Director: Thurop Van Orman

Starring: Jason Sudeikis, Josh Gad, Bill Hader, Danny McBride, Peter Dinklage, Rachel Bloom, Tiffany Haddish, Leslie Jones, Awkwafina

Written by: Peter Ackerman, Eyal Podell and Jonathon E. Stewart

Running Time: 96 mins

Cert: U

Release date: 2nd August 2019

Three years ago saw the release of The Angry Birds Movie. A film based on the popular mobile game in which you fired a variety of birds at constructions to destroy the pigs scatter around each level. The first film did as much as it could, in trying to make a plot out of a game that exists as a time-waster. Surprisingly it made enough money for Sony Animation to make a sequel. Now we have the awkwardly titled The Angry Birds Movie 2. This time, the makers have decided to create something resembling a plot to balance a series of set pieces and sight gags aimed, somewhat exclusively, at the young.

The birds, led by the now hero-worshipped Red, are in a continuous pranks war with the pigs on another island. Out of the blue, a giant ice meteor crashes near the pig’s island, and they need the birds to help to stop whoever is firing them. After a truce is drawn up. The birds and the pigs head off to discover Eagle Island, a frozen wasteland inhabited by eagles. They are desperate to claim one of the other lands as their own to enjoy some well-earned sunshine.

Like the first film, this is a rag-tag collection of sight gags and toilet humour to propel the wafer-thin story along. It never tries to bang home a message, even if this one has it that a team is better than an individual. Among the bright colours and mindless plot, some of the gags actually hit their mark. If you can forgive the corporate cash-machine and guaranteed products you can buy after the film, there are moments of darkness that will go over the head of the very young.

There’s a side plot involving three chicklings trying to retrieve three eggs that borrow from Ice Age’s Scratch but is cute enough to forgive it. The soundtrack is crammed with great tunes from David Bowie’s Space Oddity to the not-so-great Baby Shark.

The voice talent is a collection of Saturday Night Live alumni with Jason Sudeikis leading the group as Red. Bill Hader as the pig Leonard and Danny McBride sounding more like Seth Rogan as Bomber. All of them work well and as they have an understanding of comedy, deliver their lines with the right timing.

The Angry Birds Movie 2 might not ignite the box office as the first film did, mainly as the computer game has moved on. If you have exhausted every other movie out there at the moment, then this is perfectly fine and will make you laugh. You probably won’t remember it after you have left the cinema, but it will keep the kids quiet for 90 minutes, and you may have to listen to them re-enacting the more risky gags. A passable sequel that isn’t as lazy as you have thought. Expect number 3 but probably straight to DVD.

3/5