Plumíferos - Aventuras voladoras

As has been said by me many times, am a huge fan of animation. Always have been, always will be, so naturally will see any animated film regardless of age, how high budget or not it is and the studio/director it comes from.

There are far better animated films than 'Birds of Paradise', naming them however would be unfair but many are likely to put forward the best of Disney and Pixar. There are also infinitely worse, at least with 'Birds of Paradise' some effort was put into it which is more than can be said with far more amateurish efforts like Video Brinquedo and Spark Plug Entertainment. 'Birds of Paradise' may not be one's definition of paradise, but it is a long way from hell.

'Birds of Paradise' has good elements. The voice cast are mostly quite accomplished. Ken Jeong and Jon Lovitz give fun comic relief and there are distinguished contributions from Jane Lynch and Keith David. Ashley Tisdale does much more than just constantly screaming at the top of her lungs and shouting her lines, while not always subtle her voice work is more dynamic than that.

It also starts off well with a vibrant and energetic opening that shows a lot of promise, and there is a good deal of energy in the first half or so. The music has colour and infectious groove that fits well and the positive messaging the film has was delivered well and will be appreciated by kids and adults alike regardless of their familiarity. Some of the comic relief is fun.

However, the animation itself isn't too great. Some nice colours here and there but there is a lack of refinement and attention to detail can be static. Worst of all are the blocky and unnatural character designs, the characters were described elsewhere as looking like chicken wings doused in brightly coloured dye reminiscent of the Easter period, as funny as this sounds that sums up the character designs aptly.

While most of the voice cast are fine, Drake Bell overdoes it and is neither sympathetic or fun. He does fail to convey a shred of sympathy or charm for a character written so shallowly that rooting for him, his quest or his lukewarm at best chemistry with Aurora was difficult. The story is very standard fare and gets flimsier and flimsier after a promising opening, it also takes a gloomier tone in the second half and tonally it's too jarringly uneven. The script is neither awful or brilliant, just middle of the road bland.

Overall, has enough to make it watchable but less than heavenly. 5/10 Bethany Cox