Birds of a feather flock together, unless you’re an eagle being raised in a community of chickens, per this animated family adventure. Orphaned in a plane crash (yes, eagles use planes), young Goldbeak is from a prominent political family and, naturally enough, he comes to realise he doesn’t exactly fit in with the hens and roosters with whom he is living. Notably, chickens are not known for their prowess at flying, and so he finds his literal wings metaphorically clipped, though he is desperate to soar above his contemporaries.
Thematically, this is vaguely reminiscent of 1970s publishing hit Jonathan Livingston Seagull, a short allegorical fable about a frustrated gull who refuses to accept the limitations of his community and yearns to go beyond the limits of what seems possible. Here, though, Goldbeak’s exceptionalism is firmly rooted in biology, so maybe he’s more like a kind of avian Superman. This is not a story that really bears much close analysis, with a cast made up of a hodgepodge of character types you’ve seen in family animations a million times before.
Indeed, Goldbeak is an object lesson in how much the actual animation matters in these films. You can get away with stock characters and a plot we’ve seen before if the animation is charming and unique. However, there is something draining about cheap, by-the-numbers animation that feels especially unlovely – particularly compared with low-budget live-action films whose lack of money often contributes to the charm. Goldbeak will probably keep the kids amused, or at least distracted, for the length of time it’s on screen but, honestly, there’s a whole world of films out there – Wallace & Gromit! The Wizard of Oz! Jason and the Argonauts! – so there’s really no need to resort to this kind of thing in the name of killing time.
• Goldbeak is in UK and Irish cinemas from 25 April.
