The bird’s nest: The Angry Birds Movie transports audiences to an island where happy, flightless birds live in peace and harmony.

What’s the story behind the mega-hit video game Angry Birds? This movie provides an answer.

When Sony Pictures announced a plan to create a 3D animated movie about the popular game Angry Birds, people wondered what the story would be like.

It turns out the answer is simple. It tells the story of what makes the birds angry.

Kudos to scriptwriter Jon Vitti, known for his work on The Simpsons and The Office, for developing a very interesting plot from a simple question that may have been posed by the game’s fans.

The script’s main aim is to explain the grudge that the birds bear against the greedy green piggies, the birds’ ultimate enemy in the video game.

The story takes place on a bird island, where happy and flightless birds live in peace and harmony.

The main character, Red (Jason Sudeikis) is an exception.  He is a sensitive, crude and grumpy bird that has emotional issues.  Together with other outcasts of the island, Chuck (Josh Gad) and Bomb (Danny McBride), Red attends an anger management class led my Mathilda (Maya Rudolph) to resolve his issues.

It doesn’t take long for the group of misfits to get along together. Red, who is easily angered, cheeky Chuck, who likes to speed, and Bomb, who occasionally explodes, literally, find common ground in their peculiar traits.

The bond becomes stronger when they share a common enemy: The green pigs.

They find out why the pigs come to the bird’s island and they try to warn other naive birds about their visitors’ bad intentions.  

This group of outsiders turns into unlikely heroes in the end, as it leads an operation to foil the pigs. The climax sees the birds hurling themselves in a giant catapult to get into the pig’s castle, just like in the video game.

Not only is the plot solid; the seasoning added to the story is also in just the right amount. The comedy, the slapstick and the satire, in which the directors Clay Kaytis and Fergal Reilly try to mimic a scene from legendary horror movie The Shining (1980), is so entertaining that members of the audience are sure to refrain from checking their cell phones during the screening.

The building of the characters is also worth mentioning, as it is pretty solid, making it easy for the audience to like the characters from the very the beginning.

The animation team for the movie also deserves credit for its interpretation of the game for the movie’s setting.

The creative team recreated the bird’s habitat as a tropical island with enchanting views. The complicated structures of the pigs’ forts in the game have also been reproduced nicely in the movie, making sense of the attacks carried out by the birds.

Good movies are nothing without a good soundtrack. Thus, the movie also offers catchy songs by top musicians, including Demi Lovato, Blake Shelton, Limp Bizkit and Charli XCX.

Three billion downloads of various Angry Birds games may have been enough justification for game company Rovio Entertainment to adapt the game into a movie. However, good story, hilarious jokes and solid characters are other reasons why movie buffs should not miss this movie.

The Angry Birds Movie, which hit theaters here on May 13, is an enjoyable flick that mesmerizes the audience from the very first scene.

It is a good alternative for Indonesian moviegoers after weeks of domination by Hollywood action movie Captain America: Civil War and the sequel to local teen flick Ada Apa dengan Cinta? 2 (What’s Up with Love?)

— Photos Courtesy of Sony Pictures
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The Angry Birds Movie

(Sony Pictures, 97 minutes)
Directed by Clay Kaytis and Fergal Reilly
Writer: Jon Vitti
Cast: Jason Sudeikis, Peter Dinklage, Sean Penn, Maya Rudolph