The Angry Birds Movie

There's nothing particularly memorable about this frantic animated romp, which adapts the iconic phone-app game into a movie using a rather corny plot. But the film is so random that it can't help but get the audience laughing. Youngsters will be delighted by the brightly coloured wackiness, while adults will chuckle at the steady stream of grown-up visual and verbal gags, many of which are frankly surprising to find in a children's movie.

It's set on the isolated Bird Island, where the residents have never learned how to fly and believe they are the only life in the sea. In their tight-knit community, Red (voiced by Jason Sudeikis) is an outcast because of his too-independent thinking. He's ordered to take anger management classes with groovy guru Matilda (Maya Rudolph), where his fellow students are the hyperactive Chuck (Josh Gad), the hulking Terence (Sean Penn) and the explosive Bomb (Danny McBride). Then a pig named Leonard (Bill Hader) arrives on the island, introducing new technology like sling shots and trampolines and planning a big party. But of course he has a much more nefarious intention that only Red can see. In need of help, Red takes Chuck and Bomb in search of the mythical Mighty Eagle (Peter Dinklage), the only bird on the island who can fly.

There's a slightly nagging sense that Donald Trump wrote this script (it's about a guy who's ignored as he obnoxiously shouts about the dangers of letting strangers into the community, then is proved right). But the film is so utterly ridiculous that it's impossible to take this rather dodgy theme seriously. What's even more odd is how much of the humour is aimed at grown-ups, including innuendo, puns, gross-out gags and unexpected violence, most of which will go over young viewers' heads. But it's so unfocussed that the only response is to laugh in disbelief that someone thought a joke so near-the-knuckle was appropriate for a kids' movie.

Thankfully, the animation has a professional sheen that's lacking in the script, making the most of the primary colours, feathery textures and tropical settings. And the vocal cast throw themselves into the silliness of it all. Along with the way it preaches isolationist politics, parents might be a bit worried about the central message about the importance of sometimes getting very angry. But the whole movie is so deranged that it can't help but keep both children and adults entertained. Especially the adults who can still find the child inside them.

Rich Cline

Watch the trailer for The Angry Birds Movie: