In this colourful animated comedy, storks deliver babies – or at least they used to. Now, the birds deliver parcels instead, and Junior (Samberg) is the top delivery stork, tipped to be the next boss. His promotion is threatened, however, when Tulip (Katie Crown), a clumsy human girl who was raised by the storks when she wasn’t delivered to her parents as a baby, makes a mistake that sets the baby machine back in motion. She accidentally accepts a baby order from a young boy who wants a brother, and when said baby appears it is up to her and Junior to deliver the newborn to its family before anyone notices.
Sound confusing? Well, it is a bit of a muddle if you try to make sense of the plot – for example, the movie wants us to accept babies come from the traditional method as well as from storks, otherwise the human population would have ground to a halt when the storks’ baby machine did. The best approach is to let the movie zip along without questioning such biological things, and enjoy the gags as Tulip and Junior set off on their journey, encountering some hilarious wolves and situations along the way while getting to experience parenthood firsthand (and mums and dads will definitely get a few laughs from the scenes when our heroes are especially sleep-deprived).
The second plot – a boy wanting a brother while his parents are too busy with their business – is a little more grating, but you can’t be too hard overall on a movie with its heart in the right place that features an incredibly cute baby, Kelsey Grammer’s booming voice as Junior’s boss, and some deliciously silly sight gags.
Just be prepared if you have little ones that you may have to explain where babies really come from on the way home…
Is Storks suitable for kids? Here are our parents’ notes...
Very young viewers may find the wolves scary when they first see them but they are funny rather than frightening.
If you like this, why not try: Finding Nemo, Despicable Me, Home, Penguins Of Madagascar, Rio,