The Angry Birds Movie (Blu-ray Review)
Bring the party home when the hit animated comedy, THE ANGRY BIRDS MOVIE, debuts onto digital July 29 and Blu-ray™/DVD Combo Pack, 4K Ultra HD™/Blu-ray 3D combo pack and DVD Aug. 16 from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Based on the most downloaded app of all time (nearly 3.5 billion downloads), the film that catapulted to #1 at the box office in the U.S. and more than 50 others countries takes us to an island populated entirely by happy, flightless birds – or almost entirely. In this paradise, hot-headed Red, speedy Chuck, and the volatile Bomb have always been outsiders. But when the island is visited by mysterious green piggies, it’s up to these unlikely outcasts to figure out what the pigs are up in order to save their home. Boasting an “A” CinemaScore (viewers under age 25) and featuring even more of the breakout, fan-favorite Hatchlings, don’t miss the film that quickly became one of the highest-grossing video game based films of all time.
Film 
Finally, its unveiled just why those birds as so angry. The movie takes us to an island populated entirely by happy, flightless birds – or almost entirely. In this paradise, Red, a bird with a temper problem, speedy Chuck, and the volatile Bomb have always been outsiders. But when the island is visited by mysterious green piggies, it’s up to these unlikely outcasts to figure out what the pigs are up to.
Well, for me, this one was for the kiddos. And I felt bad as they both really wanted to see it and we didn’t make it to the theater. So you know what that means…Daddy’s gotta review it. I went into this one loving the vocal cast they’d assembled but pretty indifferent on the whole Angry Birds craze. My hopes were that I would at least get a good chuckle every now and then and enjoy the talent.
As it turns out, it pretty much met those expectations and then went a tad further. Not a whole lot but a whole tad further. Jason Sudeikis basically carries this movie. I almost feel like he had the ability to rewrite or improv his part to implant his style on the film. So, if you’re not a fan of Sudeikis much, that’s probably a big strike on the film. He’s pretty terrific though and is accompanied by the great Danny McBride for a good portion of the film and the villain is played by Bill Hader. That trifecta right there, along with a supporting turn from Maya Rudolph chalked this up to very entertaining for me. I’ll take this time to write my “there was not near enough Kate McKinnon” complaint.
One of the most fun aspects here in the film is how they actually planted the game into the film. And the fact that it didn’t feel incredibly forced. They crafted a world around the look and feel of these characters. Some of the “powers” that birds have in the game feel a bit forced and sorta off in this film, but the actual gaming portion felt earned and natural. I actually got a smirk when it came together and then was executed the way it was (And I’m not even a big fan of the game). Its nice that when making the film adaptation, they remember what exactly it was and made it key. They could easily have just done this whole thing with characters and called it a day.
The Angry Birds Movie isn’t so bad. I actually had some decent fun with it and a few genuinely good laughs. It also has some music to amp things up pretty good. No, this isn’t a masterpiece or even an animated classic for the modern age. But, importantly kids already or are going to love it. And its really neat to see them actually incorporate the actual game naturally into the story. If you’re a parent getting roped into watching it, fear not, its short and Sudeikis and company will guide you through safely.
Video
Encoding: MPEG-4 AVC
Resolution: 1080p
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Clarity/Detail: As expect from an computer animated film in the modern era, Angry Birds looks quite terrific on Blu-ray. Movements come on very smooth and keep detail clear and present at all times. Its a sharp, crisp image that has strong coloring and a bold presence. I mean, I think we’d have more to talk about if we popped the disc in and it looked like crap.
Depth: This movie was made for 3-D and boy does it ever show, even in 2-D. Highlights are the slingshot sequences that just display a vast array of spacing and foreground/background depth.
Black Levels: Blacks are pretty solid. Even on Bomb you can make out plenty of textures and details. No crushing witnessed.
Color Reproduction: Colors are vibrant and pop quite well. Yellows, reds, greens all take center stage here in a rather bright, colorful film.
Flesh Tones: N/A
Noise/Artifacts: Clean
Audio
Audio Format(s): English 7.1 DTS-HD MA, English Descriptive Audio Service, Cantonese 5.1, Mandarin 5.1, Mandarin-PRC 5.1, French 5.1, Korean 5.1, Portuguese 5.1 DTS-HD MA, Spanish 5.1, Thai 5.1, Vitenamese 5.1,
Subtitles: English, English SDH, Cantonese, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, French, Indonesian/Bahasa Indonesia, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Thai, Vietnamese
Dynamics: Missing here that was present on the 4K disc is the Atmos track. However, the 7.1 track is no slouch. It makes use of the whole room with plenty of range and layers to this track. Vocals and music are prominent with effects full woven into the mix. The foley work here is crisp, clear and full sounding. Its a good, loud and engaging experience.
Low Frequency Extension: Music gets a lot of the bump, but the film features a lot of crashing, tumbling and some explosions to have the subwoofer thumping.
Surround Sound Presentation: Angry Birds makes sure to fly on bay each of the 7 channels being used. Rear speakers feature good in a lot of the action moments with uniqueness and also provide good ambiance and scoring. Front speakers sling and shoot from left to right and back again.
Dialogue Reproduction: Loud and clear with plenty of detail to character diction.
Extras
This Blu-ray is included in the 4K UHD edition of The Angry Birds Movie. It also comes with a Blu-ray 3-D version and Digital Copy of the film. In addition there is a Blu-ray combo pack available with the Blu-ray version, DVD version and Digital Copy of the film.
Hatchlings! (HD, 9:38) – “Early Hatchling Gets The Worm”, “Easter”, “Mother’s Day”, “Holiday”, “Meet The Hatchlings”
Angry Birds Action! How To Sync (HD, 1:08) – Teaches you how to link a new phone/tablet game with the film so you can play along.
Deleted Scenes (HD, 6:33)
Dance Along Birds And Pigs (HD, 3:35) – Here fans of the movie can learn to line dance just like the one scene in particular in the film, the country-western performance the pigs do (yay!). No thanks! Ha ha. It’s here for y’all though. Practice at your own leisure.
Crafty Birds (HD, 4:45) – Here you can learn firsthand how to build your own Piggy Tower using you guessed it, crafting items!
Creating The Real World Of Angry Birds (HD, 8:29) – Jason Sudeikis and Josh Gad introduce this one as the filmmakers go into detail as to how The Angry Birds Movie was designed, developed and produced. The biggest challenge here though as the filmmakers explain how to take the video game world everyone knows and make it into a movie.
Bubbles And Hal (HD, 1:35) – This one is an animated short featuring you guessed it, the birds Bubbles and Hal.
Meet The Birds (HD, 10:26) – Here you get to meet your favorite birds in the film, Chuck, Red, Bomb, Matilda and Terence! I love it! The filmmakers and crew take you on a behind-the-scenes look at the design process of it all. We also get a look at the voice actors in action.
Meet The Pigs (HD, 5:05) – Just like above, here you get to meet the pigs in the film and for example, watch Bill Hader voice the King here.
Blake Shelton Music Video “Friends” (HD, 3:04)
Making Music With Composer Heitor Pereira (HD, 10:31) – Here you can select between 6 different segments, “Red’s Theme,” Pig’s Theme,” “Chuck’s Theme,”Action Music!, ” “Mission Theme” and “Red’s Anger Theme.” There’s also a Play All option for all of these too. Music composer Heitor Pereira talks about each of the 6 theme songs here and explains how he created them. It’s pretty cool as he hums, strums his guitar and plays other sources of music. I am a sucker for extras like these when it comes to the creation of the film’s score. Of course you all get to see him in action with the orchestra performing the score too.
Photo Gallery (HD) – “Characters”, “Piggy Island”, “Bird Island”
In-Theater Policy Trailers (HD, 2:58) – “A Gift Card For Chuck”, “Join Your Friends”, “Silence Your Bird Phone”
Summary
The Angry Birds Movie is actually kinda decent. A weird bit of praise, but it is what it is. This Blu-ray comes with a load of bonus material to keep the kids (And adult fans) quite busy after the film. It also features a terrific audio and video presentation of the film. You’ll definitely get the best of your buck for this one if you liked it and are planning a purchase.
