Feet Two to fuse a more substantive, compelling story with its glorious images? Of course; in fact, it may have ended up one of the great animated films of all-time had it achieved this. But with endless pretty pictures and groovy penguin song and dance sequences, there isn’t reason to desire more. When the style is great, style over substance is pretty damn satisfying.

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Happy Feet Two (2011, USA). Produced by Christopher DeFaria and George Miller. Directed by George Miller. Written for the screen by Warren Coleman, Gary Eck, Paul Livingston, and George Miller. Featuring the voices of Ava Acres, Elijah Wood, Pink, Robin Williams, Sofía Vergara, Common, Hank Azaria, Brad Pitt, and Matt Damon. Distributed by Warner Bros. Rated PG, with a running time of 100 minutes.