‘Storks’ profoundly smart and wickedly funny
THE new family animation Storks is profoundly smart in the way only spectacularly daft films can be. From its opening moments, the second film from Warner Bros’ new in-house animation group goes about its work with all the thoughtful composure of a flailing hosepipe in an old slapstick two-reeler. But after softening you up with whatever the comedic equivalent of a triple somersault with a half pike and double twist is, it lands on its emotional target – we’re talking freely trickling tears – with a persuasive and satisfying thud. Warner Animation Group’s only other film to date (though six more are currently in the works) was 2014’s The Lego Movie, which pulled off this exact trick with a flair and precision that surprised almost everybody – but while Storks can’t quite match its sheer breakneck inventiveness, it’s still a densely funny movie. Storks’ premise has the same absurd-buttopical fizz that made The Lego Movie so immediately appealing (in fact, that film’s inspired writing-directing duo, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, serve as producers here, and their influence is keenly felt). Here’s how it goes: until recently, storks were mainly known for delivering babies – but a few years ago, the birds caught the updraft of the e-commerce boom, and now run an Amazon-like retail giant called Cornerstore.com. The storks’ now-obsolete baby machine is gathering dust in a warehouse: “There are just so many other ways of getting them”, someone observes, though the film draws a tasteful veil over the specifics. Or it is until Tulip (Katie Crown), a human orphan raised by the storks thanks to a historic workplace mishap, reactivates it. The poppet, who pops out must be delivered to her rightful parents, so Tulip commits to the task, with help from her (stork) manager Junior (Andy Samberg), who’s anxious to shield his exacting boss Hunter (Kelsey Grammer) from this unfolding disaster. Their ensuing door-to-door odyssey zings with a scattershot, anything-goes spirit of silliness Warner Animation Group would do well to make their trademark. (The directors are Nicholas Stoller, aka the Bad Neighbours and Forgetting Sarah Marshall guy, and Doug Sweetland, a former animator at Pixar.) Take Tulip and Junior’s ongoing feud with a wolf pack, whose group instinct is so attuned they can “form up” like the cartoon robot Voltron into various advantageous shapes. It’s a visual joke that brings the house down as wolves are wont to do – partly because the concept is so offbeat, but also because the animation is so weighty, rhythmic and physically precise. Less dependably funny is the Machiavellian scheming by Junior’s office rival Pigeon Toady (Stephen Glickman), but the film’s baseline mood is so manic, he often simply feels surplus to requirements. Waiting at the other end is Nate (Anton Starkman), a young boy hoping for a playmate to spend the kind of quality time with him that his workaholic parents (Jennifer Aniston and Ty Burrell) slowly learn to spare. There’s a nod here to the modern workplace’s ravenous encroachment on family life that might cause twinges of guilty recognition among parents in the audience – a concept that’s of course taken to lunatic extremes in the storks’ own hyper-productive and avowedly baby-free organisation. Storks doesn’t labour the point. Its prickle comes through sharp and clear. — The Daily Telegraph ● Storks 3D opens in East London tomorrow. Starring: Katie Crown, Andy Samberg, Kelsey Grammer, Jennifer Aniston, Ty Burrell, Anton Starkman, Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele, Danny Trejo. Director: Nicholas Stoller, Doug Sweetland. PGV