The Angry Birds Movie Movie Poster Image

The Angry Birds Movie

age 7+
(i)

 

Silly, frenetic, sometimes-crude 'toon based on popular app.
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  • Review Date: May 20, 2016
  • Rated: PG
  • Genre: Family and Kids
  • Release Year: 2016
  • Running Time: 97 minutes

The Angry Birds Movie gallery

What parents need to know

Educational value

Intended to entertain rather than educate, but there are mild lessons about taking responsibility and not judging others.

Positive messages

Don't judge people before you know their story. Everyone has something to offer society. It's important to take responsibility for your actions.

Positive role models

A mixed bag. Main character Red punches and mocks people, destroys things, and has a bad attitude. But even though no one believes him and he has no friends, he still acts bravely and fights to save the island and rescue the eggs. The eagle is a cowardly blowhard who pees in the Lake of Wisdom, but he eventually comes around and helps save the day. Even though there are many birds and pigs, there's only one main female character. The king of the pigs lies, steals, and destroys. 

Violence & scariness

Chase scenes, explosions, and birds being thrown into buildings. Birds and pigs are punched, kicked (including a baby bird), and shoved. Eggs are kidnapped and almost dropped into boiling water; parents cry about the lost eggs. A door opens to show twin pigs in matching outfits that say "redrum." Piggy planes attack birds. Red says to remember him when he's gone, and at one point it seems he might be dead. A bird couple cries when they think their egg has died.

Sexy stuff

An eagle looks through a telescope at a bird taking a bath. When the birds are kidnapped, a bird says they can be replaced and suggests that "ladies get busy" laying eggs. Plungers are attached to a pig's chest, and the pig shakes them like breasts. It's pointed out that the pigs are naked. Two birds flirt and snuggle.

Language

No actual swearing, but stand-ins like "pluck my life," plus insults like "idiot" and "weirdos" and quite a few "butt" jokes.

Consumerism

Angry Birds is based on the wildly popular app that already has tons of merchandise associated with it, including clothing, toys, and much more.

Drinking, drugs, & smoking

A bird is in a bar and says, "drinks on me." There's a party scene where everyone is drinking out of coconuts. A wine bottle is in a gift basket. A subtle drug reference. Birds suck on helium balloons.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that The Angry Birds Movie is a loud, silly, sometimes crude -- and sometimes funny -- animated film based on the popular app. The main character, Red (Jason Sudeikis), is truly an angry bird: He tries to exist in polite society, but his bad attitude won't let him, so he's forced into anger-management class. As you might expect, there are plenty of scenes of birds being kicked, punched, and hurled through the air, as well as explosions. Eggs are stolen from their parent birds and put in peril, and their parents are visibly upset. There's also some drinking (out of coconuts, etc.) and few sexual situations/innuendoes (which will likely go over many kids' heads), including an unpleasant Peeping Tom scene. Language includes "idiot," "weirdos," quite a few "butt" jokes, and cursing stand-ins like "pluck my life." Although there's only one main female character, the movie has some messages about taking responsibility and not judging others. But mostly its goal is to be funny -- putting it squarely in the category of movies that kids will like and parents will tolerate.

What's the story?

Red (voiced by Jason Sudeikis) is a lonely bird with a terrible temper. He loses his cool and ends up in anger-management classes, where he meets a group of misfits: Chuck (Josh Gad), Bomb (Danny McBride), Matilda (Maya Rudolph), and Terence (Sean Penn). When their tranquil island of flightless birds is invaded by green piggy explorers, it's up to the birds to get in touch with their anger and save the day.

Is it any good?

QUALITY

There's a little bit of a moral about being inclusive, but that's not why this movie was made: It's about angry outbursts, birds catapulting through the air, and big explosions. Still, for a movie based on an app, ANGRY BIRDS has a lot of story to it. You'll learn why the birds are so angry and what led to their ongoing war with the green pigs. It takes a while to get to that war, but once it does, the movie has plenty of action.

And while this certainly isn't the best animated buddy comedy, its also not terrible. The animated world that's been created is fun to look at, and there are some funny scenes -- although a good bit of it is rude humor. The cast is really good, especially Sudeikis, Rudolph, and Gad (who's more or less doing a slightly edgier version of Olaf). The set-up is a little slow, but the end is all action. And you don't need to know anything about the game to understand what's going on. Bottom line? Little kids might find it too loud, with too many pratfalls and explosions, and parents might find it a little annoying. But elementary schoolers who know the game will be entertained.

Families can talk about...

  • Families can talk about how the cartoon action in Angry Birds compares to others you've seen. Does this kind of violence have more or less impact than what's in live-action movies? Why?

  • Red lashes out at others and isolates himself because he doesn't feel like he fits in. Have you ever felt that way? What did you do? What are some more constructive ways to behave when kids -- or adults -- aren't kind to you?

  • Red urges the birds to get mad and fight for their children. Do you think it's ever OK to fight?

  • Some of the birds use words that sound like swear words. Do you think that's OK? Get tips on talking to kids about swearing.

  • Red makes fun of a family for having a wheat allergy and ordering a gluten-free cake. Do you have allergies -- or friends with allergies? Are you (or they) ever made of fun of because of it? How do you handle it?

Movie details

Theatrical release date:May 20, 2016
Cast:Kate McKinnon, Peter Dinklage, Jason Sudeikis
Directors:Clay Kaytis, Fergal Reilly
Studio:Sony Pictures Releasing
Genre:Family and Kids
Run time:97 minutes
MPAA rating:PG
MPAA explanation:rude humor and action

This review of The Angry Birds Movie was written by

Yvonne Condes
Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are conducted by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

Quality

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Learning ratings

  • Best: Really engaging; great learning approach.
  • Very Good: Engaging; good learning approach.
  • Good: Pretty engaging; good learning approach.
  • Fair: Somewhat engaging; OK learning approach.
  • Not for Learning: Not recommended for learning.
  • Not for Kids: Not age-appropriate for kids; not recommended for learning.

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Educator and Parent Written bytomtormey May 21, 2016
age 8+

Angry Birds

If you're going into this animated film based on a phone app (first of its kind) and you're expecting an Oscar worthy movie you're going to be disappointed. It's too easy the attack the commercialism of the film. It is after all an hour long commercial. Although last year's Lego Movie proved that you can still have a plot that holds the attention of both adults and children. I'm going to bullet some points about the film that you may care to know 1. Lots of bathroom jokes. ... lots of them. For example, the Mighty Eagle (just picture Brendan Fraiser with feathers) is involved in a drawn out scene involving urinating into a river that the main cast recently drank from. 2. The animation is absolutely beautiful, especially the environments. 3. Some crude throw away jokes. Example: a joke about moving your "nuts." I'm 37. This movie wasn't made for me. It was made for 8 year old boys who will surely love it.
What other families should know
Great messages
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Teen, 16 years old Written byMovieMan205 May 20, 2016
age 6+

Is this movie appropriate?

There are a few scenes that questioned if this movie was appropriate. First off there was a scene where the mighty eagle was "bird watching". You see what he is looking at and it is a female bird is taking a mud bath as you here someone whistle. Second. The Scene where red is first in anger management he sees some statues. The first two statues are just of little birds in love or what ever but the third statue Red stops looks at the statue of a pile of birds and makes a comment clearly referencing it to an ORGY. I was really shocked these scenes were in the movie and disapointed kids will see this hopefully they won't understand
What other families should know
Too much sex
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Parent Written byShineOn May 21, 2016
age 8+
This was the first animated kids movie ever that I really wanted to walk out on. If we hadn't been there with other children ages 8&9, boys, I would have taken mine out. I had a talk with my boys after the movie and thank goodness a lot of things went over their heads and they just saw the funny stuff (mind you, funny to an 8 year old boy) which I can't imagine would be amusing to any adult. This movie demonstrates what is wrong with the world today....making rudeness, crudeness, bad or inappropriate language & sexual innuendos seem funny and in the norm to kids. I didn't wait to read reviews on this one and that will never happen again. The only thing that wasn't pure garbage was when Red brought back the last egg then the birds rebuilt his house in town, period.
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