Angry Birds: 4 Easter Eggs, In-Jokes And References You Need To See

A movie based on an app? Well, this is definitely the end of all things, cinema or otherwise. How could a game with a plot that amounts to destroying buildings with projectiles sustain a feature film?

Well, they did it - Angry Birds is the greatest video game movie ever made. That's much more praise than that grand statement suggests, of course; video game movies are notoriously bad, to the point where being average is a masterwork. Which is exactly what this film is. It's nothing special, not finding a subversive undercurrent like The Lego Movie, but neither is it a cash-in that can't hide its cynicism like Transformers.

The smartest move is making central hero Red a loner and a cynic - Jason Sudeikis wanders through the movie passing comment on the convenience of the plot and generally rolling his eyes at how ridiculous it all is, getting in there before the audience can. It's a fun, semi-knowing kid's flick and, like all kids movies, comes with its standard set of easter eggs, in-jokes and references. Here are four of the best.

Obviously The Angry Birds Movie is pretty rooted in the original mobile game. The entire plot is built around creating the oh-so-simple set-up of birds catapulting themselves towards pigs and all of the characters and their personalities are based on the different class types; it's quite impressive they've developed a big enough story out such a simple concept.

But that's not where the references to the source end. All "pictures" are in the drawing style of the original, a neat explanation that canonises the game in this word, while every time a bird is flung towards the pig castle they tuck their legs under their wings and, for a moment, look like their video game counterpart.