Film review: The Angry Birds Movie (U)

Undated Film Still Handout from ANGRY BIRDS. See PA Feature FILM Reviews. Picture credit should read: PA Photo/Sony. WARNING: This picture must only be used to accompany PA Feature FILM Reviews.

Strip back the pristine visuals, once meticulously hand-drawn, and most animated films are hard-wired with an important life lesson to cherish come the end credits.

The Lion King: you can’t run away from your responsibilities; Beauty And The Beast: don’t judge someone by their appearance; Frozen: don’t let naysayers hold you back from chasing your dreams; Inside Out: feeling sad is a natural part of growing up; Monsters, Inc.: mummy fibbed when she said the scary creature under your bed isn’t real.

The Angry Birds Movie, a feature-length animated spin-off from the addictive smartphone games, tears out a new page from the self-help manual: it’s OK to get mad as long as you can channel that aggression in a positive direction. The central character of Clay Kaytis and Fergal Reilly’s film certainly spits feathers in the pursuit of a greater good.

Screenwriter Jon Vitti peppers this haphazard, but energetic flight of self-discovery with a barrage of dreadful puns and jokes that will inspire groans as giggles.

Thus, one anger-management therapist bird proudly advertises herself as a free-rage chicken, pigs aspire to wear Calvin Swine underwear, and a poster advertises Kevin Bacon’s return to the stage in... Hamlet.

Red (voiced by Jason Sudeikis) is an outcast on Bird Island, where the rest of his flightless flock tweet peace and harmony.

An unfortunate incident with an unhatched egg lands Red in court where Judge Peckinpah (Keegan-Michael Key) sentences him to a course in anger management led by perky clucker Matilda (Maya Rudolph).