ANGRY BIRDS 2 REVIEW

The Plot follows the exploits of Red (Jason Sudeikis), Bomb (Danny McBride), Chuck (Josh Gad) and
the whole gang as they must team up with the hated Pigs to face off against a new threat – a big
purple Eagle and a superweapon launching ice covered lava balls into their home islands.

After the events of the first movie, Red is a hero and he is loving every minute of it. They have
billboards and schools in his name and he soaks in the adulation like a warm bubble bath. His new
role as chief anti-pig propaganda instructor and protector of Bird Island is threatened when Leonard
(Bill Hader), his nemesis from Pig island, seeks a truce from the incessant prank wars between the
two islands in order to stop Zeta (Leslie Jones) from carrying out her dastardly plan—using Pig and
Bird Island for inhabitation instead of the icy Eagle island she currently lives in. Consequently, the
island inhabitants must be wiped out to finally achieve an existence where Eagles do not have to
restrict their playlists to Ice T and Ice Cube. So now it is up to a ragtag team of Birds, Pigs, and one
cowardly Eagle to stop her.

• Positive Elements

After Red and Leonard team up to face their new mutual threat, Red calls in his best buds—super-
speedy Chuck and emotionally explosive Bomb—to lend a little manpower to their save-the-day
mission. Chuck also taps his engineer-minded sister, Silver. Together they make a solid team, and
they demonstrate to young viewers that even the most polar opposites can learn to work together
as they take risks and are willing to make sacrifices to save their islands. In fact, Red and Silver make
a really great duo, even though they initially kind of hate each other. But they learn to live with each
other’s foibles and to rely on each other’s strengths. And when they all go back to Bird Island and
the residents cheer their local hero Red, he chooses to give the credit all to Silver and her
engineering smarts. Eventually the whole crew shares the accolades. That’s an important step for
Red. He was afraid that no one would like him if he wasn’t the center of attention, that he’d slip back
into being seen as the outcast he once was. But with Silver’s help, Red realizes that if he simply
focuses on being a bird with a good and caring heart, others will naturally appreciate him. A young
bird chick is horrified when three unhatched eggs float out to sea, and she says, “I want my unborn
sisters back.” That lesson applies, in a way, to the ice-island villainess Zeta, too.

Turns out she was a pretty angry bird herself because she had been heartlessly slighted by someone,
she loved years before. She carried her bitterness and anger for a long time and literally tortured
those around her because of it—excusing her selfish behavior as “putting myself first.” But Zeta, too,
learns to forgive and let go, and in doing so becomes a better individual and mom.

• Spiritual Elements

During a speed-dating activity, Red notes that one of the female birds he meets is probably “a
witch.” One character is shown wearing an ankh, a cross-like hieroglyphic symbol with an oval at the
top that represented the idea of the breath of life in ancient Egypt. We also see a pro-Red billboard
that reads, “WWRD,” an obvious play on the acronym “WWJD” (“What Would Jesus Do?”). One
character asks Red, “What’s your favorite sign,” which seems to be a reference to the signs of the
Zodiac but is in fact a literal reference to the many signs on Bird Island praising his heroism.
Elsewhere, there’s a joking reference to a “genie in a bottle.”

• Violent Content

Plenty of tumbling, stumbling pratfalls and explosions and such mingle into this pic’s manic mix.
Giant ice balls filled with lava smash through buildings and village huts, in several cases causing large
tidal waves. At times, that violence is a bit intense (though it seems no one is really the worse for
wear). Someone threatens, “I’ll crush every bone in your body.” A trio of small chicks goes off on a
separate adventure, trying to save several bird eggs that accidentally floated out to sea on a raft. The
birds get pummeled about and snapped at by larger predators. And at one point, they’re launched
into space and then burst into flame (comedically, of course) when reentering the atmosphere. They
encounter a large boa constrictor, and we hear their sounds of struggle with it behind a bush. The
birds soon stride out wearing snakeskin boots, belts and hats. “Well, that just got dark,” one of the
chicks notes. Later, however, we learn that they didn’t actually kill the snake, as the earlier scene
implies. Zeta has a tendency to torture underlings who don’t quickly do her bidding. We see several
victims encased in ice or hung up with their hands and feet frozen in ice. An eagle accidentally
thumps into bathroom stall doors and smashes face-first through porcelain sinks and a urinal,
bending his beak, blackening his eyes and knocking out several … teeth?

• Crude or Profane Language

We hear several uses each of the exclamations “oh crap,” “oh my gosh,” “Are you freaking kidding
me?” and “What the heck?” One character has an odd way of repeatedly saying, “Oh my gash” in a
way that’s not quite a misuse of God’s name, but not very far from it. There’s an unfinished “what
the …,” and someone notes, “He’s got some flipping nerve.” In addition, we hear a few references to
“butts.” Name calling includes “fat dude” and “ding dong.”

• Drug and Alcohol Content

Zeta drinks umbrella-decorated cocktail drinks, one in each wing, as the Jimmy Buffet song
“Margaritaville” plays in the background. We also a bit of Rupert Holmes 1979 hit “Escape (The Piña
Colada Song).” Bomb convinces a bunch of eagle guards to join him at a bar for beers. And animals
drink champagne and cider at a wedding.
 • Other Negative Elements

In addition to the above-mentioned bathroom scene, the film also includes a number of other pig-
on-a-toilet moments and potty humor bits. One of the pig spy gadgets is an anti-inflammatory
substance that we learn is actually pig snot. Bomb slowly licks it … and likes it. We’re given the
impression that a tiny bird chick is saying nasty things, but his voice is obscured by a honking alarm.
We hear a bird belch.

• Conclusion

“Angry Birds Movie 2” filled with flashy characters, appealing set pieces and a voice cast filled with
lively voices. More than that, it benefits from a distinct narrative style. One second it’s focused on a
spy adventure, the next the film is focused on a trio of hatchlings and their quest to save some eggs
(the three chicks are voiced by the children of Viola Davis, Gal Gadot, and Nicole Kidman).
Furthermore, for all its jarring, continuity editing and jumping from subplot to subplot, ‘Angry Birds
2’ is somehow more coherent than the first installment. By the end, everything and everyone (birds,
pigs, and other animals) all brilliantly intersect in the finale. At the center of it all is Red, who carries
the weight of the film on his animated shoulders. He may be a bird, but he still speaks our language.
In this age of cash-grab sequels, that’s nothing to squawk at.