The Angry Birds Movie Review

Anyone who has played the ‘Angry Birds’ game since its debut in 2010 would love to watch a movie about it and that too in 3D but ‘ The Angry Games Movie’ makes one feel that playing the game is a much better time pass.

The story has Red (voiced by Jason Sudekis) as the central character who is an outcast in Bird Land due to his issues with anger.  After an incident over a cake delivery Red is ordered by the judge to undergo anger management and there he meets and becomes friends with Chuck (the yellow pointed beaked bird in the game voiced by Josh Gad), Matilda (the white rounded bird who bombs voiced by Maya Rudolf) , Bomb ( the black bombing bird in the game voiced by Danny Mcbride and the very big very angry Terence (a huge version of Red “grunted” by Sean Penn).  Leonard the pig arrives on a boat with his sidekick posing as a friend and starts entertaining the birds with shows but Red is the only one who opposes them suspecting foul play and the others isolate him further.  Red’s suspicion is proved right as the piggies steal a horde of unhatched eggs and make a clean getaway and it is now left to the hero and his friends to lead the birds into pig land for the rescue act.

The sequence that does provide a good laugh is when Red and co. set out on top of the Eagle Mountain in search of Mighty Eagle to get his help and when they finally meet him(voiced by Peter Dinklage) only to become literally nauseated and dejected.    Mighty Eagle however,  has his own character arc as he takes care of the rescue act in the climax.  Other characters that bring a smile on are the Judge, the huggy bird whose advertisement reads "first hug free" and the contemporary references strewn all over.

Directors Clay Kaytis and Fergal Reilly both veteran animators have done a perfect job as far their animation craft is concerned.  The colourful birds and the birdland and the pigland are both pleasing to the eye and all the action scenes are spot on.  The voice cast and the other technical crew are top notch.

Screenwriter Jon Vitti has failed to string together an engaging screenplay in the first place and the funny moments too are few and far between.  The little blue birds that split into three in the game are only born at the end of the movie suggesting that a sequel is on the cards and one hopes that will have an engaging script attached to the amazing visual  treat.

Verdict : The Birds and the pigs will surely amuse pre-school kids