Let me remind you the content of the previous film. Birds live peacefully on Bird Island. Only Red (Jason Sudeikis) – a pariah, a misanthrope and a sociopath – is not happy there. At some point, pigs from their Pig Island arrived on the island. The pigs for the birds put on a merry show, but it turned out to be just a veil for a dastardly operation – the pigs stole the bird’s eggs. And after that, it was the angry Red who organized the expedition, which went to Pig Island to return the eggs back.
In the new film, Red, on the one hand, is resting on his laurels, since he is now the main character and the subject of universal adoration, but, on the other hand, he is very afraid of turning into a pariah again, therefore, together with the smart Chuck (Josh Gad) and the narrow-minded , but with a powerful Bomb (Danny McBride), they organize a detachment to protect Bird Island from … all the same pigs who abandoned the idea of stealing bird eggs, but now pretty much get birds with all sorts of small provocations on the pig-bird border: from their island they shoot from slingshots on Bird Island with various items. And Red and his comrades rake up the consequences of the bombing and, in turn, bombard the Pig Island with everything that comes to hand.
However, at some point, messages begin to arrive on balloons from Pig Island asking for a truce. Red ignores them, but in the end, King Pig Leonard (Bill Hader) himself comes to visit him, who says that, it turns out, in their archipelago there is also a third island, completely covered with ice, on which the violent eagle Zeta (Leslie Jones) with his army of eagles. Zeta owns a volcanic cannon capable of hurling huge chunks of ice over long distances, and she wants to bomb Bird Island and Pig Island to move into the heat. So now a terrible danger threatens both birds and pigs.
Red agrees to lead the rescue expedition and forms a team: bomb explosion expert, speedy monster Chuck, fearless warrior Mighty Eagle (Peter Dinklage) and Chuck’s super-engineer sister Silver (Rachel Bloom). Also joining them is Leonard with his two assistants, including gadget master Harry (Sterling Kay Brown).
Now they have to get to Eagle Island and destroy the superweapon – the only way they can stop the crazy eagle Zeta.
***
The first cartoon was quite simple and the plot didn’t shine too much (the pigs stole the bird’s eggs, and the birds return them back), but the bird characters were very funny and matched their game images, they also added some completely new characters, it all looked pretty fun, and My son and I both enjoyed watching it.
At the same time, the film was kicked for politically incorrect political overtones (Bird Island – well-fed Europe, crowds of pigs – Muslim migrants, Mighty Eagle – USA), critics grumbled with displeasure, but the picture showed an excellent TCC as much as 4.7 (CCU 3 – a film at least paid off), so a sequel could be expected.
It was released three years after the first film, but other directors and screenwriters were already involved in the sequel.
The script in the sequel is more fun, and it affects several layers. First of all, this is a joint rescue operation of birds and pigs, which rallied against a common threat. The second layer is the throwing of Red, who wants to be the main superhero and still cannot understand what is more effective to work in a team. Moreover, the clever Silver thinks much better than him, and Red behaves with her like a typical alpha male. Well, the third layer is the adventures of three chicks rescuing eggs with chicks that have not yet hatched, which were accidentally blown into the sea.
The dynamics of what is happening in the sequel is very good, we did not have to be bored with Young Catalan at all. In addition, there are a lot of funny references to other films, the old characters are still funny, and a lot of new characters have also been added, especially among pigs: the last film was reproached for the fact that the birds are all carefully traced and diverse, and only Leonard stands out in pigs, and they are all on the same face. This is no longer the case, Leonard’s assistants now have their own types, and among them the most interesting is the gadget master Harry.
The eagle Zeta resembles the crazy old woman Shapoklyak in the bird version, but in fact she is a woman of a difficult fate, who fell victim to male infantilism, and, and this is clear from the very beginning, the difficulties in Zeta’s relationship with the male sex are inspired by that same Mighty Eagle. At the same time, Zeta contains a whole small army of cool eagles, and many very funny episodes are associated with them.
The theme of female dominance in the cartoon, of course, is present – the fighting smart Silver, the cool military leader Zeta, – however, critics and viewers have not agreed on what vector it is: some believe that the filmmakers pulled feminists (Zeta, frankly, is not the prettiest creation), while others whine that, they say, again damned Hollywood brings decisive women to the first place, and the men there are too infantile and helpless, so that in reality they can do something only under the guidance of women, – I met such statements.
In my opinion, everything in the picture is quite balanced. Silver does not put pressure on Red with his knowledge and skills, but simply tries to direct him in the right direction, well, they are clearly beginning to show all sorts of romantic feelings there. However, this is a children’s cartoon, so there will be no final kiss and we will not even be hinted at whether they are now dating or not. However, there is no guarantee that in the third film, if it suddenly follows (and this is very unlikely, judging by the fees), the chicks of the nest of Red and Silver will already be active, along with the pigs from the pen of Leonard and Peppa pig.
Zeta is a strong woman who once got burned by a fashionable guy who does not want to take responsibility, and now she is the mistress of her own destiny. Although a slightly crazy hostess – against the backdrop of moral suffering and permafrost.
So I didn’t notice any propaganda here, or, conversely, the pulling of feminists. In addition, I generally believe that women should lead this world: they usually do it better than men.
My child and I really liked the cartoon: we looked with pleasure, the Young Catalan periodically laughed. Light, fun, witty, dynamic, funny soundtrack (the scene with the flight of chicks into space under David Bowie’s Space Oddity is simply gorgeous), cool characters. In addition, in the end, love and friendship won out, and Red finally found the values of teamwork, which is to be welcomed.
An excellent sequel, clearly more fun and more varied than the first film. However, unfortunately, his TCC is only 2.2, that is, he practically did not pay off, despite the fact that the budget was 10 million less than the budget of the first film. Why? Well, apparently, the public has long been tired of the Angry Birds toy itself, and this may have affected the box office of the cartoon, which in itself is quite cute.
PS I listened to the licensed dubbing. In general, it was done very well, except that the Eagle in dubbing turned out to be completely different in comparison with the original. But Irina Gorbacheva voiced her, so it still turned out great, just a different type.
Angry Birds Movie 2 / The Angry Birds Movie 2 movie meaning
Director: Turop Van Orman, John Rice Cast: Josh Gad, Jason Sudeikis, Danny McBride, Awkwafina, Bill Hader, Sterling Kay Brown, Tiffany Haddish, Leslie Jones, Rachel Bloom, Eugenio Derbez
Budget: $65M, Worldwide gross: $147M
Animation, USA-Finland, 2019, 97 min.