Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		2.5

Angry Birds Toons: Season One - Volume One Blu-ray Movie Review

Will this release make 'Angry' fans happy?

Reviewed by Martin Liebman November 30, 2013

There was a time when "gaming on the go" meant something like Nintendo's "Game & Watch" units or any number of bulky, big battery powered electronic Coleco games. Those graduated to the GameBoy, and from there the GameGear and so on until today when portable gaming is pretty much as easy as swiping a touchscreen on a device smaller than a thin wallet. Though gaming on the phone has become something of a de facto mainstream norm -- and why not when games cost pennies at most and are often free and play nearly as well as anything else out there for short entertainment bursts -- there are still handheld consoles from manufacturers like Nintendo and Sony offering games that cost a premium and a system that doesn't come "free" with a smart phone. Yet for all the pricier consoles do so well, it's impossible to deny the altered landscape of portable gaming that, in many cases, has sacrificed larger stories and more epic scales in favor of simple interactions and repetitive motions. The key for developers and independent app creators is to make those sorts of experiences fun, or fun enough to last the short spurt when mobile gaming is most in demand, such as at a wait at the doctor's office or passing the time before the movie starts. It's the very definition of the "casual" market, and perhaps no game has captured that casual market like Angry Birds, a relatively simple and colorful game that debuted in 2009 and has since gone on to become a cultural phenomenon and, for better or for worse, the new face of mobile gaming.

I don't think I went far enough.

Angry Birds is a relatively simple game in which players launch a bird from a slingshot and attempt to destroy a number of pigs within a structure. The goal is not just their destruction but to achieve it in as few a number of moves as possible and earn that coveted three-star rating on each level. It's an incredibly simple concept, and that it's spawned not just a popular series but a veritable industry around itself is really quite the amazing accomplishment. That success has yielded everything from T-shirts to Christmas ornaments. There's even a Star Wars-themed version of the game for fans of both franchises to enjoy. The series has additionally moved beyond the smart phone market and expanded into handheld systems, home consoles, and computers, but it remains a staple of telephone and mobile gaming first and foremost. One of the more recent of the related releases has been a series of animated Angry Birds short cartoons that further shape the otherwise simplified world of birds versus pigs. The cartoons are available through a number of mediums, including the free iOS Angry Birds app and this Blu-ray release.

Sony's Angry Birds Toons release contains half of the first season's 52 episodes. Each runs two minutes and forty-seven seconds, making them just as easily digestible as a level or two of the über-popular video game. There is no dialogue to be found; the stories are told visually and with minor aural support, primarily in the form of basic sound effects and mood-shaping music. They do everything from hearken back to the days of classic Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote to play on The Shawshank Redemption. The series generates some solid laughs, though certainly it may take newcomers a few episodes to find, and adjust to, the universe's center. It's certainly a bit more tailored to fans, but the simple stories, familiar refrains, colorful characters, and easily digestible runtimes make these cartoons something anyone can enjoy for a few minutes' worth of basic entertainment.

One area in which this collection stands apart is in how it fares as a companion piece to the games. All too often, films and series based on video games just don't work. The video game-turned-film has long been the bane of Hollywood. It's something filmmakers just cannot seem to get right, and even the best efforts usually turn out to be merely average motion picture experiences. And here's a series based on a game that really has no "plot" of which to speak beyond a basic conflict between birds and pigs. The limited source material actually seems to help the series considering the absence of set rules and expectations beyond the most basic elements. That creative freedom helps to better define the series, and given the brevity of each episode there's not much room to mess it up, anyway. Angry Birds Toons, then, feels like an extension of the series rather than an effort to redefine it in some fraudulent image that might satisfy some filmmaker's creative urges but only upset and alienate its core audience. That should make Angry fans pretty happy.

Angry Birds Toons: Season One - Volume One Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Angry Birds Toons: Season One - Volume One flies onto Blu-ray with a rather colorful and nicely defined 1080p picture. Sony's transfer is certainly the primary reason to buy this rather than watch for free on the iPhone app. The jump in quality is striking; there are no compression problems, colors are significantly bolder, and details are stronger. Red and greens and yellows pop in nearly every scene. Black levels are good, too. Image clarity is fine, lines are crisp, and details are refined, particularly supportive elements like wood, rocks, and grass. Dedicated Angry Birds Toons fans will feel like they're watching the show for the first time all over again with this quality transfer.

Angry Birds Toons: Season One - Volume One Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Angry Birds Toons: Season One - Volume One features a simple Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack. It serves the material well enough and, even considering its limited origins, certainly beats the pants off of the sound that accompanies the episodes when viewed on the iPhone, whether through the device's built-in speakers or even with a quality pair of headphones. Musical clarity is fine and nicely spaced across the entirety of the front stage. Sound effects come through with accuracy and a sufficient sense of fullness. There's nothing more to the track. It's a good presentation for what the series has to offer.

Angry Birds Toons: Season One - Volume One Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Angry Birds Toons: Season One - Volume One contains several bonus features. Supplements include optional Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish subtitles.

• Meet the Characters (HD): An introduction, in show clip form, to Blues (0:49), Chuck (0:49), Matilda (0:49), Red (0:51), and Pigs (0:49).
• Meet the Flock (HD, 1:22): More character clips from the show.
• Behind the Scenes (HD): Brief looks at three areas of concern. Series (2:49) features Supervising Director Eric Guaglione discussing the Angry Birds phenomenon, the people who make it happen, life in the production offices, producing various episodes at the same time, and the future of the series. Story (2:49) features Script Editor Anastasia Heinzl, Creative Director Mikko Pöllä, Story Artists Ashley Boddy and JP Saari, and Editor Andrew Ward speaking on the creative writing process, storyboarding, and editing. Finally, in Art (2:49), Production Designer César Chevalier, Senior Props Designer Carine Becker, Layout Supervisor Marec Fritzinger, and Graphic Artist Supervisor Jaakko Tyhtilä look at the many aspects of the design process.
• Wreck the Halls (HD, 2:47): A Christmas-themed episode.
• Character Art Gallery (HD): A collection of nine sketches, viewable individually or as a slideshow.

Angry Birds Toons: Season One - Volume One Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There's really nothing wrong with Angry Birds Toons. It's a simple, straightforward series of shorts that are delightfully funny, most of the time, and that do a good job of peeking inside a super-popular universe that's largely been two-dimensional, until now. The real problem stems from what audience, exactly, Sony is trying to hit with this Blu-ray release. It's pricing in at over $25 on release day. All of these episodes are also available for free on the free iOS Angry Birds app. Sure, the Blu-ray delivers superior picture and sound and a few supplements, but fans will have to think very hard before shelling out anything more than a few bucks on this one. Of course, it's not quite the insult that is Angry Birds Star Wars, which will set back Xbox One and PS4 fans $50 right now but only $0.99 on the phone, and there's not a $49 difference in quality or quantity, just as there isn't a $+/-25 in perceived quality increase with this Blu-ray. Despite good picture, fair sound, and a couple of extras, Angry Birds Toons: Season One - Volume One doesn't come recommended until the cost comes way, way down.