The Angry Birds Movie

'ANGRY BIRDS': Three Stars (Out of Five)

Hit animated kids'flick, based on the immensely popular app video game series. It tells the story of three misfit flightless birds, with anger issues, that must defend their island from mischievous green pig visitors. The film stars the voice talents of Jason Sudeikis, Josh Gad, Danny McBride, Bill Hader, Peter Dinklage, Maya Rudolph, Kate McKinnon, Keegan-Michael Key, Tony Hale, Sean Penn and Blake Shelton. It was directed by Clay Kaytis (a veteran animator) and Fergal Reilly (a veteran storyboard artist, of animated films); both in their feature film directorial debuts. It was written by Jon Vitti, Mikael Hed, Mikko Polla and John Cohen (all veterans of animation). The movie was a big hit at the Box Office, and it received mostly positive reviews from fans (but not so much from critics). I liked it.

The film takes place on 'Bird Island'; an island inhabited by mostly happy, but flightless, birds. Red (Sudeikis) is a loner bird, with anger issues. After he accidentally causes an egg to hatch early, he's sentenced to anger management classes. There he meets three other bird outcasts; named Chuck (Gad), Bomb (McBride) and Terrence (Penn). Chuck and Bomb try to make friends with Red, but Red refuses. Then a ship arrives, filled with strange green pigs; that claim they just want to be friends. Red is suspicious of their true intentions, right away; and he reluctantly enlists the help of Chuck and Bomb, to figure out what the pigs are really up to.

The movie is a lot more entertaining than I thought it would be; I was really expecting to hate it. It's definitely simple, silly and made primarily for kids; but the animation is kind of cool, and it's funny (the voice cast is awesome). I love Sudeikis, Dinklage, McBride, Hader, Gad, Key and the rest; and I think they made the film a lot more enjoyable. It's definitely nothing that special, but it's not bad (or annoying) either.

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Following along in similar footsteps as The Lego Movie, The Angry Birds Movie manages to create a fun and thrilling feature length story out of something that didn't have any reason being a film in the first place. While it doesn't have an overly intelligent script with a great moral story, it's beautifully animated, full of action, and some timely humor for all ages.

As with every animated film these days, bringing in world class voice talent is vitally important. People like Jason Sudeikis, Danny McBride, Maya Rudolph, Josh Gad, and Peter Dinklage add some credibility to the film, but unsurprisingly, they are what sold the film to me with its comedic charm. I think that's what this film is at its core, charming. It won't stick with you with grand themes like Zootopia, or catchy songs like Frozen, but it certainly made me laugh, and that's all I was hoping for.

With all of the well-timed adult humor, there was a good amount of unnecessary "potty" humor that felt more like the filmmakers were reaching for laughs. It's that type of desperate humor that overtakes the ridiculous joy out of seeing the birds angrily soar through the air from a slingshot toward pigs. And yes, to a certain extent you have to suspend your disbelief as to why birds simply can't fly in this film, but hey that's canon in the game.

The central story of Red, voiced by Sudeikis, and his overcoming of his anger was very predictable and doesn't offer anything new with storytelling. In fact, his arc is overtly similar to that of Shrek in the 2001 film. But I did enjoy seeing the dynamic of Red, Chuck, and Bomb as they attempt to uncover what it is the pigs are up to. The script tends to veer off at times in the middle act, as the trio travels to find the 'Mighty Eagle', voiced by Dinklage, but it picks up for a pleasantly heartwarming final act.

+Surprisingly charming

+Voice talent

+Great animated action

-Silly humor reaches for laughs

-Unfocused middle act

7.3/10

This film tells the story of an outcast bird in the bird community, because of his anger problems and because of his thick eyebrows. He saves the day when he recognises that pig visitors may have sinister intentions then they declare.

Yes I enjoyed played Angry Birds before, but when they announced an Angry Birds movie I thought it was rather silly. I thought there would be inadequate plot to fill up the screen time. Hence, I was pleasantly surprised when I watched the trailer. It actually made me want to watch the film! The film has a simple plot, that is basically given away in the trailer. Well, you might just be able to figure it out even not having watched the trailer. Nevertheless, it is a funny film with lots of laughs. I find the urination scene a bit tasteless and far too lengthy, but each to their taste. The ending is quite touching. I enjoyed watching it overall.

I've never played or cared about Angry Birds before, but I still decided to try this movie. And I'm quite glad I did, for it is a lot better than I expected. It is silly and hilarious but it still has a decent plot, moral, and some emotion. The animation is very lively and colorful.

The main character is a grumpy bird called Red whom I'm sure many people would find relatable. Life just doesn't treat him well and so he acts rather angry, leading others to believe he's a terrible bird when all he wants is some peace. The other characters besides Red are likable too and all have their own unique personalities.

Most of the gags in the movie didn't make me laugh out loud, but that's okay because there was still plenty of comedy to enjoy and most of it made me laugh on the inside. There were many adult jokes but most of them weren't blatant enough to be much of a worry if there's a young kid watching. The gross-out humor was distasteful of course but there wasn't as much of it as I thought there'd be; I expected more fart jokes but thankfully there weren't. The puke joke was unappealing but luckily it was only a few seconds; the pee joke is what really bothered me because it was really awkward and lasted way too long.

There are some heart-warming moments and character revelations throughout the movie, particularly near the end, but I shan't be specific to avoid spoilers. The movie mostly focuses on making viewers laugh but there are still other reasons to watch it, such as a nice moral about having faith in yourself and trusting yourself to do the right thing. Anyone who knows Angry Birds could have predicted the plot, and the moral's been done before, but it's still an enjoyable watch.

This is a movie that I was ACTUALLY looking forward to see. I've been a fan of the game from it's inception and I've played it a lot ever since. I would never call myself a die hard fan, but I enjoy the games enough to watch any animations that come out of this product. Saying that, the angry birds toons were wonderfully made, that one Star Wars short they did was beautifully animated, so for this movie, I was at the very least expecting great animation with striking visuals. That is EXACTLY what I got, and that alone would put this movie on a 6 out of 10.

Animation wise this movie is BEAUTIFUL, probably the best animated movie in the sense that the visuals have been the most interesting I've seen so far this year. Surpassing Kung Fu Panda 3 and Zootopia, I find this movie so colourful and pleasant to watch, I could watch this movie on mute and STILL enjoy it to it's fullest

In story it is very weak. Mighty eagle in particular felt very cliché, do they do play around with his cliché character a bit, but not enough to be very funny. Also very predictable storyline, you can pretty much guess what's going to happen by just watching the trailers.

However, what elevates this from a 6 to 7 for me is the character of RED, whom I found surprisingly relatable. Keep in mind, I was just expecting this movie to make me laugh and entertain me a bit, but I found myself really identifying with RED's cynicism and arc. Being a grump because of how people treat him and have treated him in the past but still desiring to hang out like a normal bird with everyone else, even though he's unable to open up to start a relationship with anyone. So I was very pleased with his resolution.

Overall, if you like the game, watch the movie. Worst case scenario, you'll enjoy it but never want to watch it again