THE ANGRY BIRDS MOVIE (***)

(2016) I might not be the best person to review this film; have never played the game, nor ever had an interest in it, as much as I just really love animated films.  So with only the film to go by, for me The Angry Birds Movie was a fun, sometimes funny film that felt too light on plot and too little on originality.  Sort of prequel to the game, the movie gives us backstory on how the flightless birds of Bird Island came to be enemies with the green pigs of Piggy Island - here focusing on Red (well-voiced by Jason Sudeikis), a red bird with thick, black, bushy eyebrows who has a bad temper and only wants to be left alone.  Trouble is, he's surrounded by happy, perky birds ... leading to an incident that has Red sent to anger management class, where he meets the highly-caffeinated Chuck (a bright yellow bird who can move faster than the speed of light, voice by Josh Gad) and the gullible, rotund Bomb (Danny McBride) - so named because he sort of, well, explodes whenever highly agitated (by far, Bomb was my favorite character).  When a ship lands on the shores of Bird Island and a green pig named Leonard declares his desire to make friends with the birds, Red is immediately suspicious - soon learning that not only does he have reason to be, but also that he and Chuck and Bomb need to band together to save the day.  The film looks great, has some truly funny moments, but lacks anything near a plot (it is, after all, based on a videogame), and - while entertaining - what plot there is plays out with total predictability.  What I call a "popcorn movie"; like popcorn, it fills you up at the time, though soon afterward you may find yourself hungry for something more.  (rated PG)