Critical response

 

Happy Feet Two received mixed reviews from film critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 44% of critics gave positive reviews, based on 99 reviews. Happy Feet Two currently holds a Metascore of 50 out of 100 on Metacritic. Richard Corliss of Time gave the film a positive review and said that Miller is "not content to duplicate the pleasures of his first penguin film; he dares to go bigger, deeper, higher — happier."  However, British newspaper The Telegraph named Happy Feet Two one of the ten worst films of 2011, saying "Happy Feet Two is an appalling 3D animated sequel about a colony of all‑singin’, all-dancin’, all-infuriatin’ penguins."

Box-office performance

On its opening weekend, Happy Feet Two earned $21,237,068 while playing on 3,606 screens. This is barely half of the $41,533,432 that the first Happy Feet made on its opening weekend in November 2006. Approximately 50% of Happy Feet Two's box-office take came from the 2,825 screens that showed it in 3D. Thus, when adjusted for ticket price inflation, Happy Feet Two achieved less than 45% of the attendance figures of its predecessor. Major box-office prediction websites were almost unanimously predicting an opening weekend of $35 million - $45 million, so Happy Feet Two's box-office performance has thus far been underwhelming. Among 2011's animated films, Happy Feet Two's opening weekend ranks 8th. Kurt Orzeck of the Vancouver Sun has reported that "due to the poor performance of Happy Feet Two, 600 of the 700 employees at the Sydney-based Dr. D. Studios, the digital production studio behind the animated movie, have reportedly received their walking papers."