When we used to commute to work, in a time before services like Netflix, let us download titles to watch, we would pass the time away playing the hugely popular game, Angry Birds.
The game using Birds to cause destruction in order to save eggs from green pigs first appeared in 2009 and as of July 2015 had been downloaded in various formats, including a Star Wars & Rio movie tie-in versions, a staggering Two Billion times!
So it is no surprise that Sony Animation felt this could be great for a film, especially as already had a strong fan base and spawned a popular cartoon TV series, as well as vast range of merchandises from toys to plush replicas.
The film hired Jon Vitti, a writer of animated hits The Simpsons Movie and Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel to bring a full-length adventure for the Angry Birds, to be directed by Fergal Reilly (who has worked on many Sony Animation hits from Hotel Transylvania to the Smurfs) and Clay Katkis (who has worked on many classic Disney films from Mulan to Frozen)
The film follows the story of Red (Voiced by Jason Sudeikis) who following the damaged delivery of a Birthday cake, we learn he has an anger problem, which resulted in the premature hatching of the customers egg.
It appears his anger has been learned from childhood, from constant bullying due to his crazy eyebrows.
At court on Bird Island, the Judge (Voiced by Keegan Michael-Key) is ordered to attend Matilda (Voiced by Maya Rudolph) anger management classes, to become a ‘Free Rage Bird’
At class he attends, he meets Chuck (Voiced by Josh Gad); Bomb (Voiced by Danny McBride) and Terence (who mainly grunts, but is voiced by Sean Penn)
Red, does not face his anger problem and the classes seem pointless to him, but everything changes upon the arrival of Leonard, a green pig (Voiced by Bill Hader) he claims he has arrived alone, with one assistant and wants to befriend the residents of Bird Island, bringing them gifts of catapults and helium balloons.
Red learns that there is more like an army of pigs, not just 2, but Leonard has already won over the birds, with more free stuff such as trampolines and free concerts headlined by the likes of Daft Piggy!
It is only when the pigs reveal their true plan and steal all the birds eggs, that Red is believed, and with the help of them and his anger management class friends as well as the Mighty Eagle (Voiced by Peter Dinklage) set about to get their eggs back.
This of course results in the setting up of the catapults and the carnage that players of the game will know so well.
We enjoyed the movie, but truth be told, feel it lost its way once the pigs arrived, up until then it had been a fun buddy movie. Once the pigs arrive, it seems too busy trying to tie everything up to represent the game.
The film does provide some laughs along the way, but be warned if not a fan of puns, this probably isn’t the film for you, with many plays on birds and pigs are featured in the movie.
The animation is fantastic, you do recognise many of the characters from the games and the cast voice their characters well, Gad was probably our favourite as he has lots of fun as the speed-obsessed chuck.
If you are a big fan of the game or the Angry Birds themselves, this will probably be worth a watch. If not a fan of them, we do not think this will convert you!
Are you an Angry Birds fan? Did you like the film? What would you like to see in the recently announced Angry Birds 2 following the huge Box Office Success of this film.
Watch the trailer here:
Buy the film from Amazon here:
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