Storks

Directed by Nicholas Stoller and Doug Sweetland, Storks follows Andy Samberg’s Junior, a white stork, as he and a human colleague (Katie Crown’s Tulip) attempt to safely deliver a baby to her new family. Filmmakers Stoller and Sweetland, armed with the former’s screenplay, offer up a briskly-paced (albeit rather forgettable) animated comedy that benefits from its stylish visuals and above-average voice performances, as, in terms of the latter, Samberg’s predictably hilarious turn is matched by agreeable periphery players like Kelsey Grammer, Jordan Peele, Ty Burrell, and Keegan-Michael Key. And while the movie is occasionally just a little too frenetic for its own good, particularly within its decidedly larger-than-life third act, Storks, which boasts its fair share of laugh-out-loud funny moments and digressions (eg Junior painfully attempts to make his way through a maze made entirely of glass), primarily comes off as a genial endeavor that never entirely wears out its welcome.

**1/2 out of ****