Storks Film Review.

​By Adam Ray Palmer
 
The genre of today’s film I am reviewing is becoming a more and more regular feature on Cineroom. The plucky animation theme has had great films added to its family this year and Storks is another worthy addition.
 
Storks is directed by Nicholas Stoller and Doug Sweetland with Stoller on writing duties too. Andy Samberg, Katie Crown and Kelsey Grammer are on hand to lend their voices.

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A factory full of Storks (Andy Samberg and all) are going about their busy working days when one day an order for a baby appears. The storks are now only working as some kind of Amazon of the skies as their baby delivering service ceased many moons ago. However, ever the perfectionists, the storks scramble their best delivery bird (Samberg) to make sure the baby arrives at its destination unscathed… just about.
 
We first see Cornerstone (the factory) in full swing with machines pumping packages out at a crazy pace. We meet Junior (Samberg) who is about to get a promotion to run the factory floor but he must first complete a requirement; sack Tulip (Katie Crown) the factory idiot.
 
Tulip is an 18-year-old girl who works at Cornerstone as a promoter of new ideas, but they always backfire. Tulip works at Cornerstone because she was a failed delivery when she was a baby by a Stork who has now been banished. Since this incident, Cornerstone stopped delivering babies until one day, Tulip accidently fulfils a child’s (Anton Starkman) request of a baby sibling. This is where the adventure begins as the storks must make things right and deliver the little human.
 
Storks a tale of two halves. The first half being set at the Cornerstone factory learning about what they do, and the second half is the adventure. Usually, the adventure section of a film is the part everyone waits for, but I preferred the former. For me, the first half in the factory was more entertaining, had eye-catching CGI and had many characters. The adventure half was a lot more siloed. The second half follows just Tulip, Junior and a silent baby across America. I felt it dragged here and the climax could have happened a lot earlier in the film. The second half by no means make Storks a bad film, it just meant the entertainment for me personally tailed off. Perhaps the introduction to more babies to deliver would have been a great side plot. 

The decision to see more of supporting characters like Hunter (Kelsey Grammer) who is the Cornerstone CEO would have been a welcomed one. He’s arrogant, strong and amusing. The same can be said for Toady (Stephen Kramer Glickman) in regards to being humorous. His annoying and beady face is hilarious and perhaps my favourite character.
 
Overall, Storks is another good entrant to 2016’s animation collection. Between this, Zootropolis, Moana, Kubo, Trolls and A Secret Life of Pets – we have been truly spoilt for CGI this year. I just wished the latter half of this picture had a bit more to it, because then I could have been reviewing the best animated movie of the year.
 
Cineroom’s Rating: 3.5 Stars
 
Storks will be available on DVD in the New Year – certificate PG