Hello Everyone, Janet W. here…

Addressing the age-old question of where do babies come from is Storks. Although the blessed service once performed by storks has now been discontinued. Hunter (Kelsey Grammer), the BBBBBBOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSS (you’ll get it when you see the film), has converted the stork baby delivery business into a new direction, packages. Junior (Andy Samberg), a high achiever, is up for promotion to BBBBBBOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSS. One condition looms over his ascension, and it involves a girl named Tulip (Katie Crown, they should have named her Calamity Jane). With this little vixen, Junior’s life will never be the same.

The cast is diverse, but the identities are lost on the animated facades. I was surprised that one of my favorite comedy duo, Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele. Also, that Jasper was Danny Trejo, pretty cool. Storks, a vision of directors Nicholas Stoller and Doug Sweetland, presents a new twist on the baby making fiction. I’m not very familiar with Stoller’s work, but I have loved many animated films of which Sweetland has helped animate (Finding Nemo, Incredibles, Monsters Inc, and Toy Story). Storks is vivid and full of life. Some of the action sequences are palatable, but some lack the feel of others. My favorite is the “Quiet Fight.”

However, with ten thousand miles per hour diarrhea mouth on multiple characters, the film wears the audience out. The rambling goes on so long, so fast that the audience doesn’t get time to take it in before being confronted with a new challenge. The intensity goes from 0 to 100 in a nanosecond about 15 minutes in and doesn’t come down until the end. Some of the dialogue is lame and purpose of the actions too incomprehensible or over the top, which pulls the viewer out of the narrative. Granted this film is made for kids, so that may not be discouraging. A few good laughs do take place throughout the story and the babies are beyond adorable, show stealers. I also enjoyed the representation of different ethnicities in the babies. A little buried within Storks is a message for parents, but it’s not presented as the main theme so it gets lost.

Overall, Storks is a little annoying. However, the kids in the theater repeatedly laughed, so Storks will be enjoyable for your youngsters. I just wished there were more variance in the intensity.

RUNS AT MACH 1 SPEED, HANG ON!

Janet L. White

Your friendly straightforward neighborhood critic