Review: The Angry Birds Movie BD + Screen Caps

THE MOVIE — 2.0/5

One of the most popular apps, before “Pokemon Go”, finally gets its due on the big screen… and somehow I feel it’s a couple years too late and in spite of a decent cast of voices, produces very few laughs. Having played the game, though I’ve grown tired of it, I could appreciate what the filmmakers were trying to do, unfortunately in spite of a clever story with little subtleties on colonialism, it was a dud from beginning to end.

The Angry Birds Movie centers on a character named Red (JASON SUDEIKIS), an outsider on Bird Island and someone with a short temper to the point, following an encounter with parents and their child, is ordered to anger management class headed by Matilda (MAYA RUDOLPH) and attended by speedster Chuck (JOSH GAD), ticking time bomb named Bomb (DANNY MCBRIDE) and a giant bird with a violently mysterious past, Terence (SEAN PENN), whose verbal vocabulary is comprised of grunts.

When a boatload of pigs, led by a pig named Leonard (BILL HADER), manages to sweet talk his way to the hearts of the gullible birds, where eventually hundreds of other of these green pigs begin to invade Bird Island with an ultimate goal of stealing the birds’ hatchling eggs and take them back home where they will be eaten. Now it’s up to Red, Chuck and Bomb to locate an icon known as Mighty Eagle (PETER DINKLAGE), who has been missing for decades, to assist though once they find him, he’s seemingly of little help.

It’s a simple enough story which is perfectly fine and although I didn’t laugh, not once, I can see how kids will gravitate toward this movie with its bright colors and certainly some of the humor will get them to chuckle. And for parents, it’s a safe enough film that they can watch with their kids. That said, while the voice talents were pretty good, especially on the parts of the three leads – Jason Sudeikis, Josh Gad and Danny McBride – their talents weren’t fully utilized thanks to a script that needed re-writes. Now, fans of the game might appreciate the, pardon the pun, eggs the filmmakers placed especially in the finale where the birds fly into action, it’s not nearly enough to save it from the other deficiencies.

Directed by Fergal Reilly and Clay Kaytis, The Angry Birds Movie is a half-baked animated movie that tried to capitalize on the game’s success which probably has passed. However, for young kids, this might be a fine time waster, but Sony/Rovio Animation has a long ways to go to even catch up with Disney/Pixar and DreamWorks Animation.

SPECIAL FEATURES – 2.25/5

This 3-disc set (UDH, 3D BD, BD) comes housed in a thick black UHD case and a semi-glossy slip cover. Inside is a redemption code for the Digital HD copy.

Hatchlings! (9:38; HD) is a set of 3 new animated shorts featuring the little birdies featured in the movie.

Angry Birds Action!: How to Sync (1:08; HD) is a short instructional video on how to sync the Angry Birds Action game and sync it while watch the movie.

Deleted Scenes (6:33; HD) – There are six scenes removed from the final cut, though nothing particularly noteworthy.

Dance Along Birds and Pigs (3:35; HD) – Here we can learn to dance along with the key song from the movie. Yawn.

Crafty Birds (4:45; HD) looks at how kids can make their own birds using paper, tin cans, rubber bands and other household items.

Creating the Real World of Angry Birds (8:29; HD) examines the attention to detail on bringing the world to animated life and feature comments with the filmmakers and introduced by Sudeikis and Gad.

Bubbles and Hal (1:35; HD) is a very short animated feature on these two characters voiced by Anthony Padilla and Ian Hecox.

Meet the Birds (10:26; HD) and Meet the Pigs (5:05; HD) gives viewers a chance to learn about many of the characters and how the filmmakers went about to animate them and casting the right voices.

Last up is a Music Video (3:04; HD) for “Friends” by Blake Shelton, Making Music (10:31; HD) featurette on the score, a Photo Gallery, In-Theater Policy Trailers (2:58; HD) and lastly, Symphony Mode which allows you to watch the movie without all the squawks and oinks…

4K VIDEO – 5.0/5, 3D BLU-RAY – 4.5/5, BLU-RAY VIDEO – 5.0/5

The 3D release also takes advantage of the animation style. The depth looks incredible for both the standing around scenes to the action-centric ones where, especially at the end, when the birds fly. I didn’t notice much in the way of ghosting so it’s a nice 3D release, though I think I appreciate the 4K transfer a bit more, but kids might get a kick out of the 3D tech.

When it comes to the standard Blu-ray release, the 1080p high-definition transfer looks, not surprisingly, amazing. No, it’s not as sharp (of course) compared with the 2160p transfer yet it’s still offers bright colors throughout and detail is well defined.

AUDIO – 4.75/5

As with other Sony releases, there are several options for other languages (audio and subtitles). See the listing above.

OVERALL – 3.0/5

Overall, The Angry Birds Movie might be fine for younger viewers and the animation looks gorgeous, the voice cast talented and a decent enough core story but the jokes fell flat and I was mostly bored throughout its 90-minute running time. The UHD combo pack offers excellent video and audio transfers though the bonus material is disappointing.