Film: Storks Cast: Voices of Andy Samberg, Katie Crown, Kelsey Grammer, Jennifer Aniston Director: Nicholas Stoller and Doug Sweetland Rating: |
Just to clue you in, Storks used to deliver babies, until the management decided that eCommerce was way easier and raked in more cash. So storks now do what Amazon does, except they're called Cornerstone.com (Registered TM). Everything's peachy until the last baby to return undelivered, Tulip, turns 18 and sets off the baby-making machine (gosh, parents do have a lot of explaining yo do after this) and they're saddled with a pink-haired little infant.
When you've got as much sarcasm and self-deprecating humout written into the script as Storks does, there's no one better for the job than Andy Samburg (from Brooklyn Nine Nine), who headlines this film as the voice of Junior - delivery stork extraordinaire and heir to the 'boss' seat. The only thing standing in his way are a dislocated wing, an order to fire Tulip from the hedonistic current CEO Hunter, and the baby.
As the slightly strange delivery run ends up as a whole journey of discovery for the trio, a host of witty and slightly batty characters sort of pop in and out. There's lots of wit, snark and thought that's gone into the writing and we have to give Nicholas Stoller and Doug Sweetland plenty for credit for boldly going through with most of it. Studio executives may have been worried that kids wouldn't have enough point-and-giggle moments, but hey, there's plenty of laughs in the sarcastic subtext.
Sometimes it does veer towards the silly end of the spectrum and you begin to wonder if the gags are wearing a bit then, but then you've got to quickly refocus and remember that the voice may be Andy Samberg's, but they're still coming from a stork's mouth. Look at it that way and all will be well with the world again.
Verdict: Essentially what could have been a sweet kids movie about storks and kids until the writers decided to get trippy and let Andy Samberg be himself