The Angry Birds Movie 2 review

THE ANGRY BIRDS MOVIE 2:

HOLY “PLUCKING” HECK, THIS ANIMATED FOLLOW-UP IS SURPRISINGLY FUNNY!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

COLUMBIA PICTURES AND SONY PICTURES ANIMATION

(From left to right) Bomb, Red, Chuck, Leonard, and the Hatchlings are back in The Angry Birds Movie 2

            The flightless birds of Bird Island are back in The Angry Birds Movie 2, the latest film from Sony Pictures Animation and follow-up to 2016’s The Angry Birds Movie based on the popular mobile game of the same name. Going back to the first movie, I can best describe it as harmless at best, obnoxious at worst and while the animation is colorful and the character designs accurately represent their in-game counterparts, most of the humor falls flat and the film itself lacks charm. 

            There are some occasionally funny moments in the first movie like the reasons why the main characters are stuck in an anger management class, one of which is brilliantly done with Sean Penn in a non-speaking voice role as one of the classmates, but other times the execution of the jokes feel off and not set-up properly coming off more as awkward than getting a genuine laugh, kind of like the Ghostbusters (2016) formula where anything funny is almost immediately followed by something unfunny. 

            The first Angry Birds movie is harmless but uninspired that should make for a fine kid’s distraction with a few jokes for adults once in a while. But because it was a success at the box-office a sequel was inevitable despite no one really asking for it. 

            That’s where The Angry Birds Movie 2 comes in and unlike the first film where Sony Pictures Animation only received a studio credit, this one has the studio logo slapped right onto the beginning of the movie as their next big animated film following last year’s unanimously acclaimed Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which still stands as their best film to date. Sony Pictures Animation has always been hit-or-miss for me in terms of their films, they made two decent movies about food falling from the sky with Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs 1 and 2, brought some of the most energetic and exaggerated animation to the screen with Hotel Transylvania, adapted the Smurfs cartoon twice with mixed results, and completely insulted children’s intelligence with The Emoji Movie. 

            Things started to look up with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse which became their first animated film to win a Best Animated Feature Oscar and brought animation to the screen unlike anything you’ve ever seen. And then…The Angry Birds Movie 2 is what they decide to follow it up with which felt like an insult when the trailers came out. 

            But to my surprise, The Angry Birds Movie 2 is surprisingly a very funny animated movie and a huge improvement over its predecessor. I’m not sure if they got new writers or if the old writers finally recovered from severe brain damage, but they’ve managed to bring what should have been a generic cash cow and made it into a colorful, fast-paced, and genuinely funny adventure. 

            Sometime after the events of the first film, we find Red (voiced by Jason Sudeikis-Saturday Night Live, Horrible Bosses 1 and 2, Colossal) being loved by all the citizens of Bird City after stopping the villainous pig leader, King Leonard (voiced by Bill Hader-Saturday Night Live, Superbad, Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs 1 and 2) from stealing and eating their eggs, and declared a hero alongside his friends Chuck (voiced by Josh Gad-Frozen 1 and 2, Beauty and the Beast (2017), Artemis Fowl) and Bomb (voiced by Danny McBride-Pineapple Express, Tropic Thunder, This is the End). But a new threat emerges in the form of an eagle named Zeta (voiced by Leslie Jones-Saturday Night Live, Top Five, Ghostbusters (2016)) banished to a frozen wasteland and plots to destroy Bird Island and Piggy Island with giant ice balls to make way for her very own private resorts and forces Red and Leonard to work together to stop her. 

            But they can’t stop Zeta alone as these former enemies must put together a team consisting of speed demon Chuck, explosives expert Bomb, Brainiac and Chuck’s sister Silver (voiced by Rachel Bloom-Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Batman VS Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Trolls: World Tour), Mighty Eagle (voiced by Peter Dinklage-Elf, Game of Thrones, Avengers: Infinity War), Courtney (voiced by Awkwafina-Ocean’s 8, Crazy Rich Asians, The Farewell), and Garry Pig (voiced by Sterling K. Brown-American Crime Story, This is Us, Frozen II) and save their islands from destruction. 

            The film also features the voices of Maya Rudolph (Saturday Night Live, Bridesmaids, The Good Place) as Matilda, Tiffany Haddish (The Carmichael Show, Girls Trip, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part) as Debbie, Nolan North (Uncharted (video game series), Assassin’s Creed (video game series), Deadpool (video game)) replacing Sean Penn as the voice of Terence, and Tony Hale (Arrested Development, Veep, Toy Story 4) as Mime Bird. 

            Overall, The Angry Birds Movie 2 continues in this summer’s bizarre streak of movies you wouldn’t think would be all that good but end up being very pleasant surprises like Pokémon: Detective Pikachu and Dora and the Lost City of Gold and a huge improvement over its average predecessor. For something as dumb as ANGRY BIRDS 2 I was shocked at how much I laughed at this movie especially after a rough start with the first movie. 

            Unlike the first film where the laughs were very rare, about 80% of this movie is absolutely hilarious stuff whether visual jokes or well-timed cartoonish slapstick. Which is more than I could say for the first movie where it felt like the animation equivalent of waving your keys around at a little kid. 

            The sequel on the other hand is much better paced, smartly written (for an Angry Birds movie), and feels a lot more confident in the final cut than its predecessor where it was sloppily stitched together with no real direction behind it. The Angry Birds Movie 2 could have easily been another lazily made cash cow like the first film but I’m so relieved that the filmmakers worked with what’s been given to them and gave a thoroughly enjoyable animated adventure for the entire family.

            I can’t believe I’m saying this but The Angry Birds Movie 2 is worth a watch whether a fan of the games that inspired it or looking for a fun animated movie with colorful visuals, wacky characters, and a good sense of humor. An unexpected win for the Angry Birds…does that mean we can get a good Ratchet & Clank follow-up? Please? Anyone?