This could be the year that video games to movies finally turn the corner and throw up something decent onto the big screen. Angry Birds is first out of the traps (maybe pigeon traps for those that are in the know) and Duncan Jones' Warcraft is next in line at the beginning of June. Alas, the weight on Jones' shoulder is after getting a tad heavier.
Proving yet AGAIN, that a decent adaptation of a wildly popular video game is harder to do than fuck knows what, Angry Birds, while looking decent, is nothing but an exhaustive and meandering cash in on the Rovio game. It's only in the last 15 minutes that the movie takes ANY inspiration from the game it's based on. It's the preceding hour however is the problem here, with pointless scene after scene with the occasional clever piece of dialogue thrown in by some unknown miracle. It's completely unrelated to the game. In fact, the first hour is nothing but fodder, proving that birds and slingshots are good for maybe 15 minutes of screen time.
Obviously a movie that's based on a game where a selection of birds hurl themselves out of giant slingshots at an army of green pigs was always going to be a tough one to do. The source material just doesn't have the depth needed for a movie. And it' doesn't matter that this is a kids movie. As many animated movies have proven over the years, they can have many entertaining layers full of depth and joy. Angry Birds is devoid of all of the above. In fact, this may have well been better suited to a Netflix series where the birds hurl themselves at pigs in varying locations episode after episode.
The voice cast, with few exceptions are on a wing and a prayer here too. Sean Penn sounds like he wasn't even told what he signed up for and it's only Bill Hader and Danny McBride, on occasion, that sound like they give a flying fuck,
The visuals on the other hand, well, the visuals are something that the studio actually spent money on, unlike the story. Bright, colourful and even clever in places, Angry Birds is a joy to watch for animation fans. Money was also spent on the soundtrack with seemingly every popular song in existence being thrown in for good measure.
Good visuals aside, Angry Birds is a wasted opportunity. It could have laid on the humour in large dollops, but missed a beat. It delivers a boring watch, with younger audiences in particular going to find themselves quite restless. About as un-phesant as it gets!
Proving yet AGAIN, that a decent adaptation of a wildly popular video game is harder to do than fuck knows what, Angry Birds, while looking decent, is nothing but an exhaustive and meandering cash in on the Rovio game. It's only in the last 15 minutes that the movie takes ANY inspiration from the game it's based on. It's the preceding hour however is the problem here, with pointless scene after scene with the occasional clever piece of dialogue thrown in by some unknown miracle. It's completely unrelated to the game. In fact, the first hour is nothing but fodder, proving that birds and slingshots are good for maybe 15 minutes of screen time.
Obviously a movie that's based on a game where a selection of birds hurl themselves out of giant slingshots at an army of green pigs was always going to be a tough one to do. The source material just doesn't have the depth needed for a movie. And it' doesn't matter that this is a kids movie. As many animated movies have proven over the years, they can have many entertaining layers full of depth and joy. Angry Birds is devoid of all of the above. In fact, this may have well been better suited to a Netflix series where the birds hurl themselves at pigs in varying locations episode after episode.
The voice cast, with few exceptions are on a wing and a prayer here too. Sean Penn sounds like he wasn't even told what he signed up for and it's only Bill Hader and Danny McBride, on occasion, that sound like they give a flying fuck,
The visuals on the other hand, well, the visuals are something that the studio actually spent money on, unlike the story. Bright, colourful and even clever in places, Angry Birds is a joy to watch for animation fans. Money was also spent on the soundtrack with seemingly every popular song in existence being thrown in for good measure.
Good visuals aside, Angry Birds is a wasted opportunity. It could have laid on the humour in large dollops, but missed a beat. It delivers a boring watch, with younger audiences in particular going to find themselves quite restless. About as un-phesant as it gets!
