The Angry Birds Movie review – game spin-off that doesn't quite reach Lego Movie levels

The addictive smartphone game has been shoehorned into an amusing animation narrative whose ridiculousness is part of its appeal

That's right: a film has been made out of the addictive smartphone/tablet game Angry Birds, where catapults ping flightless birds at the little pink piggies who have stolen their eggs. This movie is driven by a naked commercial imperative - though perhaps no more than any other film - and it doesn't match up to the hyperactive, clever surreality of the Lego Movie. Yet there is a kind of pleasure and fascination, mixed with exasperation, in seeing how the game has been mangled and bent into the shape of the conventional animation narrative, with zappy little dialogue moments, funny characters and some sophisticated touches for the grownups (including a nod to The Shining, of all things).