The Angry Birds Movie: How do the sets compare to the film?
Posted by TheBrickPal,
The Angry Birds Movie released in May, and quickly became a success financially. While critics felt the movie didn't "fly" for them, fans flocked to the theaters and most found themselves enjoying it. To be honest, I loved the film despite having a few problems with it.
Anyway, The LEGO Group contributed to Rovio's extensive marketing campaign with a full wave of six sets in March. Now that the Blu-ray/DVD release occurred on Tuesday, I present to you an analysis of the movie versus the sets.
Of course Brickset is not a film reviewing site, but I am offering a different kind of review in the style of Rex's similar Jurassic World and The Force Awakens themed articles last year. Here, you will find comparisons of the current sets to how they are portrayed in the film, chronologically. I will also theorize what could make it into another wave of sets if there ever was to be one. Please be aware that if you still have not yet seen the film, there will be major spoilers.
The film begins with our main protagonist Red running through the wilds of Bird Island, working as a 'hatchday' party clown. The father of the hatchling having the party scolds Red for arriving after the party had ended (a whole hour late) and Red reacts by throwing a cake in his face. A fun action set based around this scene could consist of a catapult with surrounding trees, a facade of the family's house, and the father at the doorway as a target for Red, who would be holding a cake accessory. An egg nest could also be included to represent the unborn hatchling Red prematurely hatches in the chaos.
A montage then shows the many annoyance's of Red's daily life. After, we see Red in court for his offense earlier. Judge Peckinpah makes his debut, a character who is not seen in any of the sets but could have been included in almost any of them as he frequently appears throughout the film. Red is sentenced to an anger management class at 'free rage chicken' Matilda's house.
On his way to the house, Red walks through Bird Island's village. While some of the scenes like the free hugs building and traffic crossing could have been included in a cheap set, I can't imagine the sort of play features that would be in such a set. Finally, Red makes it to the house and beats up a puppet sign, Billy, for its annoying sounds. Matilda and her house as well as the sign are included in 75823 Bird Island Egg Heist.
The exterior of the set is accurate for the most part. However, the piggy bike included does not feature in such a scene with the house and therefore should not have been in the set - leaving more of the budget to go towards the house and its interior features such as the cushions and exotic statues which are not present. As well, Biker Pig could have been replaced with Terence; a major character in the film who only appears in the LEGO world on a portrait in the same set.
Finally, during an anger management session, Leonard and his pig army arrive onshore, destroying Red's house. Red's house could have been included in 75825 Piggy Pirate Ship as it plays a major role in the film by the end (being rebuilt by Bird Island's community). However, the set is technically based on Red and Bomb's attempt to save the eggs from the ship before its departure a bit later on in the film, so I can see why the house was not included.
Now to the the boat investigation scene. The trio finds a room filled with vehicles. The car from 75821 Piggy Car Escape is shown here for a split second, as well as the aforementioned piggy motorcycle. Many people expected 75821 to be something LEGO developed themselves to take up a cheap set slot, but that is certainly not the case; despite the car's low amount of screen time in which it is neither driven by a pig nor chasing Chuck like the set suggests. As for the car, it is mostly accurate to its short appearance - sans the ice cream missile. Darn those randomly tacked-on play features!
The size and design choices of 75825 Piggy Pirate Ship should not be disputed due to its price point, although a few areas like the pigs' wardrobe and trampoline rooms are not included. However, they are just not important enough and thus the set does not have any interior; dedicating that to Technic functions. Also, a pig with a pirate hat and eyepatch is never seen in the film as far as I am aware. Leonard himself also should not have used the normal pig mold. He would have benefited from a larger mold more akin to Mighty Eagle's, highlighting his obese stature.
When the trio return from their inspection of the pigs' stuff, Leonard denies anything suspicious and starts up a cowboy show for all of the birds. Earl the pig, voiced by country music star Blake Shelton, is not included in any set. While he is a minor character, I think a polybag including him and some stage props could have been in order.
The pigs continue to act strange with the birds, and Leonard discovers the bird's eggs and fantasizes about getting his hands on them. Red becomes quite concerned and he, Chuck and Bomb start to search for the fabled Mighty Eagle. A large display model representing the mountain Mighty Eagle is found on, as well as the Lake of Wisdom and his cave home, would make a fantastic set but I don't think it would have sold very well. Kids generally want to buy more action-packed sets and AFOLs who are fascinated with display models would not care much for an Angry Birds one. Especially one that would be based on, if I am frank, pretty dumb scenes.
The heroic trio spends time with Mighty Eagle and realize he is a fraud. Meanwhile, the pigs start their plan to steal eggs, setting up a huge party to distract Bird Island's citizens. Leonard introduces the birds to helium; colorful balloons are included in four out of six of the LEGO sets. Red looks at the pigs through Mighty's binoculars and the trio rushes down to the village to find the eggs being stolen and the pigs sailing back to Piggy Island with them. About half the sets in the theme involve this heist. However, the birds fail and most of the village is blown up with the pigs' TNT.
The birds mourn their stolen, unborn hatchlings and Peckinpah and the rest realize Red was right about the pigs all along. The community assembles a raft and then find themselves on Piggy Island on a grassy plain overlooking the pigs' city and central castle. Meanwhile, the pigs celebrate their success with stealing the eggs and Leonard is revealed to be monarch of the pigs, dubbed King Mudbeard. To begin the rescue, the now-angry birds use a giant slingshot that the pigs left behind to launch themselves into battle, replicating the original app mechanics. This assault is prominently showcased in 75824 Pig City Teardown. Pink bird Stella is included in this set, as well as Red of course, but green bird Hal (the first to fly) and orange bird Bubbles could have been included as well. Pigs are shown eating hot dogs, but a hot dog stand is never shown. As in the set, a 'piggyback station' building is seen but does not in any way represent the building's placement in 75824.
Back on Bird Island, Mighty Eagle spots everyone on Piggy Island and reveals that he literally rick-rolled everyone, soaring into action. Red, Chuck and Bomb find themselves in the castle after launching from the slingshot. This prompts Leonard to call in the 'piggy airforce'. One such unit appears in 75822 Piggy Plane Attack.
Red, Chuck and Bomb discover the eggs in a boiler room while the pigs prepare a feast. The eggs are transferred to the dining room where Chef Pig readies the giant cauldron to cook them. Mighty Eagle arrives and escapes with the eggs, making a mess in the process and Chuck and Bomb accompanying him. One egg slips, prompting Red and Leonard to engage in battle for it. The planes pursue Mighty, Chuck and Bomb, but the flight ramp is then cut off. Red and Leonard then take the battle to the dynamite room as the king tries to light the last stolen egg, but the entire place blows up and Red survives with the egg in his grasp. A lot of these scenes are abbreviated and represented solely in 75826 King Pig's Castle. The scale of the exterior of the castle in the set is fairly approximatized but it looks mostly the same in design as the animated building; as close as the designer could get without having to turn the set into a D2C, I would assume. Additionally, it would have been hilarious if the version of the Leonard minifigure included were in his track suit as well as the royal garb he sports.
Most of the birds make it back to the outskirts of the destroyed pig city, reunited with their unborn children. All believing Red to be dead, he then emerges from the rubble with the final egg. It hatches and reveals that it contained the blue triplets: Jay, Jake and Jim. The blue egg in 75826 represents this specific egg. It would have been great to see hatchlings released in the theme in general, possibly using simple printed minifigure heads.
The film ends with life on Bird Island being back to normal, Mighty Eagle receiving most of the credit for the finale's events, Red getting a new home, Leonard working on a new plan, and the Blues launching themselves to sea.
I hope you enjoyed my analysis of The Angry Birds Movie and how it connects to its associated LEGO sets. Look forward to more cool articles soon; with my return to major homepage Brickset contributions, I have a few interesting ones in mind...
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11 comments on this article
Nice article!
Good points. I think Lego could have done more with the theme.
Not sure what the style guidelines are to post here on Bricklink, but it would have been cool if you had both the original photo and the LEGO model side-by-side in the same image, so I could more easily compare the two. I was scrolling up and down to compare the pirate ship to it's film counterpart.
I skimmed some of the text because I realized it contained some more major plot spoilers (and I may eventually see the film someday), but I love articles like this on the whole!
I might need to rent the movie now! But then I'll probably need to buy the sets as well XD
I hated watching that film so much it killed any interest I had in the Lego theme.
I never even realised when the movie was out, so I missed it completely. I did buy Matilda's house though, I quite like the set.
Nice article! Thankfully I doubt that there would be a second wave.
I agree that its weird not to have hal and bubbles but it would be more weird to have smosh in lego
I like these comparative articles between Lego sets and films. Go ahead with another one more, please!!
Thanks for this. I've not seen the movie but find this very interesting nevertheless!.
I'm still not interested in watching this, but 'twas an interesting article nonetheless.