Red (Jason Sudeikis) is just your typical outcast main character who has the slightest problem with his anger management, spurred on by the constant bullying and public humiliation caused by his unusually large eyebrows and an upbringing without family. He easily loses his temper, and following one such occasion where his annoyance caused an early birth is sentenced in court to attend anger management classes. At this class, he meets three fellow fowls in the form of the speedy Chuck (Josh Gad), the explosion-prone Bomb (Danny McBride) and a giant grunter known as Terence (Sean Penn), alongside his teacher Matilda (Maya Rudolph), and he's reluctant to allow any change to his mood. But when a boat crashes into his beach-residing home filled with strange creatures known as pigs (lead by Bill Hader's Leonard), he's immediately sceptical of their hospitality, bringing Bomb and Chuck with him to investigate the invading swines despite everyone else's open opinions on the travellers. With the pigs obviously up to something, and when even the god-like Mighty Eagle (Peter Dinklage) is reluctant to help out, can Red and company prove to the rest of the volery that these green hams have a secret agenda revolving around their eggs?
Those at all familiar with the games, or indeed movies in general, will be well-aware by how this film plays out as it follows the 'outcast becomes a hero' story in a very basic manner, but what's perhaps the most baffling thing is just how oddly structured the whole thing goes down; taking plenty of time to introduce the main trio of characters and the island they reside on (complete with a montage of Red's life that plays out chronological order...because reasons), rushing the pig element and Red's immediate dislike for them, then padding the film out largely before the 5-10 minute final battle where the game would usually begin. Under the circumstances of the source material, it's a fine way to treat it, and indeed fine to include the main segment of the game as a big finale as opposed to the whole film, but because of the weird structure and the largely dull script (very few laughs but a few sight gags filled with bird puns will likely create some chuckles from older audiences) it leaves the film feeling as empty as a hatched egg: mostly empty, but with a small creature sitting inside which shows promise.
The animation itself is both a hit and a miss in two different viewpoints – the scenery and the character design. One does look great at times, with an opening sequence which delves into the vast greenery showing early promise against the more cartoony elements around it (think The Good Dinosaur, but with the landscapes still looking a bit fake for the sake of keeping it looking like it fits together), but the other showing a weird attempt at upgrading the original designs into something a little more manageable. A move that makes sense, considering how the original look had a severe lack of legs and wings/arms, but it just looks really weird and doesn't show much promise when in motion; and while it's nice that they comment on the factor that these birds can't fly (kinda) it doesn't really forgive them for the choices made for these flightless animals. The villainous pigs also have a weird upgrade given to them, but with extra pop culture elements added to them to make them seem even more outdated.
The characters themselves are very much cookie-cutter creations, with our loveable lead Red being perhaps the most generic of the bunch. Sudeikis does a fine job, and has perhaps the most relatable role for the more cynical members of his audience, but as far as animated leads go he's by the far the blandest in recent memory – barely going through much of a character arc and at most just being a reluctant saviour. Josh Gad's speedy Chuck will likely aggravate some viewers due to how fast and rapid his delivery can be, and there is one gag from him which is perhaps a little too borderline adult, but he does a fine job and is allowed to do his signature singing that brought him to stardom in the first place; Danny McBride's Bomb is there for reasons, and mostly just acts as a second stooge for Red to be annoyed by, and it feels like even McBride is bored by the recording both he resides in; Sean Penn gives off perhaps the only laugh just with his constant grunting; Maya Rudolph's Matilda is just there as a mild foil who doesn't want to handle Red as much as Red doesn't want to be at the anger management class; Keegan-Michael Key as the mayor is the only warbler who distinguishes his voice but who's only joke is based on his height; Peter Dinklage's Mighty Eagle brings might memories of the famous inventor from 2005's Robots (which screenwriter Vitti also played a part in), and then there's the various birds of unknown names which are voiced by the likes of Kate McKinnon and more. Meanwhile, team pig heralds only one noteworthy character in the form of Bill Hader, who also disguises his voice but to a degree where it's still obviously him, and his maniacal leader is barely interesting. The rest, which ranges from Blake Shelton to YouTubers Smosh, aren't even mentionable.
As for newbie directing duo Fergal Reilly and Clay Kaytis, they do a fine first effort and produce a film that while not visually stimulating outside of its landscape designs does at least appear to have been managed well. For you see, The Angry Birds Movie is a film that, while barely original and severely lacking in elements of smart comedy or storytelling, does at least to a fine job at creating a feature-lengthed tale centred around an iPhone app. It's obviously very late in making its way to the big screen, but it'll entertain its youngest viewers enough and will likely be tolerable for their parents. But casual viewers and non-fans will likely not be flocking to a local cinema to catch it. 5/10.
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