THE ANGRY BIRDS MOVIE (PG)

Released by Sony Pictures
Reviewed by Adam Mast

Listen, I hate to sound like a killjoy but I didn’t care for THE ANGRY BIRDS MOVIE. I recognize I’m not the target audience but would it have hurt the filmmakers behind this tedious animated film to at least try and reach a little beyond the target demographic?

Based on the popular game (at least, it was popular a few years back), THE ANGRY BIRDS MOVIE weaves its tale around Red (voiced by Jason Sudeikis), a bird with anger issues who resides on an island populated by other flightless birds. Ultimately, Red is ordered to take an anger management class where he meets a handful of fellow angry birds. Not surprisingly, Red refuses to take the class seriously, and that’s because his anger comes from a place deep within.

When a handful of mysterious green piggies show up to the island unannounced, Red desperately attempts to convince the bird community that these piggies have a hidden agenda. Of course, the community writes Red’s theory off suggesting that it’s all just part of his anger issues. Ultimately though, Red is put in a position where he must become a leader and prove his worth.

My kids really enjoyed this thing. They laughed quite a bit throughout, but for me, it was bordering on torture. From a story and pacing standpoint, THE ANGRY BIRDS MOVIE is dull, mean, and uneventful and what’s more, even the animation is subpar. The character designs, in particular, are pretty uninspired, most notably the green piggies. Again, I recognize that these designs are based on pre-existing characters, but the whole thing struck me as fairly unimaginative.

As for the humor, there are very few laughs to speak of, and the bigger gags are of the off-color variety and hardly child-appropriate: A urine gag involving an Eagle and a lake, Red uttering the line “Pluck my life!” and a bird that shoots fireballs from its butt, etc. There’s even a bizarre, completely out-of-place SHINING reference. Perhaps the most fitting gag in the entire film involves that aforementioned Eagle rocking out to Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up.” That’s right. Watching THE ANGRY BIRDS MOVIE is the equivalent of getting Rickrolled.

THE ANGRY BIRDS MOVIE offers up a few cute moments and it briefly comes alive in the final act when our flightless feathered friends retaliate against an unexpected foe but by and large, I can’t say that this one is worth watching. In fact, I’d give this one the bird!