Review of Storks (2016) by Andrew M — 24 Sep 2016

I'm genuinely still not sure quite what to make of this. Right up front I'm pretty sure kids will love this, at least judging from their reactions in my theatre. However, I can only speak for myself and my own reaction is rather mixed.

There are parts of this film that are just outright annoyed me. The Pigeon (Stephen Kramer Glickman) for starters. Granted, he's the type of character who is supposed to be funny annoying, but none of his gags made me laugh so he just grated on my nerves whenever he was on screen. Aside from that, most of the time this film just doesn't know when to stop talking. Characters are constantly chattering, bickering, or just making noises, with no break even in between scenes. This is a problem I've noticed increasingly in animated films outside of Disney/Pixar and to a lesser extent Dreamworks. Some more quiet time to just experience what is on screen, which at times was impressive to look at, would have been appreciated.

Other parts were simply outright weird. I may be giving to much thought to this, but that these storks have an actual machine that makes human babies based on written letters simultaneously hurts my head and makes me want to laugh. I have similar thoughts about the wolfpack (headed by Keegan-Michael Key's Alpha and Jordan Peele's Beta) which is so bizarre even the other characters comment on it. Yes, I acknowledge that this is a world where storks deliver babies so things are going to be weird, but given it's heavily implied babies happen "other ways" as well the result is it's rather hard for me to process what actually constitutes normal in this film's universe. To put it another way, if the film always worked on "Looney Toons" physics (as this is a WB film that would be appropriate enough) that would have been fine, but when characters who themselves are using those kinds of rules react in shock when other characters start using similar rules it's hard to know what's expected.

All that out of the way, there are parts of this film that are genuinely heartfelt, outright funny, or both. My favorite was a sequence on a rooftop involving some penguins where I was honestly having trouble staying in my seat due to laughter. Even some of the wolfpack bits, bizarre though most were, did get several solid chuckles simply due to how well it was. The overall family motif works pretty well, even if the plot points are pretty predictable.

The voice work is pretty good. Kelsey Grammar can probably play a commanding boss-type in his sleep now, so that was pretty much perfect. Andy Samberg's stork and Katie Crown's Tulip, the now teenage orphan the storks were raising, serve well as the main protagonists, with their emotional scenes overcoming their aforementioned near constant yammering.

The animation, while not quite up to the best of Disney/Pixar or even Dreamworks, is still pretty good looking. It's a stylistic choice to not look quite real, and for what this film sets out to do it fits. Making it look more real would not have worked. So while I don't think this is destined to be a classic by any means, it's certainly mostly harmless.

If your kids want to see it, pack them up for a matinee and you should be fine, as there's enough here that works to overcome what doesn't.