Doug Sweetland
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But the trade-off for that lack of clarity is a film that aims—and, largely, fails—to approach the exhilaratingly engineered soullessness of The LEGO Movie .
Though “Storks” shares some production DNA with “The Lego Movie,” it aims much more for syrupy sentiment than for hip referential comedy, largely confining its gags to silly situations like having a self-appointed detective pigeon trail Junior and Tulip, who are also trailed by a gang of wolves who can form themselves into a submarine or a parachute.
“Storks” suggests that its close cousin “The Lego Movie” wasn’t an isolated incident, and that the new Warner Bros. animation development team has a plan to produce quality movies for years to come.
As Warner Bros.’ first big budget animated feature since 2014’s The Lego Movie , Storks delivers a nascent idea.
Try as it may, this middling feature from the Warner Animation Group, which released the everything-is-awesome The LEGO Movie a couple of years ago, falls short of the sterling standard set by Pixar and (on occasion) other studios.
While “kids of all ages”—especially those with kids of kids ages—have long gravitated to Disney and Pixar films, there’s a bit of extra cachet on an animated film from Wes Anderson (The Fantastic Mr. Fox) or Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (The Lego Movie, their follow-up to 21 Jump Street).
This past August, Greg Tiernan, who directed a long series of Thomas the Tank Engine videos, and Conrad Vernon, who made several popular DreamWorks animated features including Shrek 2, co-helmed the R-rated comedy Sausage Party .
On the flip side, it’s written and directed by Nicholas Stoller of "Get Him to the Greek" and "Forgetting Sarah Marshall."
Writer-director Nicholas Stoller, known for adult comedies like “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” and “Neighbors,” delves into the family-friendly animated genre in this little movie about where babies come from.
It is directed by Nicholas Stoller (Neighbors and Forgetting Sarah Marshall).
“Storks” features live-action comedy director Nicholas Stoller (“Forgetting Sarah Marshall ,” “Neighbors”), joining forces with director Doug Sweetland and producer Brad Lewis , two Pixar veterans.
Writer/director Nicholas Stoller (best known for bawdy comedies like Forgetting Sarah Marshall) never really gets a handle on the plot, relying instead on the growing familial bond between Tulip, Junior and their new "package".
But it's Stoller gets top billing, because his live-action resume includes directing Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Neighbors, co-writing both of the recent Muppets films, and writing and directing Get Him to the Greek, The Five-Year Engagement, and Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising.
“Storks” attempts to reimagine the child-sending stork fable with inspiration from “Monsters Inc.,” “Arthur Christmas,” “The Santa Clause,” “Elf” and early “Looney Tunes” shorts, specifically “ Baby Bottleneck .”