Happy Feet Two (2011)

Stars - Elijah Wood

           Robin Williams

           Alecia Moore (P!nk)

Directed by:  George Miller

Summary: Mumble's son, Erik, is struggling to realize his talents in the Emperor Penguin world. Meanwhile, Mumble and his family and friends discover a new threat their home -- one that will take everyone working together to save them. (via imdb). 

I readily admit that I am not the target audience for this movie, as a 38 year old male, but that shouldn't count, because other animation studios do make their films to be appealing to kids and adults alike (thank you Pixar!). This one... does not. I was simultaneously bored and annoyed by the constant breaking into song, like some National Geographic version of Fame!, but not in an entertaining way. The songs seemed extraneous instead of cooperative. It seems as though the filmmakers purposely sat down and decided to list as many pop songs as possible and then wrote a movie around the list. It didn't work for me. I did like the messages in the movie about perseverance, individuality and teamwork, but that's the nicest thing I can say about it. 

The only other bright spots for me, as a comedic break, were the two krill played by Brad Pitt, as the one who wants more out of life than swarming) and Matt Damon, his reluctant tag along. But even their shtick got tedious after a while.

My rating, from an adult perspective, is a meager 3 out of 10. But, to be fair to the filmmakers, I've embedded my two sons' reactions below.

11-11-11 (2011)

11-11-11 (2011)

Stars - Timothy Gibbs

           Michael Landes

           Brendan Price

Directed by:  Darren Lynn Bousman

Summary: After the death of his wife and child, an author travels to Barcelona to see his estranged brother and dying father, where he learns that his life is plagued by events that occur on 11/11/11. (via imdb). 

This is a movie about repetition, and I'm not just referring to the constant repeating of the movie's title throughout the movie. I swear the screenwriter used the copy/paste function on his word processor liberally. The same exact phrases are repeated numerous times, and not in some freaky deja vu sense, which would almost be cool. The main character chastises his priest brother for believing in what he terms a make believe figurehead but not believing in the things happening around him no less than 5 times before the film ends. He maddeningly repeats that they are going to pack up and leave the house 3 or 4 times, but nobody does anything. It's frustrating and annoying and really sloppy.

They try really hard to create a sense of mystery and dark foreboding, but your lack of empathy for anyone in this cast makes it feel like, eh... so what. All the atmosphere in the world can't salvage it or make it scary. It just doesn't work for me. It's okay at best. Even the score seems overly repetitive and annoying.

And without spoiling anything, the supposed twist ending is both ridiculous and highly illogical. In other words, a complete crock of horseshit, for lack of a better term. It tries to be The Omen meets M. Night Shymalan, abd fails, which, I guess makes it very Shymalan like, so, congrats on that part. Stylistically, it may warrant a 6, but the sum of all it's evils makes it a 4 out of 10

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