STORKS: just plain good family fun

I was invited to review STORKS last night. It opens in wide release this weekend.

After settling in the seats reserved for the press, I noticed that there were a lot of young children present for the preview. Lots of restlessness in the theater and I picked up on curt corrections of some harried parents.

I thought, “This is going to be an uncomfortable movie experience.”

Boy, was I ever wrong! From the first moments, the children (and these two older adults!) were captivated by the story. The genuinely sympathetic character of Junior, the stork who used to deliver babies but now delivers packages from an Amazon-like animated and somewhat brooding warehouse environment, drives the plot.

We move back and forth from Junior’s ambition to be named President of the corporation and his initial unhappy task of firing the one human who works there (a misplaced baby reared by the storks) to a mom and dad who neglect their son in favor of their careers as ever available real-estate agents.

Both sets of characters undergo interesting transformations as they learn to set down ambition and pick up the love of family, which gets widely and generously defined.

There’s plenty of action, lots of jokes, a bit of threat from a wolf pack who turn out to be hilariously and endearingly funny, a perfectly unsympathetic villain, and a lovely resolution.

STORKS is directed by Nicholas Stoller and Doug Sweetland and the main characters are narrated by Andy Samberg, Jennifer Aniston and Kelsey Grammer.

This is a great family film. Everyone can see it and enjoy it and everyone will emerge happy. A good way to spend time together.