Sony Pictures
In 2016, the first Angry Birds movie was released, and I found it to be a decent video game movie. I was never a fan of the Rovio app, Angry Birds. I think I played the game once and it was on someone else’s phone. Video game movies are hard to adapt since they have either a lot or a little amount of source material. In Angry Birds‘ case, there was a little amount of source material for the film to work with, so they created their own original story.
Red (Jason Sudeikis), Chuck (Josh Gad), and Bomb (Danny McBride) are forced to team up with Leonard, leader of the Pigs, to stop a common threat which is attacking Piggy and Bird Island. The first Angry Birds movie sported a large voice cast and the second movie brings even more celebrities on board. One of the biggest additions is Leslie Jones, who plays Zeta, an eagle who is attacking both islands.
One of the biggest surprises for this movie was Red’s continuing story from the first film. After the first movie, he was deemed a hero for saving Bird Island and during the second film, he feels that if he isn’t the one saving the day, people will forget about him. I appreciated the way they handled the character, which felts like a realistic way to go for a character who is dealing with the aftermath of becoming a hero. Most kids movies don’t give characters enough depth to make them memorable, but with Red kids will be able to learn more about feelings and expressing them.
Just like the first film, The Angry Birds Movie 2 balances both potty and adult humor. There were plenty of times that I found myself laughing at the mature jokes provided by some of the animals but there were plenty of times where I shook my head at what I was seeing. The film is filled with ridiculous moments from both the pigs and birds that seem to go on forever! There is a scene towards the end of the film that seemed like it was going to never end, and it was getting repetitive. The movie borrowed a few of the jokes from the first film that involved some of the animals getting hurt and falling over, which can only work the first few times. Both adults and kids got something to laugh at during the movie, so everyone left happy.
The third island, which was led by Zeta and her daughter Debbie, was covered in ice and was shown as a threat throughout the movie. The piggies and birds try to infiltrate the island then stop them from destroying their homes. Zeta has a backstory with the Mighty Eagle, who joins the pigs and birds in their quest to stop the other eagles. When the audience learns why Zeta is attacking both islands, I felt like something was missing. The whole film built up the eagle island as a large threat, but once the film revealed why Zeta was attacking the islands, it felt generic. The whole build up felt wasted and it could have been handled better.
Angry Birds 2 falls into the category where there isn’t anything terrible about it, but there isn’t anything remarkable about it either. I do think it is better than its predecessor, but in terms of video game movies, it isn’t my favorite. It works for both adults and kids, which was fine enough for me. If I can enjoy the film and the kids around are able to laugh as well, then the film did its job.
Dora and the Lost City of Gold has a run time of 1 hour 42 minutes and is rated PG for action and some impolite humor.
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