Count me amongst those who don’t know that much about The Angry Birds. Had never seen the television show. I had played the game a couple of times only going into watching the film and not really enjoyed it. So I had no allegiance to it at all. Colour me surprised then that I kind of enjoyed it. That because though it most certainly is a kid’s film it does do things that will entertain the older fans in the crowd. There are a lot of characters in the film and we can all see ourselves in one or another of them.
Because this is primarily a film for young people there are lessons involved. One of the primary ones is about anger. We see Red’s (voiced by Jason Sudeikis) anger and what happens when you lose your temper too often. Keeping control is shown to be important. Despite his anger management issues Red is easy to like.
Ever wondered why these birds are called The Angry Birds? Well, Clay Kaytis (first film) and Fergal Reilly’s (first film) film will endeavour to answer the question. On an island there resides a large group of flightless birds. Despite the fact that they cannot fly for the most part the birds here are rather a happy bunch. Red is the notable exception with his temper that flies off the handle at the drop of a hat. He has gathered up a small group of outsiders, Chuck (voiced by Josh Gad) and Bomb (voiced by Danny McBride), as his friends.
Things are going along rather normally on Bird Island until a group of green pigs mysteriously arrive. Most of the birds are won over by the piggies. That is except for Red, who believes they are up to something nefarious. Most of the birds lead a rather sheltered life and don’t know much about the outside world. As such they are fairly easy targets. They especially like all the parties, fun and gifts the piggies arrive with. All this is really not because the piggies are kind or benevolent; it is a smokescreen covering up their real intention of stealing the birds’ eggs. Now it is going to be up to Red, Bomb and Chuck to save Bird Island.
The slapstick humour will have kids laughing a bunch. It really addresses them at their level. There are a couple of acknowledgements to the older folk in the audience accompanying the younger ones with some references to more adult things like the film The Shining.
An important element of any animated film is the voice actors. Here they have plenty of big name comedy people. Maya Rudolph, Bill Hader, Keenan-Michael Key, Tony Hale, Hannibal Burress, Tituss Burgess and Kate McKinnon are there alongside more serious dramatic actors like Sean Penn and Peter Dinklage as well as a couple of musicians – Blake Shelton and Charli XCX. All bring plenty of energy to their characters.
Special Features:
-Bonus Scene – Chuck’s Rescue
-Angry Birds Action! How to Sync
-Blake Shelton Music Video “Friends”
-Making Music With Composer Heitor Pereira
-Photo Gallery
-In Theater Policy Trailers
-Previews of Angry Birds Toons – Season 03, Volume 01, Surf’s Up 2: Wave Mania, Open Season: Scared Silly, The Swan Princess: Princess Tomorrow, Pirate Today, Hotel Transylvania 2
-Symphony Mode
-Digital Copy
