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Sony Pictures
“Where do babies come from?” A heavy question with many different answers from bumbling parents about the birds and the bees. Warner Bros. attempts a playful response by answering the question with…storks!   The story of storks delivering newborn babies is based off German folklore from several hundred years ago. There are several possible reasons storks could be associated with birth, the most popular of which involves their migration pattern. Storks are known to fly south for fall and return nine months later. Many babies were conceived in June during the celebration of the summer solstice, meaning the babies would be born when the storks returned in March or April. Thus, the connection that the storks bring the babies. “Storks” takes it another step further and suggests that the storks created a large factory dedicated to the production of babies. However, baby production becomes no longer profitable when a delivery stork, Jasper, mistakenly breaks the GPS device meant to guide a baby to her home. This incident brought about the startling stop to baby delivery, and creates the abandonment of the folkloric connection of storks and babies by giving the storks a new purpose: running a postal service called Cornerstore. But this shift came across as confusing, especially for an audience under the age of 12. The movie gave no good explanation for why the storks went into postal service. What is clear is that the writers needed something to keep the storks around until the heroes of the story could bring back the practice of baby delivery. The movie starts out 18 years after the incident, and Orphan Tulip (Katie Crown) has been taken to work at Cornerstore. But Tulip always seems to cause trouble—on accident of course. Junior (Andy Samberg), a stork who works for the company is sent to fire Tulip in the hopes that he will become boss. Junior fails to fire Tulip, and she ends up getting into trouble again when she receives a letter from a little boy who wants a sibling. She finds herself in the old baby making factory and accidentally makes a baby girl. The rest of the plot revolves around Junior and Tulip safely delivering the child. After encounters with nature, wolves, and the Cornerstone CEO trying to put a stop to the delivery, Junior and Tulip finally succeed in delivering the baby. Tulip is able to find her family when she fixes her GPS, and the storks return to delivering babies. An influx of animated animals have entered the cinematic universe this past year, from “Zootopia,” “Finding Dory,” to “The Secret Life of Pets.” “Storks” sought to set itself apart by incorporating orphans, talking storks, and lots and lots of babies. In an attempt to create a unique picture, some characters take up a deadpan or dry humor that resonates with a bit of an older audience but leaves many people with smiles on their faces. 3.5 out of 5 Stars.


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