Review of Storks (2016) by Michael M — 21 Feb 2017

Man this really came out of nowhere. I mean, it's not a great movie, but considering what it could have been, damn. I expected a s****y kids animated movie somewhere in the realm of a Smurfs sequel, but what I got was a surprisingly funny and actually quite heartwarming adventure.

It's extremely fast and very in your face, kind of reminiscent of The LEGO Movie. Not all the jokes work, but if one joke doesn't work, chances are there's another one that will right around the corner.

It really plays on the unexpected and sometimes slightly dark humor, with a lot of lines that make you go "wait, did they just say that?" It's nothing risqué or inappropriate for kids, it's more just that the direction they'll take a joke usually catches you off-guard.

This pack of wolves they meet near the middle of the movie have a running gag that is straight up some Looney Tunes level nonsense, but damnit all if it didn't make me laugh each time it happened.

There's this little pygmy bird who annoyed the crap out of me most of the time he was on screen, but even he had a couple moments where things would go to a place I didn't see coming and end up with me laughing.

Andy Samberg as the lead stork is absolutely perfect, and the animation team even got a lot of his mannerisms to come through in bird form. Kelsey Grammer as the boss stork is also great, this is the type of role he's just perfect for.

It's also a surprisingly heartwarming movie, with a strong message about family and finding your home. It's not a particularly original message, but hey, they do such a nice job with it that you don't mind seeing it again.

Not going to lie, Storks had me welling up a bit near the end, and I was laughing pretty hard and pretty consistently through most of it. There's really only a couple things keeping it from a higher ranking.

The first being that obnoxious pygmy stork who annoyed the hell out of me, and the second being that since it's a comedy that relies heavily on surprise I don't know how well it'll stand the test of time or be something that warrants repeat viewings.

Even so, in this first viewing, I had a really good time. It has its clichés, but it also has lots of originality, and the heart of it all brings the whole thing together.