The kids and I just went to see Angry Birds 2. It’s not my favourite movie of the year, it’s no Toy Story 4, but it was good enough to keep the kids busy, especially during a rainy day on the school holidays.

I remember watching Angry Birds and being amazed at how the creators had pulled together a story to explain and justify the game. It was actually pretty impressive how they created these characters and back stories out of a simple phone game.

Having now sat through Angry Birds 2 with a moaning 4 year old I can safely say that this movie is not suitable for a princess loving sparkly dress wearing 4 year old girl. She actually wanted to watch it initially but then an hour in had a complete change of heart. Granted she was grumpy to start with.

My 7 year old thought it was hilarious and was on the edge of his seat a couple of times waiting to see what would happen next.

In this post on Angry Birds 2 I’m going to give you a very very basic outline of the plot without any humour spoilers then I’ll deal with the good and the bad and lastly the age suitability. You probably already have a good idea of what I’ll say about age suitability.

Angry Birds 2

The Plot

The Main Plot

The movie starts where we left off in Scary Birds – with the Birds hating the Pigs. It does seem that some time has passed but they are still not friends. Red, that main bird with the thick black eyebrows is still fiercely defending Bird Island and all its inhabitants.

Then an “ice ball” hits Pig Island. The pigs try call a truce to try discuss the issue with the birds. Of course Red doesn’t believe them but everyone else seems keen on a truce so the Pigs and the Birds come together.

Beyond this, I struggled to follow the plot initially so who knows what was going on in my 4 year old’s brain. All of sudden there was this weird purple bird on ice, then pig island, then angry bird island and next speed dating. So strange!!

Turns out the movie revolves around the discovery of a third island. An ice island or is it Eagle Island. That’s where the purple bird is based. And the leader of that island, the purple bird, is tired of living on ice and dealing with ice all the time.

She is seeking to destroy one or both of the other islands so she can move there. The Pigs and the Birds need to work together to protect their islands.

The problem is that ice island has a super ice ball launcher – the “Super Weapon”.

The birds and pigs need to somehow get to the island and disable this launcher to save their islands.

The minor story line

In a lesser story line there are three little chicks who have lost three eggs, the younger sisters of one of the chicks. The three chicks need to get the eggs back home safely.

This plot line is easy enough to follow and pretty cute.

This story and the main story do come together but can exist in isolation. Thankfully so because I think this was the only thing my 4 year old was following.

New characters

In addition to the old angry birds, remember Red, Bomb, that skinny yellow bird (Chuck I think his name is) and the old scared Eagle, there are some new characters.

Zeta

This one of the main characters and is the lead antagonist. This crazy pinky purple eagle is the one in charge of the new island.

While she is determined to destroy Pig and Bird Island she is not that scary. She is not scary looking at all actually. She is just crazy and really wacky looking.

Three hatchlings

The hatchlings are the three little chicks who are at the centre of the lesser storyline.

They are Red’s biggest fans and play games pretending to be him.

They are just the cutest cutest little things.

Silver, The brainiac.

Chuck’s sister is a genius and agrees to join the team of angry birds and pigs despite not liking Red.

The feeling is mutual and Red is not a fan of Silver. These two ultimately learn to work together which is maybe the only nobel lessons of the movie.

The positives

I’m not sure where the strong positives are. It’s no Charlie Brown Movie.

Unlike movies where there are clear morals of persistence or kindness there isn’t anything that jumps out. I think it is simply a movie for light heartened entertainment.

Although the pigs and the birds do work together which is nice and Red accepts female help (I.e girls can do anything boys can).

There is a theme of Red worrying about not being liked but I’m not sure any child would be able to pull it all together to understand that you shouldn’t act to be liked.

I definitely didn’t follow that train of thought!

The bad and scary

There is a lot of insinuation. So instead of swearing they use words that sound like them. G-string scenes, butt jokes and fat jokes. I also don’t like blasphemy and it is repeated at least twice in the movie.

There is also a lot of name calling. Idiot seems to be a favourite word. And often the jokes are at the expense of another character.

It’s a lot for an impressionable 4 or 5 year old.

My 4 year old complained the whole way through the second half of the movie saying that she was scared. I’m not sure if she was or was just bored.

Pig and bird island gets annihilated half way through the movie. And from the view point of 3 little piggies and 3 little chicks it’s scary worrying about their parents.

Age suitability

There are quiet a few jokes in the movie that require reading and then the plot line is also better understood if you can read.

There are also a lot of jokes based on word play and puns.

On top of that the movie plot lines can be confusing so I would suggest children should be 6 years or older.

There are one liner jokes in between which the kids just loved. Quite randomly there are also a few music / dance sequences. The whole audience laughed when baby shark played.

The slapstick humour will be understandable and enjoyable for younger kids.