Saturday, May 14, 2016

Review of THE ANGRY BIRDS MOVIE: Flustered Feathers

May 13, 2016




Angry Birds is a video game franchise created by Finnish company Rovio Entertainment,  It was first released in December 2009. By July 2015, the series’ various games in all its different formats have been downloaded over three billion times the world over. It was not a big wonder that a film would eventually be made from the characters of this game.

Practically everyone has seen at least the original game with the five birds: main bird Red, yellow bird Chuck, black bird Bomb, white bird Matilda, and triple Blues. Many should be familiar with the maddening physics-laced puzzle game play of launching these angry birds to hit the green pigs hiding under various structures. Not too good with analyzing projectile motion, I admit I was not so patient with this game.

The film's storyline tells of Red as a miserable hotheaded outcast with poor people skills. A violent altercation with another bird caused him to be sentenced to attend Anger Management classes under Matilda. There, he met Chuck and Bomb, as well as quiet giant maroon bird named Terence. One day, a ship of green pigs landed on the birds' island. While the other birds welcomed their unusual guests, Red remained suspicious that the Pigs were up to no good. Unfortunately, Red's worst fears were soon confirmed, and birds have to go beyond themselves to get their precious treasures back.

The film as a whole was better than what the trailer showed. For the most part, the storytelling was very entertaining. The best part of the film was the climactic battle where we saw the birds in action with the giant slingshot, but it was too short, I felt. It was too bad we only saw the green boomerang toucan bird Hal, the tiny orange bird Bubbles and the cute pink bird Stella all too briefly. On the other hand, an inordinately long, occasionally awkward, time was spent with the iconic Mighty Eagle.

The voices come from some of the most popular comedians working in Hollywood today. Jason Sudeikis was Red. Danny McBride was Bomb. Maya Rudolph was Matilda. Bill Hader was Leonard. Josh Gad, whom we last heard as Olaf in "Frozen," was Chuck, a hyperactive voice performance I really enjoyed. Peter Dinklage did so well in his ironic casting the Mighty Eagle. It is very surprising that the first time I have seen Sean Penn's name in a film again was as Terence. Fans of the Youtube channel Smosh will be delighted that Ian Hecox and Anthony Padilla have cameos here as the voices of Bubbles and Hal respectively.

The comedy was rather weird to describe. The jokes can really be juvenile, shallow and silly, but there were also quite a number of adult humor (some even creepy or uncomfortable references). I liked the obvious parody of the "Time in a Bottle" scene from "X-Men Days of Future Past" or that Grady twins reference from "The Shining." I liked the cheery and cheesy retro pop songs in the soundtrack, by artists from Rick Astley to Limp Bizkit, to accompany the most unexpected scenes. 

I had fun watching it for sure, but I cannot say I completely liked this film. It was really had to put a finger on what exactly the film lacked, but my kids and I all felt it while watching. Looking back now, I think it may have been this odd sense of humor, which felt forced and flat at times. Anyhow, the small kids in the theater were giggling and laughing so much at the wacky antics of the main avian crew, as well as those little round green pigs and super-cute wide-eyed hatchlings. Because of their delighted reactions, I guess then that the film did hit their target audience right, and that is most important. 6/10.


19 comments:

  1. I am really excited about this film. I was poor at the game, but the trailers look good. Sometimes an easy to follow juvinile film is good to relax the mind

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  2. I didn't know that the birds had names. Haha. I'm going to watch this soon. It's in my watch list now.

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  3. I used to play the game but I'm not really interested with the movie, although I like to watch animated films. I guess as long as it has a good mix of a superb storyline and great humor, I'd go for it.

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  4. i laughed out loud when i found out they're having an angry birds movie! and i didn't even know they have names! probably won't catch this when it comes to our theatres.

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  5. I haven't seen this one. I'm interested as to how they would turn the concept of the game into a story line. I guess it's really a feel good movie meant to make people laugh. Although you did say that the humor wasn't that good.

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  6. I think I would like to catch this film with the family. I am sure the kids will enjoy this. We all loved the game and I am sure we will like the movie too.

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  7. I'm looking forward for this movie.. Bet my kids would love it as well.. Angry Bird is so cute!

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  8. Honestly I haven't played angry birds even once!!! I love the characters though, they looks cute.

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  9. Eagerly waiting for thes catchy movie. It is must watch for the kids here

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  10. I can't wait to watch this movie. I must confess that i wasn't aware that an angry bird's movie was being made though! Now that i do, going to check when it is showing near me!!!

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  11. I wonder why they only did this movie only now. They should have done it when Angry Birds was the top game. It looks like a nice movie for kids though.

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  12. The premiere is pretty late in Singapore and I'm catching the preview next Saturday. Now with your "warning", I'm not sure if I really want to watch it anymore~

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  13. It is launching in Singapore this saturday and will be going to catch it. kids cant wait to watch it.

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  14. My son wants to see this in the theater. I think we'll go. :)

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  15. We were able to watch this movie and I must say that it is a worth the money movie! My son really enjoys watching the movie and he really had fun.

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  16. I used to play angry birds a lot. But now somehow not too interested. Even kids have other craze now compared to angry birds.

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  17. Sausage Party Movie Review
    http://hobymovie.blogspot.com/2016/05/sausage-party-movie-review.html

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  18. Nice movie, angry birds is my favorite game. Worth to watch. To watch the birds visit the link

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