THE ANGRY BIRDS MOVIE (Theatrical Release USA 2016)

Ben Meyers’ rating: 3.5|5.0 Stars ììì

The Angry Birds Movie—should have been left in the gaming department. The film bases itself upon a trendy computer game so it’s understandable why the film structures itself the way it does. The audience is left with some comedy and good computer animation. Financially, the film was a smashing box office success which proves once again that we will buy almost anything if we like it even if the value isn’t there. Children, 10-years-old and up, will most likely appreciate this film.

Film Poster Courtesy of Wikipedia

Storyline

The back story on the bestselling game The Angry Birds revolves around Red (voiced by Jason Sudeikis), a flightless bird with a lot of anger issues. After a complete failure to deliver a gluten-free birthday cake to a birthday party on time, he blames the child’s parent for his failure and causes the premature hatching of the parents’ new baby. Law court sentences Red to attend anger management classes. While unwillingly attending these classes, green pigs invade Red’s island home and make it look as if they are settling on the island. In reality, the pigs are stealing the islands’ bird eggs to cook on their own island. Red and a ‘rat pack’ of birds solve this injustice and retrieve the eggs with the help of Mighty Eagle (voice of Peter Dinklage), an Eagle that is renowned for saving and helping the bird city in times past.

Additional Thanks

Good Work for Directors Clay Kaytis and Fergal Reilly. Thank you to Executive Producers Mikael Hed and David Maisel for making the film possible. Additional characters/cast include: Chuck (voice of Josh Gad), Bomb (voice of Danny McBride), Matilda (voice of Maya Rudolph), Leonard (voice of Bill Hader), Terence (voice of Sean Penn), Judge Peckinpah (voice of Keegan-Michael Key), Stella/Eva, the Birthday Mom (voice of Kate McKinnon), Ross/ Cyrus/ Mime (voice of Tony Hale), and Edward, the Birthday Dad (voice of Hannibal Buress).

Buy a ticket? Yes? No? Maybe

Maybe. It took a great deal of imaginative work to produce this game craze into a movie. Because it takes advantage of a craze, it becomes a bit of a ‘cheat’ film for full entertainment value. There are better films for your time and money that won’t con you such as the Shrek series.

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Ben Meyers