The Angry Birds Movie: Bird Flipping Distractions

​The Angry Birds Movie is colorful and harmless for families, but all-in-all it’s just a 99 cent app turned into a $10 cash grab movie for Rovio and Sony. 

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Being an avid flipping-the-bird guru on my iPhone, The Angry Birds Movie is a bizarre and fast translation from the $1 billion smartphone game turned into a feature length film. These colorful birds are helmed by a talented voice cast (Jason Sudeikis, Josh Gad, Danny McBride, Maya Rudolph, Bill Hader as Leonard, Peter Dinklage, Sean Penn, Keegan-Michael Key, Blake Shelton and more) and vibrant animation, but lacks any narrative structure adapted from the smartphone app.

Sure, the film might knock some sillies out of you leaving viewers in the end mildly satisfied and nothing more. Want to find out why these birds are so angry? Well there’s an island populated by happy, flightless birds who are suddenly bombarded by mysterious green pigs. Now, it’s up to three outcasts – Red (Sudeikis), Chuck (Gad) and Bomb (McBride) to figure out what the pigs are really up to.

​Unfortunately, these mad birds never take flight and instead of focusing on the plot, first-time directors Fergal Reilly and Clay Kaytis and writer Jon Vitti (Alvin and the Chipmunks and The Simpsons Movie) decide to throw as many gags/pop culture references at the audience as they can. Yes, it will keep the little ones distracted for a full 97 minutes, while you mindlessly destroy green pigs on your smartphone. In the end, The Angry Birds Movie is a harmless and mildly entertaining translation throughout but not enough to fully recommend nor satisfy smartphone pundits from setting their devices aside. 

The Angry Birds Movie is rated PG (Parental Guidance) For rude humor and action.