When Angry Birds was released for iOS back in 2009, few could have imagined that a mobile game that involved catapulting birds at pigs would go on to inspire not one but a trio of animated movies and a Netflix series with three seasons.
Even more surprising is that the first two movies picked up such a passionate fanbase that the trailer for the third installation is being roasted online, not for the fact that it exists but because it's not set on another planet. The one thing Angry Birds fans wanted, it seems, was a movie set in space. What they're getting is a film about parenting.
Unlike the previous films, Angry Birds the Movie 3 will be distributed by Paramount rather than Sony. In terms of the storyline (believe it or not, there is one), the film will see angry bird Red (voiced by Jason Sudeikis) struggling with the tribulations of being a dad of three alongside his partner Silver.
It seems mainly to involve a long pee joke. But what's causing most controversy, aside from the lack of space travel, is the animation style.
I’m so confused though? How does this downgrade in animation even happen???(Mind you, Movie 1 was animated by Rovio’s own studio who had never made anything of such scale before it and Movie 3 is being done by DNEG, an actual professional animation studio) pic.twitter.com/tZ4Nl6goZiJune 29, 2026
The first two Angry Birds films had a stylised cartoony 3D look with exaggerated physics that matched the mobile game’s slapstick energy. The upcoming third film’s trailer appears to show a smoother aesthetic with softer lighting and rounder character designs.
It looks like the movie will have less of the kinetic chaos fans associate with Angry Birds. That could be a conscious decision based on the theme of Red maturing and getting to grips with parenting, but some fans think the visuals look cheaper and dilute the iconic angry edge that defined the Angry Birds.
"This ain't Angry Birds, this is Family Birds," one fan complains in the comments on YouTube. "This looks like those animated TV shows they make after the movies," someone else thinks.
Angry Birds The Movie 3 will be released on 23 December in a bid to take flight during the holiday period, but could this avian franchise finally be starting to lose its feathers? Let me know what you think in the comments.
