The Angry Birds Movie

Year: 2016
Genre: Family-Oriented Comedy
Directed: Clay Kaytis & Fergal Reilly
Stars: Jason Sudeikis, Josh Gad, Danny McBride, Maya Rudolph, Bill Hader, Peter Dinklage, Sean Penn, Keegan-Michael Key, Kate McKinnon, Tony Hale, Hannibal Buress, Ike Barinholtz
Production: Rovio Entertainment

Films based on video games have come a long way since the late Bob Hoskins first dawned blue denim overalls and plumber hat while on a quest to save the princess. Unabashed video game nerds have had to contend with the ridiculously campy adaptations of the 1990's, the unbearably turgid reworkings of the 2000's and the vacuous renditions on the 2010's; to say nothing of the atrocious low-budget, spazoid tinkerings of Uwe Boll. I have no doubt that one day, one day soon, there will be a good movie based on a video game. Unfortunately The Angry Birds Movie is not that movie.

Boll's general attitude towards Far Cry fans.

The film centers on a small island community of birds who exist peacefully under the presumed eye of Mighty Eagle (Dinklage) who legend has, can actually fly. The only proud miscreant of the flock is Red (Sudeikis) who due to his latest outburst, is forced into anger management class at Matilda's (Rudolph) angry bird sanctuary. It is there Red meets fellow outcasts Chuck (Gad), Bomb (McBride) and the strong, silent Terence (Penn). Things in the community begin to change for the worse with the arrival of King Leonard (Hader) and the pigs who distract the native birds with useless trinkets while plotting to steal the flocks' eggs.

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It is abundantly clear from the first half hour that the film doesn't have enough plot to actually fill it's entire hour and a half length. To pad it, the movie inundates the audience with a barrage of dated, low-brow jokes and bird/pig/egg based puns that halt just long enough to bask in assumed chuckles and applause like a sitcom laugh track. The jokes that actually manage to land are ripped whole-cloth from better movies whose writers may have been offended if the movie wasn't so inconsequential.

Inconsequential but still hard to digest; especially when sitting in a theater full of families who seem to pay no mind as Angry Birds seems to belay a confusing message. The pigs are portrayed as one-dimensional, easily distracted, bumbling idiots whose singular aim is to steal children. Meanwhile the only bird questioning their motives is the angriest bird in the village who seems less concerned about the village than with his own piece of mind. What is the message here exactly? It's alright to be angry? It's okay to be suspicious and even hostile to outsiders? What outsiders need is a common enemy they can use to be welcomed into their community?

This sorta rings a bell.

As with all movies of this type, throngs of un-invested parents may lob a half-hearted defense of The Angry Birds Movie. It's just a kid's movie after all; why try to analyze and criticize a movie meant for children? They're just here for the pretty colors and physical humor. This argument is as stale as the jokes that plague this movie. Inside Out (2015) is a kid's movie; The Lego Movie (2014) is a kid's movie; The Little Mermaid (1989) is a kid's movie and they still manage to be emotionally complex, legacy making and wildly entertaining films. Perhaps presently children won't internalize messages of being true to yourself, celebrating your uniqueness and aspiring for more. But eventually those children will grow up and model themselves based on, among other things, the media they consumed. Do you want your child to be more like Emmet in The Lego Movie, or Red in The Angry Birds Movie.

I kinda feel like Red right about now...

I was rooting for this movie myself. While video game adaptations have proved a troubled sub-genre with unanimously lackluster results, I still hope for one good flick before the end of the decade. Unfortunately, with bad jokes, boring characters, dubious themes and a generally condescending attitude towards its audience, The Angry Birds Movie tows the line between harmlessly bad and malignantly bad.

Final Grade: F