Storks – review

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Nicholas Stoller, the director behind Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Bad Neighbors, joins the Warner Animation Group and Pixar animator Doug Sweetland to create Storks: a charming, quick-witted and fast-paced film that delivers in more ways than one.

The film is set in a world where storks no longer deliver babies, but packages, as “there are other ways to make babies”. Junior, a white-collar stork voiced by Andy Samberg, is up for a major promotion under one condition: he must fire Tulip, the human teen who has been living with the storks as a result of a botched delivery. Unable to cut Tulip loose, Junior sends her to a redundant part of the factory: the baby-making department. All is well until she receives a letter from Nate, requesting a baby for his workaholic parents (voiced by Jennifer Aniston  and Ty Burrell). When the baby making machine delivers, Junior and Tulip end up feeling responsible for the child and set off on an adventure to find its new home.

The film has a good balance of jokes and gags, that get set up in act one and pay off in act three – very few jokes are thrown in for the sake of passing time. As we’ve come to expect in animations, the jokes are layered for adults to enjoy. While Storks doesn’t scale the emotional heights of other recent animated releases (think Finding Dory and Zootopia), it nonetheless contains important morals about the meaning of family. It is, however, reminiscent of the Lego Movie (also from Warner Animation Group), with themes of consumerism, corporate culture and work-life balance.

There are many stand out moments in the film, for example comedians Key and Peele as a loveable wolf couple, and the “whatever you do, don’t wake the baby” silent fight sequence. Top these off with the improvisation done by the voice cast, and Storks is an enjoyable 100 minutes. Leave all logic at the door and get swept up by Storks’ fast-paced action.

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