Review of The Angry Birds Movie (2016) by Jason M — 24 May 2016

Angry Birds.

Initial Reaction: How many people will play this movie on their tablets?

Main Characters.

Red, Chuck and Bomb: Three birds voiced by Jason Sudeikis, Josh Gad and Danny McBride.

Plot Summary.

For those of us who have not played the tablet (or the console) version of the game this movie is based on, here's the story:

There's an island inhabited with birds living peacefully (well, sort of - Red has anger issues).

Then one day, a bunch of pigs show up and try to make friends with the birds - and most of the birds go for the act (except for Red).

There's a lot of parties and celebrations and anger management issues (been a while since I've seen these three put together in a movie).

But then the pigs unleash their plans and ... do something really bad to the birds. (Those of us who played the game know exactly what it is).

And now the birds have to retaliate and undo what the pigs did to them.

SCORING.

Main Characters.

These three could've been great, but I found that the writers mishandled Red's anger issues. It felt like they just show he gets angry really easy, but don't develop it at all.

And the other two don't add much to the mix. SCORE: 3.

Supporting Cast.

The pigs are okay as bad guys, but there's nothing outstanding about them. And the other birds just don't have much in terms of personality or character. SCORE: 4.

Plot.

The first two thirds of the film was really boring to me because they spend way too much time trying to show us that Red has anger issues and that the Pigs have something else going on.

But the final third part of the film is - pretty good. Fans of the game will like how the ending turns out. SCORE: 5.

Originality.

This film tries to take the game and add something new and fresh to it, but it felt like they just threw ideas at a wall and hoped something would stick. SCORE: 3.

Violence Factor.

Needless to say, there's a lot of buildings in the Pig Kingdom that get destroyed. Yet the pigs don't do much to defend those buildings. Besides, what are those buidlings made of? Paper? SCORE: 4.

Other Moral Issues.

This film is supposed to be about how anger can be a good thing - and how a group of individuals can make a great team to save the day. But the film just rehashes these ideas far too much. SCORE: 4.

Final Score (out of 60): 23 % Score: 38.33%.

They needed to get to the action faster - and spend less time on the story.