REVIEW: “Angry Birds 2”

REVIEW: “Angry Birds 2”

August 21st, 2019

Martin Goodman

Before reviewing this sequel to Angry Birds (2016), I decided to try an experiment: I would see the movie pretending that I had never seen the original film or, in fact, even seen or heard of Rovio Entertainment’s app-born avian avengers. I pretended that I never played the game (I did, but stopped after they started their Star Wars iteration. That made my pretending harder, but that’s a good thing). The purpose? To see whether this film and its characters could stand on their own once separated from their brand. Would there be an overkill of Angry Birds in-jokes? That terrible Detective Pikachu movie, after all, overplayed that same hand. Would there be too much pandering to pop culture references and a plethora of gross-out humor, the curse of too many animated features this decade?

The answers, in order: Yes, they can, no, there wasn’t, and once again, no. In a year in which every theatrical animated film to date (save for Toy Story 4) has been merely passable or inadequate due to structural or plot problems, Angry Birds 2 manages to be an endearing, goofy romp that gets a kick out of its improbability and contradictions, and then plays them for laughs. Every moment played for drama or sentimentality gets demolished in the next few lines; one almost gets the sense that the characters are giggling at the audience behind their backs while laying the next eggs to toss in their faces. Few animated films have approached this Monty Pythonesque level; while the sophistication of that group is lacking, there are silly verbal sight gags and lines at every turn, several running gags that pop up unexpectedly in sudden cutbacks to earlier scenes, and lines taken literally to ridiculous effect.

The story is both an homage to, and parody of, the 1961 war flick The Guns of Navarone, with Red, the head bird, in the Anthony Quale role. There is even a brother and sister team up, as in that film. In this film, Birds and their ancestral enemies, Pigs, form an uneasy truce from their constant pranking when giant ice balls start bombarding their respective islands. The culprit is Queen Zeta of icebound Eagle Island, who is attempting to force both populations to evacuate. Once her titanic ice-cannon/volcano accomplishes this goal, Zeta and her militant eagles will have beachside paradises.

Red (Jason Sudekis) and Pig King Leonard (Bill Hader) assemble a team to destroy the ice cannon. Birds on board are speedster Chuck (Josh Gad), Bomb (the explosives expert, nach) voiced by Danny Mc Bride, Silver (Rachel Bloom), sister to Chuck and engineering whiz, and Mighty Eagle (Peter Dinklage). The Pigs contribute inventor Garry (Sterling K. Brown) and Leonard’s right-hand gal Courtney (Awkwafina) to take on Zeta (Leslie Jones, in an over-the top performance well-suited to the role) and her Eagle forces. There is also a subplot involving three Bird hatchlings and their parent’s eggs; late in the film play a crucial role. To avoid spoilers, Red and Silver go through a complicated relationship, and a secret hidden by Mighty Eagle contributes heavily to the resolution. No prizes for guessing that the deadly ice cannon suffers the same fate as the Nazi guns of Navarrone.

Sony Animation provided the bulk of the CGI work. These days, all CGI is of high quality in theatrical features, and this is the case in Angry Birds 2 as well. Every voice actor in this show is seemingly in on the jokes, deadpanning or over-emoting when least expected. At the time of this writing, this film is their highest-rated movie per approval percentage adapted from a video game per Rotten Tomatoes. That is admittedly not a very high bar, but there are reasons for this: Thurop Van Oman and John Rice are the co-directors. They arrive unencumbered by the worst conventions of recent animated films or the need to pander to the expectations of video game freaks. Van Omen is not a rookie: he is the creator of The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack, a series that ran on Cartoon Network form 2007-2010. That show featured a small number of weird central characters and a host of oddball supporting players, so he must have felt at home with this project. Animated movie fans would be well-served by having him back on the job soon.

To sum it up, Angry Birds 2 is a high-spirited mix of spoofery, highjinks, and self-reflexive nonsense that never fails to engage or please. It is a refreshing antidote to the recent stench of The Lion King, and the heads at Disney would do well to pay attention, or better yet, try something similar.

I wanted to mention that a trailer for Disney’s upcoming live-action Mulan preceded the movie. Mulan seemed to be an athletic super-swordswoman who might cower Michelle Yeoh herself. Funny, as I remember the animated version, Mulan won out through her brains, courage, and her keen sense of strategy. I don’t seem to recall her spinning twin samurai swords at Mixmaster speed between her wrists while wearing a savage scowl on her face. Keep it up, Disney. I can’t wait for the live-action version of Meet the Robinsons.

A final note: Angry Birds 2 is accompanied by an animated short called Hair Love by Matthew A. Perry. Hair Love, a Kickstarter project, was produced in a collaboration between Sony Animation and the newly-minted Lion Forge Animation group. I don’t want to give anything away except that the short is touching, adorable, and twinges the tear ducts honestly and with sincerity. More, please!