It’s slim pickings when it comes to family movies this weekend, but The Angry Birds Movie has flown into theaters, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 is battling a few other superhero releases for tween boys’ eyeballs. Is it worth taking the kids? Read on!
Now playing: The Angry Birds Movie, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2, Alice Through the Looking Glass
Opening June 16: Finding Dory
Opening July 1: The BFG
Opening July 8: The Secret Life of Pets
Opening July 22: Ice Age: Collision Course
See the rest of the family movies opening in 2016 here.
The Angry Birds movie (Now playing)
Perhaps it was inevitable: Hollywood’s adaptation of the Angry Birds gaming app into a movie for kids. Usually, such adaptations stink because the source material is so flimsy when it comes to story. And I’ll be honest, The Angry Birds Movie is kind of all over the place. But it does manage to flap its clumsy way through a story line and even some conflict. There are a few laughs, mostly thanks to the little yellow bird Chuck, whom my daughter recognized as the voice of Olaf, Josh Gad. We come to understand why Red (Jason Sudeikis), who is sentenced to anger management classes, ultimately convinces the other flightless, happy-go-lucky birds on his island that they need to be angry.
The unnecessary moments of weird innuendo, which will fly way over the heads of kids, bothered me, and there is one moment of Chuck delivering payback to a cop that is too “bad boy” for a kids’ movie. There’s plenty of gross out humor — of course kids love that. See The Angry Birds Movie if you (desperately) need a reason to get out of the house with the kids, love to eat popcorn, and or just really need to sit in the air conditioning.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 (Now playing)
Image: Paramount pictures
Sigh. Why does Hollywood think that the only way to entertain tweens is with smartass humor? Apparently a movie that should have been rated “PG”–these are Ninja Turtles that started life as a cartoon for 8-year-olds–has increased its “cool” factor with the “s-word,” tons of violence, and more innuendo. And here’s a shocker from a Hollywood movie for kids: more fart and booger jokes! I just can’t get over how weird these humanoid Ninja Turtles look. It’s so creepy it’s distracting.
But if you have a twelve-year-old boy that is dying to see this–after all, there isn’t a whole lot at the movies that is made just for them–this one is better than the original. And the message about teamwork and the importance of brotherhood isn’t a bad one.
However, I will say that I think tweens deserve better than this, and I know that the talent in Hollywood is capable of producing it. Between the smart alecks on those painful Disney channel sitcoms and this, I’m really wishing for another Harry Potter franchise.
