Happy Feet Two

George Miller’s latest Antarctic dance fest is a pale shadow of its exuberant predecessor. While ‘Happy Feet’ bulged with toe-tapping songs and a clever switch into darker ‘Truman Show’ territory, this 3D sequel suffers from a lack of continuity, over-egged, gospel-flavoured covers of trashy soul and a set of urban dance moves as clichéd as anything on ‘The X Factor’.

The first film centred on the feats of little Mumble, a forlorn emperor penguin who couldn’t sing but jived like Gene Kelly. At first it looks like the sequel might focus entirely on Mumble’s withdrawn son Erik, but the narrative thread soon frays into a series of subplots involving a pair of wilful krill, a puffin masquerading as a flying penguin and a padded-out quest to save Mumble and Erik’s trapped colony from an encroaching ice shelf. If there’s a saving grace, it’s the visuals, especially the beautiful scenes of orange krill. But that’s about all.