Angry Birds

Directed by Clay Kaytis and Fergal Reilly, Angry Birds follows Jason Sudeikis’ Red as he and several others are forced to wage war after their community’s unhatched eggs are stolen by green pigs. Filmmakers Kaytis and Reilly, armed with Jon Vitti’s screenplay, deliver a blisteringly-paced animated endeavor that never becomes as tedious and grating as one might’ve feared, and there’s little doubt, ultimately, that a lion’s share of the picture’s mild success is due to Sudeikis’ charming and often hilarious voice work as the compelling protagonist – with the actor’s standout efforts certainly matched by such eclectic (and talented) periphery players as Bill Hader, Danny McBride, Peter Dinklage, and Maya Rudolph. And while the picture’s pervasively frenetic sensibilities can often be stifling and exhausting, Angry Birds progresses into a fun, mayhem-heavy final third that lives up to the destructive potential afforded by the infamous video game – with the impact of this stretch heightened by a handful of genuinely impressive bits of eye-catching style (eg one of the birds crashes through several rooms in slow motion). The end result is a better-than-expected adaptation that generally eclipses its source material on an ongoing basis, which is no small feat, certainly, given the seemingly limited nature of the series’ original smartphone time-waster.

**1/2 out of ****