Who are these winged creatures and why are they so furious? That's what the whole world is going to finally learn when The Angry Birds Movie lets those ornery mobile gaming legends have their say. Based on the game that got approximately half of the population through their morning and evening commutes a few years back, The Angry Birds movie uses 3-D animation and a star-studded voice cast that includes Josh Gad, Jason Sudeikis, Maya Rudolph, and Kate McKinnon to tap back into that phenomenon. The movie's accompanying soundtrack is also populated by household names, and not quite as kid-oriented as you might expect. The Angry Birds Movie soundtrack is a mix of familiar tracks, original songs, and new covers. And here's the irony: if you like pop music, nostalgia, and Peter Dinklage, it'll put you in a great mood.
The Angry Birds Movie soundtrack is available now on iTunes ($9.99) and for free streaming on Spotify. (The movie opens on May 20.) On iTunes, you can also download a few of the original tracks individually, but the rest are "album only." Most of the latter are songs you probably already know every word and key change to, like Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" and "On Top Of The World," by Imagine Dragons. It's an eclectic, un-subtle mix here that bounces all over the place in genre and in theme. Always wanted to own an album where Tone Loc's "Wild Thing" is followed two songs later by a Limp Bizkit track? Then this is the soundtrack for you.
The lead-off track is an apologetically twangy Blake Shelton song about the power of friendship, called (what else?) Friends. The official video for the song features Shelton serenading not his girlfriend Gwen Stefani, but a recording studio full of animated fowl. Is it just me or do they not look angry? Like, at all?
Next up, one of this generation's most powerful belters takes on Gloria Gaynor's karaoke favorite, "I Will Survive." Lovato is old hat at contributing to animated movie soundtracks. That was her singing the pop version of "Let It Go" on the Frozen album, even though the popularity of Idina Menzel's in-character performance eclipsed it.
Electro-pop rule breaker Charli XCX brings the obligatory party track with "Explode." The artist also voices a bird named Willow in the movie. Shelton was tapped to provide the voice for a character from the other side of the battle, Earl Pig. So there's a chance that these two songs might be sung by those characters in the film.
"Rock You Like A Hurricane" by Scorpion; "Fight" by Steve Aoki; and "Sound Of Da Police" by KRS-One round out the rest of the existing music chosen for the soundtrack. There's a brief interlude called "The Mighty Red Song" sung by those adorable Angry Bird Hatchlings, and the album ends with a medley of the score by composer Heitor Pereira. But as a long-time fan of this actor, I'm most excited that The Angry Bird Movie soundtrack includes Game Of Thrones star Peter Dinklage as The Mighty Eagle singing a boastful ode to himself.
The Angry Birds Movie soundtrack is a weird, wonderful collection of guilty pleasures that will entertain kids and adults. And probably birds.
Image: Columbia Pictures
