Storks, 2016.
Directed by Nicholas Stoller and Doug Sweetland.
Featuring the voice talents of Andy Samberg, Katie Crown, Kelsey Grammer, Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele, Anton Starkman, Jennifer Aniston, Ty Burrell, Stephen Kramer Glickman, Danny Trejo, Awkwafina, Ike Barinholtz, Jorma Taccone, Chris Smith.
SYNOPSIS:
Storks deliver babies — or at least they used to. Now, they deliver packages for a global internet retail giant. Junior (Andy Samberg), the company’s top delivery stork, lands in hot water when the Baby Factory produces an adorable but wholly unauthorized girl. Desperate to deliver this bundle of trouble, Junior and his friend Tulip (Katie Crown), the only human on Stork Mountain, race against time to make their first baby drop before the boss (Kelsey Grammer) finds out.
I’m rarely in the car to listen to Mark Kermode on a Friday afternoon. Generally I respect and agree with him on films. We both share a mutual appreciation for Starred Up for instance.
I knew we would be watching Storks as my wife and I both liked the look of the trailer. This past Friday however, Mark wasn’t a big fan. Funny in places but overall he didn’t seem that taken with it.
I disagree with Mark Kermode. These Storks have delivered a very entertaining package.
A big part of this is Andy Samberg. I love The Lonely Island and Brooklyn Nine Nine is one of my favourite TV shows. His style of humour and line delivery sits perfectly with me. I think he might be my spirit animal. So the film was immediately on decent footing.
Overall it’s a very pacy and quickfire film that, despite being centred around babies and storks, is actually more about parenthood. Story elements that I thought would drag on through the film and be blindingly obvious were dealt with pleasantly early, allowing it to move on from that point and touch on fresher ideas.
Quality animation is almost a given nowadays. Storks looks great; its top tier and much more in line with Disney than something like Norm of the North.
Six laugh test? My wife and I both laughed inappropriately loudly several times. I even had to put my hand over my mouth to stop being loud. Damn you Pigeon Toady. A very fun film, it’s not often I literally ‘LOL’ in a cinema, let alone this many times.
Make sure to get to the cinema on time. Warner Bros. have included a short film before the main feature. It’s perhaps not the level of Pixar’s Piper or La Luna but if you like irreverent humour than it’s well worth being in your seat.
The credits give you the biggest clue as to the quality of the film. Lord and Miller. They help deliver a package that you should definitely sign for.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Chris Cooper is a Flickering Myth Staff Writer, and owner of the blog Super Duper Stuff. Follow him on Twitter @SDCCooper or visit the blog’s Facebook page.
Originally published October 21, 2016. Updated November 8, 2019.
