Storks is a stork that delivers packages instead of babies, and a baby that nobody wanted. That’s the pitch. It mostly delivers on the humor, less so on the story.
The film opens with a simple premise: storks once delivered babies to families around the world. Then one stork named Jasper imprinted on an infant girl, dropped her address beacon, shattered it, and went into exile. The other storks adopted her under the name Tulip. Now the CEO, Hunter, runs Cornerstore.com, a package delivery service for a global internet retail giant.
Junior is the top delivery stork. He’s being promoted to chairman when he accidentally activates the Baby Making Machine, producing a pink-haired baby girl named Amelia. Tulip, a creative outsider who keeps failing at promotion ideas for Cornerstore, helps Junior hide the baby from Hunter. The two embark on a journey to deliver Amelia to her family, a 4-year-old boy named Nate Gardner, whose workaholic parents Henry and Sarah want a younger sibling.
Trailer, via Warner Bros..
Tulip and Junior’s Partnership
Tulip is the film’s engine. She’s desperate, creative, and perpetually underestimated by Hunter. Her schemes consistently backfire, costing the company stocks. On her eighteenth birthday, Hunter declares her a severe burden and liability due to her incompetence. That sets the plot in motion.
Hunter assigns Junior to fire Tulip before he can take over as boss. Junior can’t do it. Instead, he fraudulently transfers Tulip to the abandoned mailroom, where she must sort letters while Junior tells Hunter she’s fired. It’s a clumsy scheme, but it works for a while.
The partnership between Tulip and Junior is the heart of the movie. Their chemistry carries most of the film’s best jokes. Tulip is a stork who thinks like a human, and Junior is a stork who acts like a corporate drone. The contrast is funny, and it gives the story a reason to exist beyond the premise.
The Baby Making Machine
The machine itself is a marvel of design. It’s a defunct baby factory, and Tulip inserts a letter from Nate into it, causing it to activate. Junior tries to turn it off but injures his wing in the process. The sequence is inventive, and it’s one of the film’s strongest visual moments.
Amelia is a pink-haired infant girl who becomes the object of everyone’s pursuit. She’s adorable, and the film leans on that quality heavily. The problem is that the baby’s arrival doesn’t change the story much. Junior and Tulip still need to deliver her to Nate, but the stakes don’t rise. The machine could have been the engine of the plot. Instead, it’s a device that starts the story and then gets forgotten.
Voices and Humor
The voice cast is strong. Andy Samberg plays Junior, and he brings a nervous energy that fits the character perfectly. Katie Crown voices Tulip with a mix of desperation and determination. Kelsey Grammer is the stern Hunter, and Jennifer Aniston voices Sarah Gardner, Nate’s mother. Ty Burrell is Henry Gardner, and Danny Trejo voices Jasper, the exiled stork who started it all.
Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele voice Alpha Wolf and Beta Wolf, two characters who add some comic relief. Awkwafina voices Quail, and Stephen Kramer Glickman voices Pigeon Toady. Christopher Nicholas Smith voices Dougland.
The humor is broad and often physical. Storks slip on banana peels, get caught in conveyor belts, and crash into each other. It’s silly, and it works more often than not. The film knows what it is: a cartoon about storks, and it doesn’t pretend otherwise.
“Find Your Flock”
That tagline sums up the film’s message. It’s about belonging, even when you’re not sure where you fit. Tulip is an outcast, and Amelia is an unwanted baby. The film wants you to root for both of them to find their place. It’s a nice sentiment, but it doesn’t make the story tighter.
Where the Film Falls Short
The story is the weak link. The setup is clever, but the execution stalls. Junior and Tulip spend most of the film running from Hunter and his henchmen. The chase sequences are energetic, but they don’t build toward anything. There’s no rising tension, no moment where you feel like the baby might actually be found.
The film also leans on its stars too heavily. Samberg carries the film, but he’s doing a lot of the work alone. The supporting cast is fine, but they don’t get much to do. The wolves are funny, but they’re background players. The baby is cute, but she’s a prop. The story is about the adults, and it’s about the storks, but it never quite connects the two.
The Numbers
- Title: Storks (2016)
- Directors: Nicholas Stoller and Doug Sweetland
- Writer: Nicholas Stoller
- Runtime: 87 minutes
- Genres: Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Family
- Tagline: “Find Your Flock”
- Budget: $70 million
- Box office: $183 million
- Score: 5.6/10
The film premiered at the Regency Village Theater in Los Angeles on September 17, 2016, and was released in the United States by Warner Bros. Pictures on September 23. Mychael and Jeff Danna composed the musical score. The animation was provided by Sony Pictures Imageworks.
The film received mixed reviews from critics. They praised the animation, humor, and voice acting, but criticized the story. That’s the pattern. The film looks good, sounds good, and moves fast, but it doesn’t hold together.
Verdict
Storks is a competent, occasionally brilliant animated comedy that never quite earns its ambition. It has a great premise, a solid voice cast, and some genuinely funny moments. But the story is thin, the stakes are low, and the baby becomes a symbol rather than a character.
It’s a fun movie to watch, especially with kids. It’s a good time at the theater. But it’s not a great movie. It’s a stork movie that forgets what makes storks interesting.
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