‘Happy Feet’ treads same path

“Happy Feet Two” Rated PG. At AMC Loews Boston Common, Regal Fenway Stadium and suburban theaters; in IMAX at Jordan’s Furniture: B-

As a philosophical krill on a voyage of self discovery, Brad Pitt’s performance in “Happy Feet Two,” which he almost single-handedly saves, makes more sense to me than his work in that other 2011 release, the Terrence Malick thumb-sucker “Tree of Life.” “Happy Feet Two” is really “Krill Tree of Life,” a visually daring and splendid quest for knowledge in which the lowly krill ponders his position in the universe as “lunch.” Other than these scenes in which Pitt and friend and colleague Matt Damon play the crustacean “Odd Couple” of the underwater world, will (Pitt) and Bill (Damon), the film is mostly a bust.

Beginning with an out-of-the-blue production number in which cute, computer-animated emperor penguins with celebrity voices dance and sing themselves, and you, into a chilly stupor, the film is a patchwork of -musical styles and the plots of better animated films, beginning with “Finding Nemo” and Disney’s “The Lion King.” Well, always steal from the best, especially if you are animated.

The story involves a quest by sincere penguin daddy Mumble (Frodo Baggins himself Elijah Wood) to find his lost son Erik (Ava Acres) — who is terribly shy and prefers, or so he says, not to sing or dance — and to be re-united with wife and mother Gloria (Pink, who can belt it out) and the rest of the kin.

Trouble is, global warming is wreaking havoc with the penguin ecosystem, and a gigantic iceberg has just rammed emperor-land, cutting its inhabitants off from their food source.

Or something like that. “Happy Feet Two” is mostly an excuse to separate parents — whose kids enjoyed “Happy Feet” (2007), the first penguin musical -— from their money one more time, and to fill the coffers of old music catalogs. In addition to Queen, you will hear generic rap, George Michaels, the theme song from TV’s “Rawhide,” the pop standard “Pa Pa Oom Mow Mow” and Puccini.

Plus, we have jokes about a penguin that wets itself, other bird droppings, 2-D humans, a penguin named Sven that can fly and the usual animated-film mandates to “believe in yourself” and “not give up.” on the brighter side, the 3-D is much brighter than in those dingy, murky, live-action films.

The film’s ace in the hole is Robin Williams in a dual role as daffy penguin leader Lovelace and lovelorn, motor-mouthed Latino penguin Ramon, who is over the moon for Carmen (Sofia Vergara). Williams is often a hoot, if not also a honk.

In scenes involving the aforementioned krills, will expresses his need to be free of the swarm, and buddy Bill assures him, “there is no such thing as free, will.”

(However lame, “Happy Feet Two” contains no objectionable material.)