The Angry Birds Movie Review

Rating: 2 Stars (out of 5)

"The Angry Birds Movie" is not just about fowl, expect the "fowl" language too! The Angry Birds Movie opened nationwide May 20th.

How do you make a game app into a movie? Well, you try to come up with a storyline first and that is just one way this movie bombed (and that wasn't just Bomb voiced by Danny McBride). Screenwriter, Jon Vitti, tries to answer the question of "why are the birds so angry?" It is an attempt to give us a back story to the game. The storyline didn't hold much substance for most of the film. The action is there, just at the very end.

The all-star cast of voice actors didn't save this movie. I loved Chuck (voiced by Josh Gad) as a character, he was the funniest. But, the whole time in my head I had a hard time getting Olaf out of it. I guess that is the price he'll pay for voicing a popular character.

I really really wanted to love or even like this movie for my kids, we love the game and own a few angry birds plushes. But, I have a hard time looking past all the negatives. As a parent, my biggest frustration is that this movie was supposed to be aimed at kids and while many of them will enjoy it, I believe that the directors' attempt to also entertain the adult audience was at the kids' expense. The Angry Birds Movie crossed the line for me. I think they could have really had a hit on their hands if they had forgotten about trying to entertain adults too. It was disappointing as a fan of the franchise. This movie is being marketed to kids. There are toys abundant, happy meal toys, etc...yet, this movie seemed to forget at times that kids were watching it. It is rated PG for rude humor and action. And while personally, I appreciate kids movies that include adult connotations that we can also laugh at, I expect them to be innocent. That is not the case here as some of the scenes were shockingly inappropriate. The crude farting and peeing, I can handle...even though the urinating eagle did last longer than needed. As a mom of 4 boys (3, 8, 10, 10) I was really taken back at the "dancing nipple scene". Yes, you read that right...there is a scene with the pigs where a plunger gets stuck on their chest, so they add a second plunger and proceed to dance "sexy-like". This all takes place during an entertainment show the pigs produce and a mild strip scene by one of the pigs. There is even an unpleasant Peeping Tom scene in this movie.

What frustrated me the most as a parent was the "fowl" language. While there is no outright profanity, they did "curse" with bird-like language that sounded eerily familiar to the real thing. For example, FML - they said, "Pluck My Life!" and another was "I am very flocking angry"....or "shell yes" or "pluck you". WHOA! I thought, this can't be what I heard. But, yep...For the younger crowd, this will go over their heads and they'll be wrapped up in seeing their beloved angry birds in a very colorful film. However, for the older kids that may already be tempting to say things on the borderline of cursing, I believe this movie gave them a whole new set of phrases to try and use. One showing of the film may not produce this, but it certainly is not a movie we will be watching over and over once on Blu-Ray.

I was disappointed in the movie and really thought they could have done a better job. While, it isn't awful, it certainly wasn't what I expected. So, proceed with caution.

~Reviewed by Jackie Landy