Angry Birds: Le film

'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.

Watch our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoRwrYi1UcY

Having never played the app/game, it was going to be interesting to see whether 'The Angry Birds Movie' was going to make something interesting out of it and how it was going to be succeed.

'The Angry Birds Movie' is not perfect, but this reviewer was really surprised at how much she enjoyed it. There are better animated films out there and there were better released this year (i.e. 'Zootropolis' aka 'Zootopia' in some places), but also far worse on both counts. From the two animated films seen recently at the cinema, 'The Angry Birds Movie' is the superior film of the two. The other was 'Ratchet & Clank', which is not as bad as critics made out (personal opinion of course) and could have been much worse considering video game adaptations' dubious track record, but also had too many flaws to be considered a good film.

Getting the flaws out of the way, the story in 'The Angry Birds Movie' is somewhat flimsy and has a tendency to be thin on the ground with a couple of unnecessary parts and parts that don't really go anywhere. It does occasionally feel rushed too, and while the film entertains hugely a vast majority of the time there are a couple of gags that misfire. This is especially true with the quite tasteless, awkwardly placed and too overlong urination gag, that was also really quite out of place.

However, the animation in 'The Angry Birds Movie' is great. The colours are sumptuous and brightly vibrant, the characters are well-modelled and never look stiff or ugly and there are some very colourful and meticulously detailed backgrounds. There are also some very imaginative visuals in the action sequences. The music never makes the mistake of being stylistically jarring or over-bearing, and has a lot of infectious personality and energetic verve.

While not hilarious as such and unashamedly but endearingly silly, the script has some very funny moments, is tonally balanced with very little that's inappropriate or distasteful, is solidly balanced without being disjointed or muddled and there are some clever and witty lines. The action sequences are beautifully animated and thrilling, the message is a great one, gives the film a surprisingly emotional core without being over-sentimental or preachy and the climax is quite the knockout and the highlight of the film.

'The Angry Birds Movie's colourful characters carry the film beautifully, with a protagonist that is easy to relate to and Mighty Eagle despite being a marmite character is great fun. The villains do pose a reasonable threat though are not particularly interesting. The voice acting, including actors who you wouldn't expect to work as well as they did in voice acting, is excellent, with the best contribution coming from Peter Dinklage.

All in all, surprisingly very entertaining and much better than it had a right to see considering what it was based on. 7/10 Bethany Cox

So I never played the game before. I should have done that before I saw it, but the movie actually gave me a pretty good run through on how to play the game as well as tips on how to get far in the game and how to use all the birds in the game, so that's cool. They did a better job at it than the movies Battleship and Doom.

Loved all the voice talent in the movie lead by Jason Sudeikis who plays the Red bird, with a hot temper whose force into anger management were he forms relationships with other angry birds, Chuck, played by Josh Gad, Bomb, played by Danny McBride, and Terrance who was played brilliantly by Sean Penn. They are the only one's who can help Red when he realizes the friendly Pigs that invaded their Island are up to something.

I loved the animation and the design of the characters. It's very funny and entertaining.

I think that because my expectations were so low going in, I ended up really enjoying this movie. The promotional footage and images with the bright colors and goofy character designs made me think that this movie was being targeted for really little kids, but DON'T BE FOOLED. This is definitely aimed for the 10 and older demographic, as evidenced by all the pee jokes and innuendos. That being said, I was delightfully surprised by the clever humor, beautiful animation, and insanely fun climax. I must say, though, that this movie's greatest achievement is having one of the best voice casts I've ever seen. Jason Sudeikis is a strong center to the film, and his deadpan delivery makes me upset that he is no longer attached to that Fletch reboot. Bill Hader creates a Gregory Peck, George C. Scott-like persona as the villainous Leonard. Peter Dinklage almost steals the show as the a flawed icon of the birds. There's also some great work being done by the likes of Maya Rudolph, Kate McKinnon, Keegan Michael-Key, and, of all people, Sean Penn, and it's fun to hear some great TV actors like Tony Hale, Danielle Brooks, Ike Barinholtz and Tituss Burgess in smaller roles. The highlights, though, are Josh Gad and Danny McBride, who help create two of the most memorable sidekicks in modern film animation. While watching this movie, I kept comparing it to Zootopia. While Zootopia had a much more original premise and all-around creativity, Angry Birds was stronger in terms of humor and all-around enjoyment, which I think comes from the simplicity of the story and characters.

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