Written by Tom Moore
Riding the coattails of the 2016 animated hit and iconic mobile game, The Angry Birds Movie 2 hits similar notes as the original, but ultimately fails to impress because it fails to leave any sort of memorable impression.
Following the events of the original, the film follows Red (voiced by Jason Sudekis), the hero of Bird Island, and Leonard (Bill Hader), the king of Pig Island, as their prank war rages on. However, the two enemies must become frenemies after a strange new island is discovered and its ruthless leader, Zeta (Leslie Jones), seems to have plans for a takeover. So, with everyone on their islands in a complete panic, the two gather everyone that can help them to stop Zeta from freezing their islands. Oh, and there’s a small side-plot with a couple of hatchlings trying to save eggs from just about everything.
The animation has been one of the strongest points of these films and that didn’t change here. The color is bright, there’s a solid amount of detail, and the character design fits the look and feel of the game while also taking creative liberties with its characters. With this film, I actually really enjoyed the look of Zeta’s island and seeing her dog be frozen, her food constantly getting taken by an incredibly adorable seal, and her every activity having ice be involved in every way is such a stark difference to the islands that I really dug. Even the animation makes certain jokes much more humorous because of how slick it can be and the detail improves the overall quality of the film. Not to mention, the fact the Birds now use slingshots to get around the island is a nice addition to the world.
Overall, the big thing that falls flat is that the story and humor really don’t hit their marks and are just too random. It’s surprising how dull and basic the story is, and the lack of detail and specialness makes for a boring experience. I’m not asking for an Oscar-worthy plot, but the lack of stakes or investment I had because of how tossed-off the story is makes it hard to be engaged or invested. Even having the side-plot for the hatchlings, while funny at times, was incredibly unnecessary and forced. It almost seems like they added that plot thread in to pad the runtime and to basically make the good guys win. The plot surrounding Zeta’s backstory is also incredibly predictable, but then again, the film doesn’t try to make its story full of surprises.
Angry Birds 2’s humor also lacks a sense of structure and the more random and zanier it got, the more I found myself just feeling confused. Chuck (Josh Gad) and Bomb (Danny McBride) are still the funniest parts of the movie as Gad and McBride’s voice performances make everything work. They have such a fun energy compared to the rest of the characters that makes the film more pleasing to watch and every time Chuck got angry about Red and his sister, Silver (Rachel Bloom), it was hard not to chuckle.
Even the animation adds some comedic moments and some of the cutaways work. From Bomb having to “take out” the guards to Mighty Eagle (Peter Dinklage) having to smack away letters as he runs away in fear, there are some legitimately funny moments. However, these moments were too few and far between as the film can be so random at times that you end up laughing or finding something funny because of how “WTF” it is or its oddness. Since the film only wants to be random and weird, the effectiveness of this humor wears off fast and only leaves a viewing experience that’s passable, but definitely forgettable.
Going into The Angry Birds Movie 2, I already had reasonably low expectations and yet, I still somehow left feeling underwhelmed. There are some things that viewers will find amusing about it, especially younger viewers, but its really only a handful of things and it’s legitimately questionable how memorable they’ll be.
