Storks: "Storks Don't Deliver Babies Anymore"

Director: Nicholas Stoller
                Doug Sweetland
Writer:     Nicholas Stoller
Starring: Andy Samberg
                Katie Crown
                Kelsey Grammer
                Keegan-Michael Key
                Jordan Peele 
                Anton Starkman
                Ty Burrell
                Jennifer Aniston
                Stephen Kramer Glickman
                Danny Trejo
Rating:    ***

Release Date: October 14, 2016

When I first saw the trailer for Storks, I couldn't quite decide if I thought it would be good or bad. Parts made me laugh out loud which made me hopeful for the outcome; whilst others felt cheap and overdone, instantly killing my hope. Now that I have seen the film, I can honestly say that those mixed feeling went on through out the entire hour and a half that I watched it for. It is average at most.

Junior and Tulip

There was once a time when storks delivered babies, but in this digital age they now deliver packages around the world wide for online giant cornerstore.com. Junior (Samberg) is at the top within the company, and is so close to being promoted when an accident means he activates the Baby Making Machine; which produces a very cute, but very authorised baby girl. Hurriedly trying to deliver this baby before his boss, Hunter (Grammer), finds out Junior and his friend Tulip (Cloud), the only human on Stork Mountain, race against time, storks and wolves to drop the baby off. The journey proves to be crazy and revealing, and if they complete it they could help to make a family whole and restore the storks' true mission in this world. 

There are a whole host of colourful and eccentric characters in this film, from wise cracking storks, devoted parents, arrogant pigeons and obsessive wolves...but with all of these characters came a real disconnect from the audience and from each other. The voice cast just seemed to lack the energy or colour that a children's film needed. A lot of the delivery felt more like a Paul Feig movie than an animated film; and that just didn't work with this film. I love so many of the cast members in this film, and have admired their work for years; but in this film and all together they just didn't inspire or excite me.

Alpha & Beta

The only two characters that I personally enjoyed the most were the wolves Alpha and Beta (Key & Peele). Already a famous and hiarious double act in the US, it is clear the two have immense chemistry, and that is what brought those characters to the fore front. They were also the ones that had me laughing in the trailer, so I was in no way surprised I would enjoy them, I just hoped I would enjoy the rest of the characters as much.

The concept for the film should have felt original, warm and exciting, but for the most part it was dull and over baked. There were times with real heart, comedy and action; for instance the scene with Junior and the glass maze genuinely tickled me. Unfortunately though, the script and voice acting felt uninspired and lazy. I have no doubt that the colourful animation and childish comedy will keep younger viewers happy; but in a world of Pixar and Disney films (films that every family member can enjoy), Stork really failed to live up to its fullest potential.

Storks - Trailer