Birds Like Us

Inspired by Farid-Un-Din Attar's (13th century Persian Poet) Conference of the Birds.

The main story revolves around a female bird, Huppu (voiced by. Alicia Vikander) who is about to lay an egg. In the society where she lives all the birds sacrifice some of there eggs to the ruling Kondor (voiced by Jeremy Irons) in exchange for the fruit they eat to live.

After she gains some insight that there is more to the world than the small protected tree where they have all lived. A group of four birds go on an adventure.

This is where the film go badly. The characters are relativity well defined and the animation is well executed. Voice acting is acceptably, if not inflected.

The story just seems to wander from point to point. The main linking character, the Bat (voiced by Khalid Abdalla), who presumably, is giving sage advise at just the right point to help the birds advance in there understanding of the greater world is far too enigmatic to be understood by these simple birds.

I'm not sure who the film is aimed to reach. It's far too complex for children. It's too mixed up for adolescence and too boring for adults.

Oh dear. At two minutes I wasn't 'getting' this movie; at five minutes I realised I definitely wasn't enjoying it. Even the intro sequence had pained me, with its pinpoint of light meandering all over the place for what seemed like an endless time (we actually thought our DVD player had broken!).

By ten minutes I had surmised I couldn't even follow the bizarre mood of the film. I didn't understand its odd camera angles, recoiled from its unlikeable main characters (who were also drawn to be far too grotesque), and the non sequiturs of the script just messed up any storyline. So I decided to persist no more, and hit the power 'off' button.

The main problem was that the DVD's artwork had marketed the film in a particular way, that turned out to be grossly misleading. The artwork was made with a bold font and cheery prime colours, had illustrations of fun-looking birds on the front, and a sassy tag line of "Feathers will fly". In other words it looked like a standard animation film: fun, great for kids, with a comedic script to suit the roster of British actors in the cast. Instead, it turned out to be a VERY different style of film: sombre and laden with message, full of semi-artistic allegory and fable. Had I been expecting that - ie been in the mood to watch a 'worthy' film - I might have been able to handle the movie's symbolism and mystic tone. But I wasn't. And when the film wasn't even well put together, which I discovered as it continued, I simply had to give up on it. It was just a sequence of unrelated, disjointed scenes. A diatribe of a movie.

I don't even feel I can give the film any kind of a star rating at IMDb, as I only managed to digest a little of the total offering. And as it was initially a viewing failure because of misleading branding and advertising, we were not best pleased. Dishonesty is not the best policy! I hope the next animation film we pick up is made truer to its pictorial description.

Taken from a 12th-13th century Persian Sufi poem by Farid Ud-Din Attar."The Conference of the Birds", concerning birds, speech, frailties & faults, enlightenment as they symbolically relate to humans. Very different animation (quality slightly above average) from what one typically sees (definitely not Disney like), but interesting. Following the storyline can be confusing, but part of it's charm. Eastern European & Turkish influences.

"Don't listen to the Naysayers, because what do they say, but Nay?" I can't believe the negative reviews to this movie. Put your phone down and quiet your short attention span. We did. You will be richly rewarded.

Watch this film and open your mind to the possibilities in the world. Listen. It's message is simple, uplifting, and just the antidote we needed to a dreary day. The animation is actually mind blowing, just not in a style of its contemporaries. I say it's better. Think FernGully : The Last Rainforest, compared to its contemporaries. If you love Peter Gabriel (we do), the soundtrack and songs are great, as well. Highly recommended.

Animation is very amateur at best certainly doesn't feel like a 2017 production. Story is all over the place. My kids were bored after 10 minutes so had to turn it off.