Review of Storks (2016) by Jason T — 30 Sep 2016

Storks Review by Jason Thomas.

I went into Storks with very little for expectation and knew very little about the plot from the trailer I had seen, but I was getting a bit concerned that it was aimed at young kids when I seemed to be the only adult there without young kids (mine were at Karate).

Obviously, Storks, is a modern telling of the "storks delivering babies" fable. They have stopped delivering babies after an unfortunate event 18 years prior so the storks are now in the package delivery service. Andy Samberg plays Junior, the stork who is next in line to be the boss of the operation. He is eager to prove he can handle things and prove to Hunter (Kelsey Grammer, the current boss, that he is up to the job. Katie Crown plays Tulip, a human girl who grew up with the storks. Of course things go wrong and Junior and Tulip finds themselves on an adventure to clean up a mess and keep his promotion.

Jennifer Aniston and Ty Burrell play Mr and Mrs Gardner, 2 parents willing to sacrifice ALL of their time to their Realty business at the expense of spending any time with son Nate (Anton Starkman). Nate's loneliness and frustration ends up with him wanting a little brother. All three played well off of each other with some fast and sharp dialogue throughout. If there is a life lesson to be learned in this movie, it is from the Gardners.

Stephen Kramer Glickman plays Pigeon Toady; a rival of Junior's at the company. He plays that fake, annoying person every office seems to have, but WAY over the top! At first it seemed surprising they would do the character in such an over the top way, but it ends up fitting right in with this crazy movie!

And then there are the wolves played by Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele. I didn't realize it was Key and Peele when I saw the film, but they had me in stitches! To say that the movie is over the top is nothing compared to the wolf pack parts of the film! I certainly saw something I have never seem before..completely ridiculous and impossible, but hilarious! For their scenes, the wolf pack steals the show! There was some incredibly creative animation here.

The story plays out in a somewhat predictable direction, but the gags, dialogue and elements to the story are what made this movie a fun experience. There are a few emotional subjects and scenes, but its not going to resonate in the same way many Pixar movies have, nor should they. It's clear this is on the comedy side of the animated film genre and it is far funnier than most adult, live action comedies I have seen. The over the top characters and situations were sharp and funny. They don't even try to be subtle with some jokes aimed at a more adult audience. Thankfully they don't really make jokes about where babies come from, which would be awkward as a parent, but, where some movies would make a subtle joke about a pee joke, they blatantly call it out and say.

If you liked the crazy antics and humour in the Lego Movie you'll certainly enjoy Storks. It is a very funny and crazy movie! It may not be a classic like Toy Story or the Iron Giant, but it will certainly entertain for 90 minutes!

I give Storks a 7.5 out of 10.