The term "underrated" is an interesting one.
Like pretty much any word I use to review a work of entertainment, it's subjective. And yet, it's one that rarely reaches a consensus among critics or consumers.
Nobody collectively deems a work of entertainment to be "underrated," since it has to be generally considered of lesser quality in the first place.
In this unique spirit, I've decided to dedicate a series of reviews to finding a work of entertainment that I deem "underrated," and explain just what I think the critics and/or general public missed when it came to their analysis.
The first movie to receive this treatment: a fast-paced children's comedy from the creators of The Lego Movie.
Now you might think I'm biased because I consider The Lego Movie to be my favorite movie of all time, but, to dissuade your fears, I didn't even see this when it came out in theaters. I went with a couple friends to watch it in a dollar theater on a Saturday night because I was bored. And for a couple bucks and a bit of driving, I got way more entertainment than I could have ever expected out of this movie.
In short, I had low expectations that were all blown away tremendously.
Sitting at 63% on Rotten Tomatoes, Storks received some positive reviews from Common Sense Media, The Atlantic and Screen Rant.
However, it got a sizable amount of negative ones.
"The jokes fall flat, but the pace is relentless, and those two things seem somehow intertwined, as if the filmmakers had convinced themselves that comedy that whips by fast enough won't go thud," said Variety. "Blame the writing or the voice acting in Storks if you like, but maybe it’s just that birds simply aren’t warm and fuzzy or adorable," said New York Times. "Fortunately for the very young children who will flock to see it, it is a sweet enough confection (albeit as forgettable as a ball of cotton candy)," said Washington Post.
Amidst this sea of negativity I abound to defend Storks against these criticisms, and show why they're wrong.
To start with, it's absolutely hilarious.
To quote a friend of mine, "I guess I should have expected it to be funny, considering it was made by the same people who made The Lego Movie." And just like The Lego Movie, the comedy is quick, witty, and clever. Jokes are a dime a dozen in this movie, and most of them hit bullseyes. The movie itself deals a lot with parenting and other adult issues (not those kind, surprising, since it's a movie about the most common birds-and-the-bees lie), and it's self aware enough to find humor in them.
Other than clever wit, the movie's humor derives from the idea of parenting and purpose. The main stork character of the movie, Junior, builds his entire life around the idea of getting promoted in the stork corporate world (storkorate, if you will), but when asked why he wants to be the boss, he can't come up with an answer, forcing him to come to grips with the purposelessness of an empty purpose. And yet it's played for laughs as he flusters to come up with a reason.
As far as parenting goes, there's a funny bit in which Junior and his human companion Tulip, try to take care of the child they have to deliver, but get absolutely no sleep in the process as the child constantly wakes them up at night.
I'll be honest I can't really relate to this, but I understand the purpose of the joke. It relates to real-life parents' own struggles with late night whining babies.
So, the humor's great, how about the story?
This might sound hypocritical, but it is lacking a bit.
It centers around storks (obviously). They've given up their baby-delivering ways to start delivering merchandise. Junior is a stork trying to become boss of the stork company, but before he can be promoted, he has to deal with the human orphan living at the company, Tulip, an excited young lass who tries and repeatedly fails to assist the company. When Tulip accidentally activates the long-abandoned baby making machine, it's up to her and Junior to brave inventive wolves, the elements, and their own company to deliver the baby to its proper home.
There's also a subplot dealing with a kid who wants to spend time with his parents but his parents work too much and so he writes the storks asking them for a sibling. It's relatively entertaining but admittedly it doesn't go anywhere.
Overall, it's a great premise, and, for the most part, it's well executed.
The characters are likable enough to bond with and carry the plot. The jokes are funny and move plot. The plot is focused and remains that way. The only issue it has is with its message.
As in, it tries to teach one, but whatever it was, it was completely lost on me.
Junior learns that life is more important than business I think, but he never really comes to that specific conclusion. His big moral speech in the movie focuses on the purpose of storks to deliver babies, but never really because the babies are worth it, but because "it's what storks were born to do." I don't think they meant to imply that babies aren't worth the world, because they certainly implied that they were through Junior and Tulip's entire adventure. However the message isn't fully realized. So the movie tries to teach something but the audience doesn't really know what it has learned by the end of the day.
However, the story does succeed at being a story, meaning you know exactly what's going on and can make sense of every character's motivations. None of the plot elements felt forced, and the story progressed very naturally.
So overall, pretty good story, just lacking in the emotional resolution.
And like I touched on before, the characters are very likable. Each protagonist has an understandable motivation and likable personality that help push the adventure forward. You genuinely want them to succeed. Even the antagonists are funny enough to be likable as characters themselves.
All except one. One of the minor antagonists is this sort of "bro-dude" pigeon who I think was supposed to be a parody but was lost in its execution. He's REALLY annoying, and every time he appears on screen, you want to bash him with a ball peen hammer.
So to the critics of this movie I say yeah, the story could have been a little stronger, but overall, it's a genuinely funny and enjoyable movie. The jokes are solid, and it never ceases to be entertaining.
Give it a rent on RedBox if you find it there, or even spend some bucks on it when it comes to DVD. I know I will.
Because even though the critics call it obnoxious and bland, I say it's a children comedy that deserves to be appreciated more.
In short, it's totally underrated.
