By With videogame adaptations becoming more common, it was only a matter of time before we would end up in this situation. A videogame popular for its gameplay and mechanics rather than its story would get the big screen treatment as is the case with Rovio’s Angry Birds. Oddly enough, having no narrative to rely on benefits The Angry Birds Movie way more than you’d think.
All the upcoming big screen adaptations like Space Invaders, Centipede, Tetris, Fruit Ninja take note, The Angry Birds Movie is how you make the best out of a terrible situation. Although it’s not necessarily a good experience, it could’ve been much, much worse.
The Angry Birds Movie
Directors: Clay Kaytis and Fergal Reilly
Rating: PG
Release Date: May 20, 2016
At the center of The Angry Birds Movie is Red (Jason Sudeikis), a bird with an unchecked anger issue because he’s been alone his entire life. He’s been separated from the rest of the birds in town until he’s forced to spend time in anger management which leads him to his future partners in crime Chuck (Josh Gad) and Bomb (Danny McBride). When a ship full of pigs, led by the sneaky Leonard (Bill Hader), pulls up to bird island claiming to be friendly, Red leaves in search of the legendary hero known as Mighty Eagle (Peter Dinklage) for help. After shenanigans from the pigs, it’s up to Red, Chuck, and Bomb to find the hero and save the island.
Before getting into the nitty gritty, I want to take some time out to comment on how much work went into Angry Birds. It is honestly refreshing to see decent production and time on what seemed like a total cash-in project (from its inception to its last couple of trailers the film reeked of things other than quality) has . The animation is slick, the bird designs have a simple, easy to manipulate geometry (utilizing both hard angles and softer, cutesy spherical shapes), and the cast handles the material as well as they can. Sudeikis has already proved his capacity to lead a film time and time again, and now he can add voice over work to that list. Red’s as charming as he needs to be without the script resorting to the same types of “kooky” dialogue the rest of the characters are subjected to. None of the actors come across as phony, with the weakest performance coming from Hader’s Leaonard. Then again, even a weak Hader is better than you’d expect so it’s a roundabout positive.
Once you get past the bread, you realize there’s not a lot of meat on this chicken sandwich. Trying as hard as the visuals might, The Angry Birds Movie simply can’t shake off how generic it is. It may not have the luxury of a videogame narrative to adapt, but that doesn’t excuse a lot of its choices. While the freedom of a creating a whole universe brings about some neat little oddities differentiating it from other animated films (like anger management having weight in the plot, for example), the same is true for the opposite end of the spectrum. Quite a few quirks and dialogue choices should have been reconsidered. At one point, Angry Birds crosses the line into full-on annoying territory when Chuck and Bomb degenerate into incessant noise making machines for two minutes just so it can get a reaction from its kid audience.
The Angry Birds Movie is at a constant state of flux. Battling between originality and what’s easier to write, the film is always holding itself back. In fact, it even takes a hit whenever it has to reference the videogame series. Like when the series’ famous slingshot is introduced, it feels forced in. But in that same breath, that very slingshot leads to a well storyboarded climax. So it’s an odd toss up between the film’s potential audiences. Rather than create a film that’s ultimately appealing to the widest demographic possible, you have a film that appeals to folks with select scenes. Some scenes will appeal to the two year olds who like to repeat funny sounds, the three year olds who like gross out humor, the adult who appreciates good animation, or that one parent in my screening who lost his mind the entire time. I’m glad at least that guy had a good time.
I’d hate to end a review with nothing more than an “it could’ve been worse” sentiment, but honestly that’s all I feel about The Angry Birds Movie. It came, it went, it’s probably coming back (or at least confident in a sequel enough to promote it during the credits and the extra scene available on mobile phones), and yet it doesn’t really deserve any hearty emotions.
The Angry Birds Movie is not terrible enough to earn your rage, but it’s not good enough to earn your praise either. A decent outcome from a numerous range of negative potential outcomes earns the film a small victory.