You might be surprised to learn this, but Rovio Entertainment, the developers and publishers of the insanely popular Angry Birds games, aren’t exactly flying high.

In fact, in recent years, revenues have fallen and merchandise sales have dropped alarmingly. The issues run so deep that the Finnish company had to let go over 33 per cent of its workforce in 2015. For Rovio, The Angry Birds Movie was supposed to be the golden egg. Whether the film does well enough financially remains to be seen, but in terms of quality, the family action-adventure comedy animation is a disappointment.

But let’s start with the good. The animation, for one, is excellent. Sony Pictures Imageworks, the visual effects and character animation company, which has worked on the Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs films as well as the Smurf films, does a superb job. Admittedly, I’ve played a lot of the many Angry Birds games, and found the animation to be a perfect representation of them. The stars of the film look instantly recognisable, and the world is as colourful and fluid as the games. But while I really liked how the birds looked, I especially loved how amusingly devious the green, scheming pigs appeared. I also enjoyed the action where the birds were soaring through the air, smashing into the villains and their contraptions.

Rovio hired some interesting actors for the film. The talent includes Jason Sudeikis (Red), Bill Hader (Leonard/King Mudbeard), Danny McBride (Bomb), Maya Rudolph (Matilda), Peter Dinklage (Mighty Eagle), Sean Penn (Terrence), Tony Hale (Ross/Mime/Cyrus) and others who are not known for their voice acting, but do a fair job of bringing these feathered characters to life. The standouts are Sudeikis, who really does an amusing job as the red bird with serious anger management problems, and Bill Hader in his villainous evil pig roles.

The stars of the film look instantly recognisable, and the world is as colourful and fluid as the games. But while I really liked how the birds looked, I especially loved how amusingly devious the green, scheming pigs appeared. I also enjoyed the action where the birds were soaring through the air, smashing into the villains and their contraptions.

Unfortunately, Clay Kaytis and Fergal Reilly are inexperienced on the directorial chair, and it shows. To make matters worse, they had to do with a dull script from Jon Vitti.

The film starts amusingly enough (I was curious to see the silver screen version of the game I had played so often), but you soon realise it is short on ideas. In fact, instead of its hour-and-a-half running time, The Angry Birds Movie would have worked better as a 45-minute TV episode.

The film begins on Bird Island, where the angry bird Red displays the sort of temper issues that would land anyone in anger management therapy. To the excitement of the various habitants, a boat shows up on Bird Island, manned by the pigs from Piggy Island. Their leader, Leonard, sells himself as a peaceful explorer, and the birds buy his lies. All except Red of course, who alongside his friends Bomb and Chuck, realises the pigs are up to no good. The trouble is that no one believes them.

After the pigs steal the eggs, the birds rally around Red, who leads a counter-assault on Piggy Island. Yes, this is pretty much the entire premise of the film. The Angry Birds Movie certainly has the potential to soar, but it’s too bad the narrative is as light as a feather.

Rated PG for rude humour and action

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, May 29th, 2016