Storks
Directed by: Nicholas Stoller & Doug Sweatband
Written by: Nicholas Stoller
Voices by: Andy Samberg, Katie Crown, Kelsey Grammer, Ty Burrell, Jennifer Aniston, Anton Starkman, Keegan Michael-Key, Jordan Peele, Danny Trejo, Stephen Kramer Glickman
Animation/Comedy/Family - 89 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 19 Sep 2016
Written by: Nicholas Stoller
Voices by: Andy Samberg, Katie Crown, Kelsey Grammer, Ty Burrell, Jennifer Aniston, Anton Starkman, Keegan Michael-Key, Jordan Peele, Danny Trejo, Stephen Kramer Glickman
Animation/Comedy/Family - 89 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 19 Sep 2016
The reality of package delivery by drone is not too far away as private companies such as Amazon continue to iron out the details. In the new animated adventure Storks, a company called Cornerstore.com has already figured it out. Instead of drones, however, the company is run and staffed by storks, a bird species which wholly transformed its business from baby to package delivery. But once the baby factory is accidentally activated again, a corporate ladder-climbing stork and a goofball, accident prone human must quickly and privately deliver the bundle of joy to its new home. Mostly paint by numbers plot including odd couple frustration transformed by a friends and family theme, Storks is a story to endure surrounded by a strong atmosphere of memorable supporting characters and amusing one-liners.
Warner Bros. tried something a bit different with its behind-the-scenes forces to create Storks. Two directors, Nicholas Stoller and Doug Sweetland, helm the production. Stoller wrote the script and brings the comedic chops as he directed Forget Sarah Marshall and Neighbors among others. Sweetland is a veteran animator with Toy Story, Monsters, Inc., and The Incredibles on his resumé. Merging comedy and animation expertise does not hurt the finished product but the plot is far less than fresh material while the animation breaks no boundaries. Storks feels like the gags benefitted the most from the dual-direction as some of the lines have an improvisational feel generated by a comedic writer’s attention.
Warner Bros. tried something a bit different with its behind-the-scenes forces to create Storks. Two directors, Nicholas Stoller and Doug Sweetland, helm the production. Stoller wrote the script and brings the comedic chops as he directed Forget Sarah Marshall and Neighbors among others. Sweetland is a veteran animator with Toy Story, Monsters, Inc., and The Incredibles on his resumé. Merging comedy and animation expertise does not hurt the finished product but the plot is far less than fresh material while the animation breaks no boundaries. Storks feels like the gags benefitted the most from the dual-direction as some of the lines have an improvisational feel generated by a comedic writer’s attention.
Toy Story is the most identifiable story arc to Storks – two opposite personalities must cooperate and learn to work together to achieve their goal. Junior (Andy Samberg, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping) is the most efficient and enthusiastic delivery stork on the force. Hunter (Kelsey Grammer, Entourage), the all-powerful stork in charge, promises Junior a huge promotion come Monday to become the boss as long as, you know, nothing bad happens between now and then. Oops. Orphan Tulip (Katie Crown), the lone human hanging out at Stork Mountain due to an accident 18 years ago, activates the baby factory endangering Junior’s rise to the top. Now, Junior and Tulip must spirit away and deliver the baby without anybody finding out.
But who ordered the baby? Young Nate Gardner (Anton Starkman), feeling ignored by his work-from-home realtor parents, writes a letter to Stork Mountain pleading for a sibling, but with ninja skills of course. Where else would babies come from if not the Stork Mountain Nate deduces. Nate’s parents, voiced by Ty Burrell (Finding Dory) and Jennifer Aniston (Horrible Bosses 2), probably thought they would spend more time with Nate if they transitioned their office to the kitchen table, but using some of the film’s better one-liners, Nate not so subtly tells his parents, “I’m not a jerky teen yet; blink and I’ll be in college.”
Nate’s parents do not believe the storks will deliver a new baby because it’s not how it’s done anymore, but the escapade provides an outlet for kid and parents to reconnect. Little do they know, however, there is a baby on the way if only Junior and Tulip could stop bickering with each other and get on with it. One of the duo’s side adventures introduces the best part of Storks and what will be the movie’s most memorable characters, the wolf pack. Led by Alpha and Beta Wolf (Keegan-Michael Key, The Angry Birds Movie, and Jordan Peele, Keanu), the wolves are hysterical. They fall in love with the baby, want to raise it, and transform themselves into spectacular shapes and vehicles attempting to wrench what they call the “tiny thing” away from Junior and Tulip. Not all the supporting characters are equally as strong though.
Pigeon Toady (Stephen Kramer Glickman) is that guy in your office who begins every conversation with “What up, bro?” but it sounds like “brah”. His unsteady toupee and habit of agreeing with whatever you say directly matches his name, Toady. Sensing an opportunity to foul up Junior’s promotion opportunity and weasel himself into the top spot, Pigeon Toady tracks Junior and party to figure out what is going on. Meanwhile, Junior and Tulip are unknowingly creating an ad-hoc family. That families come in all shapes and sizes is by no means an original theme for animated tales, but watching a stork and an 18 year-old girl suffer through sleepless nights with an infant arguing over whose turn it is to get the next bottle will be more than realistic to the parents in the audience. These ‘connecting’ moments naturally blur the line between Junior’s go it alone personality and Tulip’s Kum Ba Yah attitude.
Tulip uses her insight to question Junior exactly why he wants to become boss and what he will do once he gets there. Junior, whose only instinct is to keep climbing office ladder rungs, has no answers and these questions intrude very uncomfortably into his ambition bubble. Deeper moments like these questioning motivation are few and far between, though, as Storks opts to focus on physical comedy like plane crashes and chases. More nuanced animated films such as the Toy Story franchise and even Finding Nemo more effectively balance the silly comedy for the kids and thematic insights their parents will pick up. Storks is more pratfalls than poignant.
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