Let me preface this review by stating that I hold no disdain towards “The Angry Bird Movie” because it’s based on a mobile game. I know most reviews of the film will be cluttered with complaints and snarky commentary on how Hollywood has run out of ideas and is turning to mobile games of all places for inspiration. I honestly don’t care at this point where Hollywood gets their ideas as long as they produce something of quality. For example, “The Lego Movie” sounds like a wasteland of creative bankruptcy, yet it was one of the cleverest, creative, and charming films to be released in years!
“The Angry Birds Movie” doesn’t come close to reaching the dizzying heights of “The Lego Movie.” At its best, it’s a mild diversion from boredom. At its worst, it’s a repetitive slog of puns. I like puns just as much as the next person, but a ninety-seven minute film can’t rely on them to provide the bulk of its jokes. Simply replacing a common term and making it fowl grows tiresome very quickly. Birthday becoming hatchday, natural childbirth becoming natural childhatch, and birth control becoming bird control are worth a chuckle, but nothing substantial to rely on constantly. Jon Vitti is credited for writing the screenplay, though I reckon Becky Lynch was a ghost writer.
The only other humor comes from the anger of the protagonist, Red (Jason Sudeikis). Granted, he comes off as mildly annoyed as opposed to angry most of the time, but he has his fits of rage. After losing his cool on a family that won’t pay for their gluten-free hatchday cake, Red accidentally cracks open one of their eggs, prompting their newborn to mistake Red for its father. The town judge (Keegan-Michael Key) orders him to attend anger management. This is where he meets Chuck (Josh Gad), a hyperactive bird version of Quicksilver, Bomb (Danny McBride), a bird who literally blows up when angry, and Terence (Sean Penn), a silent menace who secretly has a heart of gold (and a crush on the instructor).
The direction by Fergal Reilly & Clay Kaytis is aimless for a while, banking on bird puns and jokes at the expense of Red’s anger to carry the film. It’s once the green pigs arrive that the story finally picks up. The pigs convince the town that they’re explorers looking to make friends with the birds. Red is suspicious and tries to convince the town that they’re up to no good, but to no avail. Despite his rude dismissal of the two, Chuck and Bomb accompany Red on his quest to track down Mighty Eagle (Peter Dinklage), a mystical bird that is the only one on the island that can actually fly.
Mighty Eagle is entirely pointless to the film, serving only as a false idol to Red. The lonely and bullied Red grew up idolizing Mighty Eagle, despite children picking on him for believing in an urban legend. It turns out Mighty Eagle is real, but is a wackadoodle (as Red puts it). While the actual purpose of the character is for Red to find the hero inside of himself, the real reason seems to be to have a lame musical number where he dances around like a buffoon. There’s also a gross-out gag that feels more at home in “Neighbors 2” than in “Angry Birds” where Mighty Eagle is caught urinating in the water that Chuck and Bomb were previously drinking out of. It’s a gross gag, but it made me laugh, so it’s got that going for it.
Reilly & Kaytis eventually get the film back on track and reveals that the pigs are secretly stealing the birds’ eggs for a big feast. They sail off to their island with the eggs in tow, leaving the townsbirds to apologize to Red and beg for his help. He concocts a plan to build their own boat, sail over to the pigs’ island, then launch themselves at their base in order to retrieve their eggs. It’s at this point the film finally becomes the tower simulation game that it’s based off of and it is admittedly charming, albeit brief. Each bird finds their own ability to exploit, with the anger management instructor having the best (and most random) ability: she can fart out fireworks. How long until the Avengers recruit a superhero who can fart out fireworks?
I mentioned “The Lego Movie” earlier as an example of a licensed property being adapted into a smart and uplifting story. “The Angry Birds Movie” never quite reaches its potential, but at least there’s an attempt. Where the director struggles to create a worthwhile and engaging story, he does his best to instill heart and a message into the mix. It’s not revealed until the final act, so it doesn’t resonate as strongly as it should, but at least there is one. That message being that one must manage their anger and use it to their advantage, all the while working with and trusting others. It’s not a wholly original message, but it’s a serviceable one.
Final Rating: C+