‘Storks’ May Have Delivered Some Laughs, But Not Much Else

by Mikael Trench

From the same studio that brought us the highly acclaimed “The Lego Movie,” “Storks” is the newest animated feature from Warner Brothers Animation Group. In the film, storks no longer deliver babies and now run a company called Cornerstore.com that delivers packages much in the same way as companies such as Amazon. In the center of this company is a stork named Junior (voiced by Andy Samberg) who is expected to become the new boss of the company if he can fire a troublesome human girl working there named Tulip (voiced by Katie Crown). However, after a young boy writes to the storks asking for a sibling to help fill his lonely life, Tulip accidentally creates a baby using the storks’ old machine and it is up to her and Junior to get the infant to its new family while trying to avoid many dangers along the way.

Personally, I had very little anticipation going into this movie. If “The Lego Movie” proved anything about Warner Brothers Animation, it was that this company was most certainly standing out from the crowd. From their distinct style of clever humor to their interesting uses of computer animation to their incredibly powerful and subtle messages shown throughout “The Lego Movie,” Warner Brothers Animation Group seemed to really be pushing new boundaries that even more established studios such as Pixar and Disney had not reached. However, when the previews and trailers for “Storks” came out, I was less than pleased.  It had seemed like the studio was taking quite a few steps back in just about every aspect. Nonetheless, after hearing a bit more about the premise, I figured I would give the film a chance.

So what worked? One of the film’s best aspects was its tone and the way it was executed was (for the most part) very consistent. The film is obviously going for a more over-the-top and Looney Tunes style of animation and comedy while also putting in many gags and one-liners for good measure. The animation here works for the film considerably well as its character designs and character animation help the film achieve a cartoony style that helps the action scenes stay funny. While the backgrounds don’t achieve as much depth or variety as I would have liked, it almost feels like that may have proved too distracting.

Another positive aspect are some of the characters. Tulip, in particular, was probably the best of the main cast. Despite having a more predictable outcome by the end of the story given her background, her character is still executed rather nicely as she is given plenty of energy and charisma to help hold her character afloat and she is very likable. Two characters who deserve special mention are Alpha and Beta, voiced by Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele respectively, a pair of wolves who, along with their pack, try to steal and raise the baby. Every time, and I do mean every time, that these characters were on screen, the biggest and best laughs were produced. This came from the surprisingly creative uses of their pack, their fast paced animation, and Key and Peele’s fantastic voice performances.

Sadly, “Storks” doesn’t really deliver much more than this. While a lot of the comedy in the film generally works, there are many moments when the film chooses making jokes over fleshing out its characters or developing the story properly. This ultimately does come from a lot of the characters who, very sadly, were either uninteresting, annoying, or just plain confusing in their execution. Junior is, unfortunately, a rather weak protagonist, as he often has confusing motives and his interactions with Tulip felt more like a contest to see who could deliver a funnier one-liner rather than allowing the relationship to flow more naturally. And while most of the other side characters are forgettable at worst, the character of Pigeon Toady is a character that you will likely either find mildly amusing or unbelievably annoying. I happen to be in this latter category. Due to the confusing tones and transitions into his scenes coupled with the rather obnoxious voice performance by Stephen Kramer Glickman, this character almost always failed to bring up a laugh. Other than the characters, the plot is rather predictable, some gags get repetitive, and certain plot aspects are glanced over to make room for jokes.