WarriorVera @warriorvera - Tumblr Blog

Character Assassination Rant - Red

small disclaimer: This will not be focused on his character outside the movies. This is purely focused on the movie's take on the character(s) personalities, motivations and attributes. It's also all over the place as I am a very recent re-enjoyer of the franchise after a five year absence, who was already really critical of the movie back in 2019, so bear with my ramblings that I may not get some things right or misinterpret them. Yada yada.

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Since a third installment of The Angry Birds Movie's coming out this year and that I've return to my interest with the franchise after my five year absence from it, I think it's time I finally let out my feelings on a certain movie that butchered a lot, and I mean, a lot, of what was already well established in the first movie. This includes a character that's not even in my top ten, and we all know who it is from the picture above.

Red's entire shtick is his anger issues and that he's lonely. It's a simple thing that was explored and handled in the original. We felt his struggles of essentially being the lone wolf of his community and, from what we can imply, had to care for himself throughout most of his life. He even stated in the original that his house on the beach took FIVE years to make. FIVE. All on his own I'm assuming! With no real help and having to see it be destroyed like that from Leonard's ship anchor was an EXTREME blow on him. I'm surprised he didn't crash out then and there. But other questions are now added to the mixture. Did anyone adopt him when he was a hatchling? Who cared for him? Did he have to attend school himself? Who did he even live with as a child? All we know is he was neglected and made fun of throughout his entire livelihood, and the original movie took that into genuine consideration. They let us, the audience, sympathize with a pessimistic guy who had no real, honest friendships or someone he could reliably talk to. Even when later on his life that the village's perceptions of him worsened through his own actions, we still looked at him and said, "Man, must suck for what he has to go through." Everything was worked through subtle beats as we saw his character change overtime, and it slowly paid off throughout the movie. He still was ABLE to be his usual self, and the only thing that changed was the actions he committed throughout the movie, including him being the main guy to be wary about King Leonard and the pigs.

Now when you look at the scene of them on Piggy Island, you, or well, me, often asked these questions when rewatching it,

"Did he ask to save the eggs? No. Did he worry about the potential of losing his life for the sake of saving the eggs that belong to the many group of birds that treated him less than a microbe? Maybe. Would he have cared if he lost his life if it meant the eggs were saved?" Judging what he had to do, it's likely. The entirety of the 2016 movie not once downplayed Red's issues, even when they played his loneliness for laughs during the trailers. His entire character was meant to let us, the audience know, "I care for them even if they didn't for me. If I didn't care for them, I wouldn't have fought my life to save their unborn young. I knew from the start those pigs had something heinous going on. I was right and I knew they wouldn't believe me because why would you believe the guy who everyone hates?" And what do you know? The guy many birds either hated or ignored ends up becoming the guy that kept your child from becoming an omelette for Piggy Island. You're essentially indebted to him, right? After all, he was the main one who grew suspicious of their activity prior to them taking the eggs. Of course, the birds of Bird Island respected his efforts and in turn, they rebuilt his home—not within the same spot but in the heart of the village, showcasing how much they've grown to respect his efforts, even if it was only because he saved their unborn children. To Red, that's better than nothing. To Red, it means it wasn't too late for him, and thanks to Peckinpah's recommendation of him going to Anger Management class, he wouldn't have grown to befriend Chuck and Bomb, who were also the catalyst to his additional findings regarding King Leonard's true intentions.

It's why I have such high regards for the movie. It was a movie that stayed true to what the game was about—birds defeating pigs, with the ultimate high point of the movie was them using that signature slingshot. A slingshot originally owned by King Leonard himself. I still think it's interesting of an explanation on how the birds in the original game got their hands on a slingshot in the first place. Of course, this is the movie, not the actual game as a movie.

So, even after all what I said, can any of y'all guess how all of what he fought for, what he had nearly scarified for, and what he was willing to do to save the eggs for the village he cared for even if they didn't reciprocate the same? Can any one of y'all guess how the movie took his decades of isolation and constant feelings of feeling like he'll never have a true belonging in the island?

Oh? You don't have an answer? Okay! Just imagine the 2016 trailer where his loneliness was played for laughs but if it was an entire movie instead and missed the entire point regarding what he had to go through!

That's the best explanation I can give to The Angry Birds Movie 2. It's a very prominent character assassination of a guy who had to go his entire childhood and adolescence having no one but him around all the time and eventually sucking up to the assumption that no one will be willing to tolerate him so he'd rather go all out and worry about the consequences later. Do y'all know how many times the sequel mentioned how LONELY and SUPPRESSED he was? Countless times!

"Oh we hated your guts but hey look we love you now!" Paraphrased but GOD I hate that dialogue and I still hate it now. It sounds exactly like it came off from a family friendly comedy movie and not from The Angry Birds Movie 2. That's not something you'd say to Red. Like, at all?? Why would you say that to the guy who kept your child from getting eaten by the pigs? Overthinking this but it's justified. So. Much. Just from this one piece of dialogue. A direct spit in the face for all what he did so your—and essentially 95% of the dang island's—stupid bloodline wouldn't be in a permanent standstill.

There's a real lack of subtly in the sequel where we don't just, get shown how Red's taking his newfound fame and the overall village's switch to now treating him as a local hero. It's unsurprising he'd develop an ego, feeling as if he should spend every moment protecting these birds. But it's strange. Red wouldn't be that obsessed. Let alone for a PRANK WAR????????????

Why and how did they switched from the tactic of pigs slowly taking control of your village and fooled them enough to keep them under control whilst they stole all their eggs and completely put their village into ruins, got turned into a silly billy prank war? A prank war? After all what they've done? That's the best thing Piggy Island was left to do? This was what Leonard thought of during the ending scene with him within the ruins of his kingdom? Red would NOT be THIS LOCKED IN for a PRANK WAR. A PRANK WAR. Let's be for real here. He would consider this a waste of his time and only retaliate if he knows they're in actual, genuine danger.

Yes, I am aware of the crabs they threw, along with magnifying glass but I'm really sure getting a bunch of crabs thrown all over you and maybe, just maybe, getting temporarily blinded is very different from being in fear of the Piggies finding some newfound way to steal the village's eggs again. Like, sure, I get it, repeating the first movie's goals would've been repetitive. But I would've expected a lot better from the same guy who enacted the original "performative hospitality and taking advantage of a village's ignorance to the fact an island other than theirs exist in order to lure them in enough before we take their eggs and them blow up their village and Mighty Eagle monument—all before them planning to hard boil an entire generation of unborn hatchlings in front of a live crowd of pigs—without zero hesitation btw" plan. But, that's just me. Mmhf.

But enough about Leonard, I still have more questions about Red here. So why did they treat Red's post-ABM1 experience like this? What's the point of constantly having everyone remind him about his loneliness? Why haven't they actually talked to him? Asked him if he was interested in hanging out with them? Do they essentially not owe this guy for saving the lives of an entire, literal generation of unborn eggs? Sure, Red would definitely know the birds are only caring for him because of this instance, which IS and COULD HAVE been something they could've explored pretty well if done right. Isn't that what the first movie did with Bomb and Chuck? How these two guys wanted to befriend him but Red was so used to being neglected and put aside that someone actually wanting to befriend him felt incredibly foreign???? It's what made his transition to actually liking the two feel so earnest. We saw how closer they got, and did all of that without even telling about their friendship!

Like, for example; Chuck's passive-aggressive-to-friendly dialogue to Red when he first encountered him to Red jokingly pretending he wanted to be left alone in his rebuilt home, only to invite Chuck and Bomb in after? That was a TIGHT script. A TIGHT point from A to B in regards to their friendship—all without constantly telling us. And now not only Chuck and Bomb favor him but the entire village does. So, you would expect for the sequel to continue with a character who's now cemented among the island's history for saving their eggs and their overall island to actively have additional friendships outside of Chuck and Bomb, take part in hangouts that he usually would get rejected to, or maybe even be a special guest for a hatchling's birthday party? Can any of you guess the major thing the sequel does to Red's character?

If you guessed, "Reverting everything he had gone through in the first movie to constantly make jokes about how lonely he is" for 500, then you've won this season's Jeopardy! After all, it's a silly kids comedy movie, so why even bother with continuity of his character? Don't even! Just make everyone still treat him no differently from the first movie, with little changes to how they see him outside of blindly glazing him when the movie needs them to. What was even the point? What was the point of Chuck and Bomb trying to get him a girlfriend? Why couldn't the movie expand upon the relationship between the trio? The sequel already sucked major Piggy Snot in doing anything with his friends that weren't them doing shenanigans, helping along with the plan to stop Zeta's thermal-infused ice balls or, in Chuck's case, constantly getting in Red's face about how he interacts with Silver, a sister of his he somehow never told Red about UNTIL NOW.

It's no wonder barely anyone has words to say about the sequel. There's nothing to say about it outside of complaining of everything it did WRONG. okay not really there are some positive things but it's not in regards to the movie but personal preferences shh njrnjhenrjher

But if y'all thought that was bad, oh MAN, how do I even START with how the sequel did Red and Silver? For one thing, AB2's Silver significantly outweighs ABM2 Silver by a large margin. Another thing is how the movie tried to make us feel sympathetic for her. Like,

"Guys, guys... look. Look how sad she is. Everyone's ignoring the lady with the countless Engineering achievement awards that she personally bragged to Red about obtaining! Look how no one takes her super sciency science seriously... see you guys? This is how her and Red were meant to be together and now canonically have five kids for The Angry Birds Movie 3!" AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH That's NOT how it works. Red doesn't NEED a girlfriend. He doesn't need anyone generally! He needs a friend! Wasn't that the BIGGGGGGG point of the first movie? That Red was lonely and him being able to befriend Chuck and Bomb became a gradual but obvious conclusion that felt incredibly satisfying by the end of the movie??? You're giving a character with LITTLE to no real flaws to a character with a TON of flaws that very well could've been explored that wasn't related to OTHERS self interest but rather his own because... look what he's BEEN through. Y'all really thought he was gonna easily ACCEPT doing something he had no real experience with? Heck it, the movie was barely about Red and his motivations and interests! No, no. That's SELFISH. Let's have him make incredibly stupid decisions and not just... THINK things out and investigate before doing anything big and serious. After all, the audience was meant to treat HIS interests as a bad thing, so let's have him make BAD decisions so we can root for him to work together with his friends and the Piggies instead of just... oh, I don't know, let it NATURALLY happen? Without it being in our faces?! Subtlety? Where? It's GONE, Red. It's GONE. HOW ever did THE Thurop Van Orman think any of this was a good idea? No shade to this dude at all, goated director/animator/producer and all but I have no idea what he was thinking with this movie. God himself only knows how the third installment will be done.

I am already saying way too much right now and I really want to press the submit button so I'll keep it brief in regards to Red and Silver's interactions throughout the movie: Third movie bait. That's all I will say. Red deserved better and we know he'll be a further joke in the third installment. More character rants to come.

batunatu

TJIS IS THE RANT I NEEDED

a discussion is needed about why red underwent an absurd flanderization. i've seen people who supposedly enjoy the movie because it's "funny," but i can't watch it without feeling like they're treating us like idiots, thinking we don't realize they didn't watched the first one. it's really hard to turn your brain off to watch this movie when it's so full of mistakes that it becomes unbearable.

the first film means tango to me, an icon of my childhood. it was a HUGE disappointment to see the sequel at 12 years old with such low expectations. there are things that really make you say they can't hide the fact that they just wanted to market this movie as quickly as possible.

yk, the replacement for the blues but with matilda's children, courtney's existence as a replacement for ross, the pigs' technology contrasts significantly with that of the first film, and therefore it makes no sense that in 5 years they would have developed futuristic technology for their submarine. the advanced technology of zeta's Island makes it sense that with so much at their disposal, they only focused on she being heartbroken (was it really necessary to sacrifice the desolate vibe of the concept art for another generic island?) and that there are too many main characters who were left behind in order to give attention to new characters who could easily have been replaced by those from the first movie.

enough yap, i think the biggest sin of this movie is the focus (which i noticed a lot in the marketing) on the "frenemies" thing. ARE U SERIOUSLY SAYING THAT red had to team up with leonard, the bastard who tried to eat the children of an entire island.

you have to convince me in about an hour and a half that nothing that happened in the first movie was important enough for red not to show any kind of conflict with leonard. I don't recall a single scene after they became allies where Red harbors any kind of resentment or quarrel with him, or at least not one that isn't comedic. because yes, the movie sacrifices every moment with potential to give you preschool-level comedy. the first film was full of adult jokes, but the jokes didn't have to intrude on moments that were meant to be crucial to the development or dramatic level of the film, like when the eggs were stolen or the powerful eagle admitted that he didn't want to continue his legacy. there were jokes in the scene, but the jokes weren't the main point; there was a bit of seriousness to the matter because children aren't stupid creatures, they deserve a few more key scenes. The very thing that made me fall in love with this movie in my childhood were the scenes of Red being alone and longing or when he decides to save the chicks and guides the others.

If only they had focused a little more on how Red still didn't accept Leonard because of what he did. But it's preferable to focus on his romance with Silver because obviously we want to sell the Red's son plushie!!!

Furthermore, the concept is absurd, forced, worthy of a Wattpad story where they had to sacrifice another revenge story by the pigs because they wanted to attract new characters, So they brought in a supposedly more powerful character to force a new dynamic that wouldn't make sense in the first movie. Leonard had the potential to continue being the villain of the franchise. Instead of, I don't know, exploring ideas inspired by the vague narratives of AB games (as you mentioned), they tried to play it safe. REALLY SAFE, so safe it's so generic, ur so right bc yeah, this doenst feel like an angry birds movie at all. There is nothing that compares the color palette, the soundtrack, the characters, the situations, the dynamics; everything feels performative, like an illumination movie with ab characters.

I still think it's a shame they didn't take advantage of Silver, THEY HAD HER RIGHT UNDER THEIR NOSES. What if Leonard's new hatched plan WAS SILVER???? HELLO?? You have a chaotic character who would easily belong to the anger management class. A character whose implicit lore could easily add more depth to the film. A character who may feel confused and conflicted about her origins, perhaps because she was excluded from the network, but in her coexistence with the pigs. A character who felt she didn't fit in because of her neurotic personality, a female character who could be strong but with ties that she could learn from, just like red. Rachel Bloom wanted an empowered female character, she had the original Silver there...

I feel a little awkward saying this because I couldn't find any information about the development of the film regarding Silver. But looking at most of the concept art of her from the movie, you realize that they only put her there to be the love interest. In other words, they took away her original power, they took away her original design to make a more hyper-feminine one (which doesn't fit with the other previous feminine designs) just to quit the new power they were woing to give her with her new over designed pigtails (Why is she the only character with shiny braids, pink eyebrows, small beak and cartoony big eyes ? Oh right, SHE'S A GIRL AND OH RIGHT, SHE'S RED'S GIRLFRIEND!!! SHES SO SMART!! SHES THE DIVA! SHES JUST A GIRL!

I'm getting carried away, but the relationship between Red and Silver in this movie could have fit better with Silver's old dynamic. I feel like the idea of Red having to be with someone who is a perfectionist and has more leadership qualities is forced, which makes him conflicted, and therefore the movie wants you to take her side bc he doesn't know what he's doing 🥺🥺🥺 but her? OH SHES SO COOL did u forgot red Is a pathetic insecure mc????

Even noting that the recurring joke in the movie is that Chuck doesn't want Red messing with his sister, It's as if they made it clear that she was, from the beginning, his future gf, but we have to give her a characterization and "empowering" moments to cover up the fact that she emerged as that.

It really hurts what they did to Red; it's annoying to see so many people praising Van Orman's supposed work in this movie when it was mediocre. The change of director and animation studio (and therefore art direction) makes the film feel very different in atmosphere. The directors of the first movie worked by dissecting the concept of the game. But in the second film, that work is already done, and you don't need to make an effort with the narrative—"because they're angry birds on an island, haha, let's do a funny open season ahh type of movie"

Edit: OHHH U FORGOR TO MENTION THIS, Mighty Eagle could have been a great, BUT GREAT, parallel to Red. He actually Is on the first movie but they could have enhanced it. From what little we've seen in the concept art, the eagles are large, intimidating, and eerie. What if Mighty Eagle was excluded by them? Perhaps for being "weak" or different; those eagles remind me of the OG M/E in the games. Mighty Eagle, or well, Ethan, had a lot of screen time, but they could have given him a new legacy and redemption that wasn't centered around his marital problems. Who cares about that? Why don't we make him more stoic? Or more willing to genuinely help Red become a better leader than he could? Because he was always a coward or a false icon, and he doesn't want Red to become one like him.

This movie suffers from exactly the same thing as my other favorite movie, Wreck-It Ralph, and its horrendous and appalling festival of flanderizations called a sequel 😭 Red deserved better, Silver deserved an interesting role, Leonard deserved to have a new development with his revenge. Etc etc..

warriorvera

God, yes! I don't like second movie much, because it's not serious like the first one.

Back in time, I hated Silver. But now take her more neutral. I still don't like her, she is a Mary Sue, and as was said, she were created as a GF for Red. I don't like their dynamic either, and that's why I don't have a hope for third movie. Red really don't need a girlfriend, at least for now. If someone want to make a couple for him, then write it well! Don't just make a one character dumber, that other one looked smart and cool.

Red's character became worse and these scenes, where he is all lonely feeling like a joke, and not something that I need to care for.

His personality itself was downgraded. He was so irresponsible about lives of birds! He cared only for saving them all by himself and that's it. Yeah, Red said about it later in movie, but it's still strange.

Red from first movie never would act like that. He crucified himself to save just ONE egg. And he did it not because of thinking about himself, but because saving a life of a hatcling(s) and returning child back to parents. Red was a real hero. But in second movie he became more selfish. (I like idea of his growing ego, but he couldn't just LEAVE WHOLE ISLAND WITHOUT DEFENSE! And he remembered about it in film, but it's still don't fit Red. Even when he confessed, he thought more about birds forgetting him, but not about almost great done GENOCIDE of them (well, of pigs too, but that's Leonard's fault. I didn't understood a moment, where pigs on some boat said about their deaths and that it's will be Red's fault. Like, what? Red isn't your leader, say that to your king)!

About Leonard. He is a great villain! But in second movie he is just comic relief, and I don't like it. So there's a theory of mine, that Leonard was just playing a role of good pig, and still wants to attack birds (and I hope for real🙏).

There's a more things I want to talk about, but these were most ones wanted.