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Review of Happy Feet Two (John Powell)

FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:

Buy it... if you desire either the highly varied selection of songs from the film or five to ten minutes of engaging John Powell score material to add to your favorite passages from his contribution to the previous film.

Avoid it... if you expect to hear Powell do anything significant with the existing franchise themes (outside of the obvious, varied choral usage) or conjure a distinct new set of identities for the sequel.

FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:

Happy Feet Two: (John Powell) Despite its obnoxious dose of upbeat character, the 2006 animated film Happy Feet was a resounding fiscal success, and many of the same crew and cast returned in 2011 for Happy Feet Two. The filmmakers dropped the irritating political message pushed upon viewers in the first film in favor of a more generic "creatures working together can accomplish anything" formula in the sequel, a predictable feel-good lesson that makes one wonder if there was some way to trap Israelis and Palestinians in a large block of ice and force them to persevere through the panic. An icy entrapment is essentially what happens to the penguins in Happy Feet Two; when one colony of the perky, tuxedoed animals is caught in an ice formation, they have to rely upon the help of seals and krill to do what the humans ultimately could not: use their thumping dance techniques to bust open the ice and bring joy to Antarctica. There wasn't much joy in the human population that took their children to watch this sequel, however, and Happy Feet Two fared extremely poorly at the box office compared to expectations. After grossing only half of its predecessor's earnings in its initial weeks and failing to recoup its budget worldwide, the digital production studio that made the film, Dr. D Studios, became a headline in the news for firing nearly 90% of its employees. Let that serve as a lesson not to make sucky animated sequels. The basic format of the soundtrack was retained for Happy Feet Two, a buoyant original score by animation veteran John Powell connecting several song placements that re-record previous song melodies in musical format. The song selections in the sequel are even more disjointed than those in Happy Feet, though they sway closer to the R&B realm in part to accommodate the style of Pink (Alecia Beth Moore), who became involved with the sequel when actress Brittany Murphy surprisingly died early in the production. Among movies that use a stream of cover versions of songs to tell its major narrative points, Happy Feet Two once again fails to live up to Moulin Rouge in forming a consistent, cohesive sound in its selection of material and vocal performances. Powell was in part involved with the song placements in this film, contributing the character song "The Mighty Sven" (with the gospel tone from Gigli blown to ridiculous proportions and Robin Williams' voice either distorted or very badly recorded and mixed) and working three other covers directly into his score material.

While Powell's contribution to Happy Feet contained enough passages of monumental orchestral and choral bravado to be recommended as a whole, it suffered from acute schizophrenia as well. It was something of a sampler of the composer's capabilities in a number of genres, akin to Robots, Rio, and other animated tales of haphazard personality. Ultimately, Powell did manage to connect the score together with some distinctly Hans Zimmer-like themes (much is still owed to The Prince of Egypt in the progressions and choral tone) and, more importantly, an overwhelming and often deep choral accompaniment. Gone from Happy Feet Two are the ominous choral cues specifically representing the threat from humanity, but the composer does retain this identity for the larger awe of nature. The talent assembled for the score spans the world, parts recorded in Sydney and others in Los Angeles, a range of notable soloists contributing alongside the chorus. The main theme, melodramatic in a Zimmer sense as any could be, receives prominent treatment at the end of "Trapped in Emperor Land" and in lesser incarnations elsewhere (its spirit carries over into "No Fly Zone"). The secondary theme of greater pizzazz a bit more standard to Powell's own career is reprised as well, as in "Krill Joy." Whenever possible, Powell seems to reflect the previous score's personality with the choral layers, though the results are not as resoundingly powerful as before. Returning as well is the Latin flare in several cues, starting immediately in the middle of "In the Hole." The interludes of full ensemble Latin and jazz enthusiasm are seemingly fewer, the highlight of which here expressed in "Adelie Rescue." Continuing 1970's lounge jazz with Hammond organ is more confined ("Dinner a la Sven"). The straight orchestral comedy and suspense material is extremely standard to Powell's average output for this genre, never really expressing anything new to chew on outside of vintage James Horner-like rhythms of panic in "Skua Attack" (which do segue into the main theme in dramatic fashion). There is less uniquely interesting activity here than in Kung Fu Panda 2 from earlier in the same year, and the listening experience on album will be a challenge for some enthusiasts of the composer because of the intrusion of source applications (like "We Are the Champions") directly into the score. Such fans will find five to ten minutes of worthy new music to add to their playlists from the original Happy Feet score, but don't expect much more. Meanwhile, aside from some funny treatment of a Dmitri Tiomkin standard, the songs clustered with the score this time tell you all you need to know about why the movie failed at the box office.  ***

TRACK LISTINGS:

Total Time: 72:59

• 1. Happy Feet Two Opening Medley - performed by Pink, Common, Benjamin 'Lil P-Nut' Flores, Jr., Chorus (4:11) • 2. The Mighty Sven - performed by Robin Williams, Chorus, Hank Azaria (4:08) • 3. Bridge of Light - performed by Pink, Chorus (4:05) • 4. Papa Oom Mow Mow - performed by Chorus (1:49) • 5. Dragostea Din Tei - performed by Chorus, Hank Azaria (1:29) • 6. Erik's Opera, Omar Crook - performed by EG Daily (2:25) • 7. Rawhide - performed by Elephant Seal Chorus (1:14) • 8. Under Pressure/Rhythm Nation - performed by Pink, Chorus (3:09) • 9. Tightrope (Ice Cold Mix) - performed by Janelle Monae, Benjamin 'Lil P-Nut' Flores, Jr., Chorus (3:15) • 10. In the Hole (2:45) • 11. Ramon and the Krill (4:07) • 12. Lovelace Preshow (Featuring Judith Hill) (2:05) • 13. Searching For the Kids (1:28) • 14. The Doomberg Lands (3:29) • 15. I Don't Back Up (3:57) • 16. Trapped in Emperor Land (3:55) • 17. Skua Attack/Adelie Rescue (4:16) • 18. Dinner a la Sven (3:33) • 19. We Are the Champions (2:42) • 20. Snow Stops Play (Featuring Steven Pence) (2:01) • 21. No Fly Zone (3:36) • 22. Krill Joy (2:58) • 23. Tappin' to Freedom (5:55)

NOTES & QUOTES:

The insert includes extensive credits and a single page advertisement for a ridiculous video game, but no extra information about the score or film.

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