[Review] Storks

"For as long as can be remembered, storks delivered babies..."

Much like this year's The Secret Life of Pets, the new animated tale Storks packages a relatively endearing premise for a kids flick, but the end product is squandered with middling humor and emotion, as well as a derivative plot--but at least it's cute.

Our main stork Junior (Andy Samberg) works at a far away factory that's a mix of Monsters Inc. and Arthur Christmas, but instead of scaring kids or delivering presents, they deliver kids as presents. He teams up with the spunky Tulip (Katie Crown), a human teen left behind because of a lost address, and the two set out to deliver a baby to the family of a young boy who's hoping for a sibling.

The mild humor is hit-or-miss with zippy lines of dialogue and fast-paced gags. There's a villainous pigeon character (voiced by Stephen Kramer Glickman) who's incredibly annoying, perhaps by design. But while real-life pigeons may invade cities and poop on your head, at least they don't have a dumb haircut and constantly run their mouths and say stuff like "I thought we were vibing" like an out-of-touch adult who just discovered Twitter. The scenes and montages of Junior and Tulip caring for the wide-eyed, pink-haired baby are adorable and charming though, and they're one of the film's brighter spots. There's also a fairly sweet conclusion to Tulip's story.

So, Storks is reasonably harmless (except for that dang pigeon). Fun at times, and it's got some heart, but it isn't really breathing any new life into the animation world.

( 6/10 )

Be sure to *Like* Fade to Zach on Facebook!