It’s very likely you’ve already seen a certain number of movie animations by now. Maybe you’ve also noticed that some are deeply creative and have amazing storytelling behind them that opens up discussion on topics like identity, damaging social behaviors, life choices, growing up and so on. If you’d expect all this from the Angry birds movie, i’d say you’re warmish.
Now, the plot goes something like this: Red is a fluffy red bird who lives on a non flying birds island and who’s not really into socializing. He also doesn’t have many friends. None to be fair. So here’s Red after a really bad day at work, forced by the authorities to take some anger management classes. During those sessions he meets Bomb and Chuck, another pair of outsiders, who will accompany him throughout the movie. All is good and happy until a boat with mysterious green creatures calling themselves pigs get to the island and start doing some fishy business.
So after 97 minutes of angry birds action i’d say the movie is not bad, not bad at all. I wouldn’t compare it to Inside out or Finding Dory, yet Angry birds has a lot to say about us humans, our family values, the way we live or how consumerism culture seduces us, and it’s filled with small life lessons dispersed along the way. So let’s spread our wings and dive into some of these lessons.
“Why does it matter that we’re not all the same?”
Red’s big eyebrows make the other birds ridicule him from childhood till adulthood, thus affecting his entire behavior and relations with others. Being an orphan and having no one to comfort and care for him doesn’t help either. No wonder Red turns antisocial and develops some temper problems. But what the others fail to see until later in the movie, is that he is as good a bird as any of them and putting labels and treating others badly just because they’re different is wrong, man, it’s just wrong.
“He talks a good game but he doesn’t care about anyone but himself”
Everybody has personal heroes, mentors, people to look up to and admire. But heroes are people too and they have their own flaws. So when Red asks Mighty Eagle for help — the great protector of the island — all his hopes and beliefs are shattered on the latter’s refusal. Red is disappointed to see that the legendary hero is now old and fat and lives in a completely different reality that centers around his big ego. (Mighty Eagle / Mighty Ego, got it?). Even his house had become a representation of his narcissistic mind: it’s filled with cups and prizes and mirrors that deteriorate the image to fit his ego. Facing this huge disappointment Red has to be his own hero. Don’t be sad though because, Spoiler Alert, Mighty Eagle eventually birds up and comes to the aid of his fellow peers.
“It’s time to get angry!”
We all have our strengths and weaknesses and it’s tremendously important to know and accept who we are. So much that we can sometimes use our flaws in our own advantage. Just like Red uses his and the other birds’ anger and redirects it toward a goal: saving their eggs. Anger, just like our other emotions, plays a huge role in our lives. It motivates and protects us and tells us something is wrong. And since we all feel anger under the hood from time to time, we better pull it up and see what’s that all about and find ways to get our groove back again.
“That went well, if you’re me”
There is no pure hero or pure villain, black or white, good or bad. If you don’t take my word for it take George R.R. Martin’s:
Nobody is a villain in their own story. We’re all the heroes of our own stories.
There is no person just good or just bad, those are fairy tales. Red is the hero for the birds just as Leonard is the hero for the green piggies and both of them are the villain in the other one’s story. Depending on our context, we can be the hero of our family or the villain for that co worker we really don’t get along with. It’s all about perspective. Think about it…
“So you know, pluses and minuses”
There are a lot of things we want in our lives, be it an awesome job, fame, success or a lot of money. But another thing Angry birds puts on the table is seeing the bigger picture, figuring out what’s important. This is what Red realizes when he’s accepted in the community. His house, once secluded, is now in the center of the city among the others, but without his precious look at the ocean. And yet, that’s less important now, for he has great friends and finally feels he belongs.
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Funny references, cool oldies but goldies soundtrack, cute word puns, awesome animation and a great cast makes Angry birds a movie with a lot of heart and personality and therefore a quite enjoyable experience. Oh my gawd!
