“Just a brief exposure to baby cuteness can ruin your life.”
Storks. We have all heard about them and their mission to deliver babies to families all around the world. Well, at least that was what they used to do. In Storks, Nicholas Stoller and Doug Sweetland’s new film, we catch up with the birds as they preform their new mission: delivering packages for global internet giant Cornerstore.com.
Stoller and Sweetland deliver triumphantly on the unique premise that appears to have long ago been forgotten in the world of Hollywood. The two are able to rouse the humor from their spin on the classic bedtime story/lie that parents have been telling their children for generations. Though the film fails to generate the intelligence that propelled executive producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s The LEGO Movie to such a hit, it does reach high points of its own, ultimately shaping into a fun film that is directly targeted towards the kids, but offers up a few undercutting laughs for those who paid for admission.
Utilizing bright colors and a rather simplistic storyline, the film follows the company’s leading stork Junior and fiery-haired, optimistic “Orphan” Tulip as they embark on a wild and crazy adventure that has them returning the birds to their roots after a girl is accidentally generated from the Baby Making Machine.
The film progresses with even fluidity, never rushing through the moment though amply allowing every scene to reach its peak before moving on. It’s a unique balance, especially in the world of animation, prompting one to sit up and pay attention as you witness two separate stories unfold into one spectacular moment.
Though the story is straightforward, offering up few twists in its rather bland approach, Stoller and Sweetland make up for the lackluster broad strokes with intricate detail. From the heartfelt dialogue interchanges between the Gardner family to Junior’s soft and kind heart, the film gives us characters that we can connect with and root for.
The comedy, which trumps the story in a landslide, gives everyone in the theater a reason to laugh. Mr. Garnder’s jab at his wife proclaiming “dads are fun, moms are mean” will have any parent smirking, and Tulip’s plea that “Orphan hurts my heart” is so unusually versed that its humorous approach feels personal. This film has a knack for humanizing its major players, a feat that is shared between Stoller (who also wrote the screenplay) and the impeccable voice cast.
Lead by Andy Samberg, Kelsey Grammar, Jennifer Aniston and relative newcomer Katie Crown, Storks pushes through its few blunders with ease as the cast delivers every word, bringing their characters to life. Don’t get me wrong, they aren’t Ellen Degeneres in Finding Nemo, but for the sake of conversation, they propel the film (and its humor) to new heights.
Even though the film itself ends the way anyone over the age of five knew it would from the second the lights went down, you still find yourself smiling in the end. Not because the film was some revolutionary expose on the way babies are made (that topic is hardly touched - even from a child’s prospective). The film is full of childhood innocence, intermixed with a core theme centered on family dynamics. Sometimes that’s just what you need.
