Film
The Angry Birds Movie is finally out on disc, and many a young fan is sure to be clamouring to add this to their collection, to watch again and again.
While the cinema release was a veritable success, the film does feel like is lacking a certain something. It is in the third act that the film has remained rather true to the mechanics and feel of the original game, which is a nice homage to it’s source material.
The straightforward plot of Angry Birds follows Red (Jason Sudeikis – We’re The Millers), an outcast on Bird Island, as he becomes suspicious of Leonard (Bill Hader – Inside Out), leader of The Pigs, when he arrives at Bird Island. As his suspicions grow, Red must enlist the help of fellow outcasts Chuck (Josh Gad – Frozen, Pixels) and Bomb (Danny McBride).
Angry Birds is sure to appeal to fans of the game, and many a curious viewer. The plot is rather devoid of any twists, so should be easy to follow for younger audiences. And while the film is feel at times as if it is merely going through the motions of entertaining audiences, this fact will do very little to deter viewers.
With many small snippets of visual humour sprinkled throughout Bird Island, there is bound to also be a decent amount of rewatch appeal, even with what feels like a less than stellar effort went in to creating the actual film.
Disc
Angry Birds is available now, to purchase on disc, in South Africa.
The disc is of a pretty decent quality, with a plentiful collection of bonus features.
Video
Video is encoded at a high bitrate, with no visible artefacts on screen. Colours are vibrant, and given the detailed animation of the film, this along with the deep blacks, is a good thing.
Users with the relevant hardware or software can scale up to larger or higher resolution screens.
Audio
Audio is presented in a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix, drawing the viewer in to the story. The soundtrack makes extensive use of the surround channels.
Navigation
Navigation is very simple, and easy to use, allowing viewers to select audio languages and subtitles, and to navigate to one of several bonus features.
The main menu is comprised of an ensemble of many of the films characters, with a melodic tune playing in accompaniment.
Bonus Features
While there are a good number of bonus features on the disc, it does seem that these are chosen merely to add additional value or content to the disc, and not to compliment the film, with a country music video, and a collection of short clips on how the film was made, this would neither satisfy filmmakers or younger viewers alike.
Bonus Scene – Chuck’s Rescue: A very short clip where Chuck uses his incredible speed to rescue the annoying bird sign that Red attacks near the beginning of the film, from Piggy Island.
Angry Birds Action! How To Sync: A mix of game trailer for Angry Birds Action, and explanation on how to use this multi-screen concept of mobile game and film, to enjoy access to exclusive content in the game. Have the app open at the end of the movie to access the Movie Magic area to explore in the game (achieved by the app listening for an inaudible sound played during these end credits. A novel concept, and worth a try, seeing as the game is available in the Google Play store for free (be aware of in-app purchases).
Blake Shelton Music Video “Friends”: Live footage, with various characters from the film composited in, showing one of the films song tracks being recorded. The song Friends does have a rather country feel to it, and for this reason it’s appeal to a younger audience would likely be limited.
Making Music With Composer Heitor Pereira: various short featurettes for Red’s Theme, Pig’s Theme, Chuck’s Theme, Action Music!, Mission Theme and Red’s Anger Theme, hosted by Heitor Pereira, giving some insight into the process and choices for the music for these characters.
Photo Gallery: Three albums of images covering “characters”, “Piggy Island” and “Bird Island”, showing stills and concept art.
In-theatre Policy Trailers: Three short clips, which seem intended to instil some theatre etiquette on viewers, comprising of “A Gift Card For Chuck“, “Join Your Friends“, and “Silence Your Birdphone“.
These are mildly amusing, are would likely appeal to younger viewers. Hopefully these will also manage to get their message across, and educate inconsiderate movie patrons on the decency of considerate behaviour when watching a film at a public venue.
Previews: Viewers can jump directly to any one of the four trailers included on the disc, namely “Angry Birds Toons – Season 03, Volume 01“, “Open Season Scared Silly“, “The Swan Princess: Princess Tomorrow, Pirate Today” and “Hotel Transylvania 2“.
Symphony Mode: A way to watch the entire movie, minus all the squawks, dialogue and sound effects. This would likely only be of interesting to those keen on music or as a bit of background when busy with other items. But there is likely not very much appeal for this feature.
Scene Selections: A few pages of stills from the main title, allowing viewers to jump directly to various parts of the film. These are merely numbered, with thumbnails, however selecting scenes or paging between the different groups of available shortcuts, is very easy.
