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BIRD ISLAND — So far Disney has dominated the family box office in 2016. With monster hits like "Zootopia," "The Jungle Book," and now "Captain America: Civil War," it's unlikely any studio will come close to matching what they've already accomplished this year. But there is a new "family" film out this weekend, hoping to steal some of Disney's magic.
"The Angry Birds Movie" is based off the insanely popular app "The Angry Birds." The movie had a fairly thin plot to build off of from the game. Basically, some green pigs steal some flightless bird eggs and the birds are having none of it. The birds get angry and use a slingshot to launch themselves into the pigs' fortress and get their eggs back.
The movie did its best with the source material and it delivered in some areas and really disappointed me in others.
Here's the good and the bad from "The Angry Birds Movie":
The good
The cast
The filmmakers of "The Angry Birds Movie" got a pretty great cast together including the likes of Jason Sudeikis, Josh Gad, Danny McBride, Maya Rudolph, Bill Hader, Kate McKinnon, Keegan-Michael Key and Peter Dinklage. Overall, these voice actors make the movie pretty funny and entertaining. If you're a Sudeikis and Hader fan like I am, then some of the movie is a real treat with their signature humor.
Game tie-ins
For fans of the game, it was actually fun to see some of the tie-ins. For example, when the slingshot shows up or the different powers of the familiar birds.
A few of the gags didn't land, but it's hard not to smile when you see some of the familiar gadgets and hidden powers poke their heads up.
The bad
Crass and lazy
Some of you may see me as a prude on this one, but I have my reasoning. This film loves its potty humor and really makes sure to squeeze it in at every turn. There is a particularly long scene involving a lake and urination that was supposed to be hilarious and I just found myself rolling my eyes.
Crass humor for me comes off as a lazy cop-out, whether in kids movies or adult comedies. For me, clever and smart humor will win out on fart jokes and crude sight gags every single time. These moments came up way too often in the film and really kept me from enjoying it more.
I'm not saying it's wildly inappropriate for your kids, but it is going to muster some questions from your kids and likely make you cringe once or twice. Maybe not because the humor is so off colored, but because it misses the mark so badly.
Overall
The movie will give you a few laughs, but it's clear that Rovio's newly formed film studio has a long, long way to go before reaching the heights of the likes of the Disney's, Pixar's or Dreamworks'.
If you really want to take your kids to a great film this weekend, I'd suggest heading to "Zootopia" yet again and save this one for a desperation Redbox night.
John has been writing about movies, news, sports and pretty much anything awesome for more than five years. John is the co-host of the Flix Junkies podcast and will always entertain you with his stories.
