The Pitch: Storks are UPS now but get pulled back in
for one last baby delivery.
Every major studio wants an animation wing that can print money like Disney can with Pixar and Disney Animations. Universal has a goldmine with Illumination Entertainment, which, with 2016 hits The Secret Life of Pets and Sing, proved they are more than just the Despicable Me studio. Universal will also be releasing Dreamworks Animation starting in 2019. While not the powerhouse that they were in the Shrek and Madagascar days, Dreamworks still has some punch with films like How to Train Your Dragon and The Boss Baby. In the mean time, Fox is releasing for Dreamworks until then and has Blue Sky Studios (Ice Age, Rio) to fall back on when they move to Universal. Sony's animation wing has had slight success with the Hotel Transylvania and Smurfs franchises. Like in every other measure, Paramount lags way behind, only releasing the occasional Nickelodeon animated movie. Once you get beyond the major studios, it's a joke. Does anyone remember the Weinstein Company's Leap!?
Warner Brothers is trying to carve out a place in the market for themselves with the Warner Animnation Group. It's been a slow start. The Lego Movie hit big. Their second film is Storks, which is a much more anonymous film. You could tell me that Blue Sky or Illumination made this movie and I'd believe you. That doesn't make it bad. It just means WB doesn't have a brand, per se.
What I found most interesting about the film was casting Katie Crown to play the orphan Tulip. And, it has nothing to do with whether or not she's any good*. The standard move for a studio, especially an upstart one, is to get the biggest names possible to voice the character (i.e. it doesn't matter if Brad Pitt's voice is doing anything special. If he says yes, your hire him to voice that magical elf). Storks by no means shies away from familiar actors. Andy Samberg, Kelsey Grammer, Key & Peele, Jennifer Aniston, and Ty Burrell are all the types you'd expect in this movie. Katie Crown is not. The role could've easily gone to a Bella Thorne or Selena Gomez type. Someone they could put on a billboard next to Sanberg's name. Instead, they opted to use a legit voice actress in Crown. That was a good move, just not one I expected
*For the record, I thought she was quite good.
The orphan angle makes the movie a sort of watered down Meet the Robinsons. The offbeat sense of humor from the Nicholas Stoller (Neighbors, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, The Muppets) script helps this stand out. It's a quick and to the point story. I appreciated how quickly the parents voiced by Ty Burrell and Jennifer Aniston came around to seeing the son's side of things. Early on, I was worried they were saving that turn for a "big lesson" at the end. I think I hated the Pigeon Toady character so much thank it tanked most of the movie.
Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend
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