The Angry Birds Movie

Year: 2016
Directors: Clay Kaytis and Fergal Reilly
Voice cast: Jason Sudeikis, Josh Gad, Danny McBride, Bill Hader, Peter Dinklage, Maya Rudolph


Plot: Red is an outcast bird with anger issues, trying to live a normal life among the other birds on an island. When mysterious green pigs arrive on the island, Red immediately suspects them to be up to no good, but no one will listen to him. Red has to stop the pigs, who are on the island to steal the birds' eggs.


Review: Who hasn't played the Angry Birds game before? It's one of the most famous computer games in the world, though admittedly it's not as hot as it once was, but still hugely popular. Now we have an animated film based on it.

It's a storyline we are most familiar with. There's a hero, who isn't a hero yet, who will become a hero by the film's end and discover his calling/purpose, and in this case, he rallies the non believers into being what the game says they are: angry. I can easily relate to Red, an outcast with anger problems who can't seem to get along with anyone, and thus he finds it impossible to convince his flock that something bad is afoot when green pigs arrive, looking cool and talking sweet. The birds realize too late that the pigs are after their eggs, and fail to stop them. Red and his friends, Chuck (who moves at rocket speed like in the game) and Bomb (who blows up literally, like in the game), rally the birds to get their eggs back.

Seeing that Rovio, the company that created the game, did the animation here themselves, it certainly is an impressive feat in my opinion. It uses lots of colors that brighten the entire film while ensuring the key characters all look just like their game counterparts.

The script is quite funny too as it takes plenty of jabs at pop culture, and a wide selection of famous songs can be heard throughout the film, from Never Gonna Give You Up to Behind Blue Eyes to Rock You Like A Hurricane etc. There's even a spontaneous like rendition of a Mighty Eagle song that will have you in stitches.

The film does start to lose its momentum a little towards the end, and a lot of the film's tone is rather juvenile. And as much fun as the film was as a whole, it does have a strong by-the-numbers feel about it. You can easily predict how the film will end.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed it a lot, and you can do a lot worse at the cinema if you're not planning on watching Civil War again. A decent way to kill 90 minutes. (7/10)