I just watched this on a plane, and I thought it was significantly weaker than the first one.  Two things in particular bugged me: the heroic, comic reliefy mouse (that was clearly a rip off of Puss n Boots), and the overdosing on battle scenes.  I felt the whole second half of the movie was all battle scenes, and as we all know, eventually watching a band of scrappy, heroic animals kick the asses of the bad guys gets tiresome.  I would have liked to see a little plot mixed into the second half of the movie.

Very strong, well made, and well acted movie. Beautiful scenery and a fine musical score to go along with it. Thought it was a notch ahead of the original. On a side note, you have to understand that a younger audience is targeted here, so when you see the talking animals you should not complain. Know this going into the film. I do not think it took away from the overall film experience.