Angry Birds X: The Fine-Feathered Movie/Tropes

"Most people think it's simple being a cartoon character. They say it's a piece of cake. Ha, that's a laugh! And I should know. You see, cartoon characters, also known as "Toons," are really just actors. We live in a place called Toontown, and we go to work like anybody else. Take me, for instance. Me and my flock spend most of our time on movie sets at Rovio Animation and Cartoon Network Studios. But let's not jump around the bush, ladies and gentlemen. Allow me to introduce Edgar Baconhooves, the most dastardly pig in all of Piggy Island. He is evil and clever. Edgar and his henchmen, Marf, Gramps, and Frank, schemed to steal the eggs, so they can have an omelet feast. But each time, they were foiled by us, the greatest flock of heroes who ever lived... The Angry Birds!"

– Bomb, narrating the opening scene

Angry Birds X: The Fine Feathered Movie is a 2018 live-action/animated hybrid film that's, well, based on the Cartoon Network/Rovio series Angry Birds X, with Robert Zemeckis and Joe Dante directing the live-action sequences and Genndy Tartakovsky directing the animated sequences. It is another good example of the Roger Rabbit Effect.

In this Big Damn Movie, Bomb is helping prepare for Piggy Island's first ever Toon Companionship Festival, the grandest celebration any toon has ever seen. Unfortunately, this happens on the same day Piggy Island is invaded by a nefarious crow called Baron Harmful and their piggy arch-enemy Edgar Baconhooves, who has a keen interest in breaking the Bird-Pig truce. With the fate of Piggy Island and the Eggs at risk, Bomb must embark on a perilous journey alongside his flock to gather new allies beyond their home and save the Eggs, Piggy Island, and the entire Tooniverse.

Angry Birds X: The Fine Feathered Movie contains examples of:
Baron Harmful: Who do you think you are?! Hal: I'm just... an average... everyday... emerald toucanet... from AUSTRALIA! So welcome to the rice fields, mate! The heroes: Hal: HEY! Aren't we supposed to be having a festival, mates? Mr. Hollywood: Aren’t these cute? BUT IT'S WRONG!! Scooby-Doo: No Scooby Snacks this time. Hal: AHHHHHHH SHADDAP!!! Shame on you! All of you! I thought we were in this thing together! I'm just as scared as you are, but this has to be done! Look... I may not be the glue that holds you birds together, but I tell you mates what exactly needs fixing. What do you say, do we want our arch-enemies to win? Heck no! We gotta do this! For... the pigs! For... Piggy Island. For... the Eggs. Who's with me? Bomb: Just don't have our movie be directed by Raja Gosnell, Plotz. As we all toons know, Raja Gosnell is the cinematic equivalent of child syphilis and the human incarnation of the phrase, "No refunds." Hal: Uh... squawk?
 * Adaptational Heroism - Yosemite Sam, of all people, stands up for the birds when Plotz is about to give them the boot. Even Cecil Turtle, Jasper, Marvin the Martian, Claudette Dupri, Hector Con Carne, the Kanker Sisters and Wile E. Coyote are more heroic than they usually are.
 * Adaptational Badass - Pretty much, every single toon who’s not capable of combat while retaining their characteristics, i.e. Garfield, Chowder, Flapjack, etc.
 * Adaptational Nice Guy - Bloo's back to his old character roots before the post-Season 1 events in Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends.
 * He is already heroic, but Scrappy-Doo has thankfully and gracefully went back to his more mature, more friendly, sensitive, observant, and less annoying ways, like how the late Don Messick portrayed him.
 * Despite being who she is portrayed in Mike, Lu & Og, Lu is a teensy bit kinder to Lancelot than she was in Mike, Lu & Og.
 * While retaining his will to never give up on love, Pepe Lé Pew's Stalker with a Crush tendencies are replaced with a flirty personality more akin to Charles Boyer, with some shades of Maurice Chevalier. Likewise, he does not harass Penelope Pussycat, Miss Mam'selle Hepzibah, or Claudette Dupri like he did to the former in the original Looney Tunes shorts.
 * Alternate Tooniverse - Sure, this movie mostly has toons in the real world in the prologue, but in this film within the film, every single toon lives in an alternate universe known as the "Tooniverse." One way to get there is through entering Toontown, Yes, THAT Toontown!, an animated metropolis/mega city adjacent to Los Angeles where all toons live!
 * An Aesop - Three lessons are learned by three characters.
 * The Flock: You can't fight back and take back what's yours without some help.
 * Hal: A team won't be a team without a genius, try to get back up and make your voice heard.
 * Edgar: Sometimes we just have to move on with our lives, learn from our mistakes in the past, and put the past behind us.
 * Animal Talk - The Flock can speak to the birds in the real world and understand them, and can understand humans.
 * Animation Bump - The animation has better, smoother, more fluid animation than the series itself, which tends to look amazingly cartoony enough as it is. This is particularly noticeable in the birds and pigs, while the characters have a lot more fluidity and zaniness with their movements and have more fluid techniques, and even the background designs are more impressive than those from the show. Even the Hanna-Barbera characters move more fluid than they do in their show while retaining the Hanna-Barbera style.
 * Animated Actors - Just about all of the toons are portrayed this way, especially the Flock.
 * Art Shift - The opening, ending credits, and each Imagine Spot are done in a combination of the game's art style and the same thick-line animation as Dexter's Laboratory and Genndy Tartakovsky's other previous works.
 * When The Flock are thinking of a plan, the sequence is traditionally animated drawn completely animated in the style of Dr. Suess
 * When The Flock are dreaming in their sleep or thinking of something good or bad, the sequences are also traditionally animated, but in Chuck Jones' style.
 * Badass Boast: Hal delivers one when he's about to throw a can of sardines at Baron Harmful.
 * Badass Crew -
 * The Leader / The Hero: Bomb
 * The Strategist / Number Two: Red
 * The Lancer: Chuck
 * The Smart Guy / The Heart: Hal
 * The Big Guy: Terence, Frost, and Tony
 * The Chick / Team Chef: Matilda
 * Plucky Comic Relief: Silver
 * Tagalong Kid: Bubbles
 * The Engineer: The Blues
 * The Sneaky Gal: Stella
 * The Empath / Communications Officer: Ruby
 * Team Prima Donna: Gale
 * The Mentor: The Mighty Eagle
 * Sixth Ranger: Poppy, Dahlia, Willow, and Luca
 * Breaking the Fourth Wall - Bomb occasionally talks to the audience, and each of the Flock even freeze-frames the movie at certain moments to discuss what's going on.
 * Heck the prologue is the entire Flock asking Plotz to make their movie a 2-D animated film continuation of their show. When they succeed, they start chatting about how they are about to hit the big screen (with the help of a large amount of cartoon characters) and ending with what the plot for the movie is going to be.
 * Berserk Button - Don't play "It's Everybody, Bro" in front of The Flock, EVER!
 * Bait and Switch - At the end, it looks like the pigs cheer for the Flock for saving Piggy Island and pulled a huge Ungrateful Bastard on Edgar... Turns out, no. The pigs gave him the opportunity to rejoin Chez Piggy.
 * Big Bad - Baron Harmful is the true main villain of the film. Edgar used to be the main villain of the film until he betrayed by him.
 * Big-Bad Ensemble - Edgar Baconhooves, Vicky, Dick Dastardly, Muttley, Bill Cipher, Plankton, General Skarr, Aku, and Baron Harmful.
 * Big Damn Heroes - When The Flock comes face-to-face with Baron Harmful's enormous army, everything appears to be a lost cause... until Bomb hears Bugs Bunny's voice call out "What's up, doc?". Cue every toon alongside the Crystal Gems, the Looney Tunes, the Warner Siblings, the Cartoon Cartoons, and more making an entrance to create an army of their own.
 * Hal has one when he sees that his flock is in danger, goes to show that he truly cares about them both as a family and a team.
 * Big Damn Movie - A film involving Bomb and the entire Flock embarking on a crazy journey and battle a new arch-nemesis (which is a bird) in order to save the universe and their eggs.
 * Big Damn Reunion - Towards the end of the film. Just when The Flock are about to be defeated by Baron Harmful, until Bugs Bunny comes in, along with every toon.
 * Breakout Character - Hal.
 * Call Back - Remember how Shaggy criticizes Matthew Lillard on his performance in the live-action film for making him sound like a "space cadet" and told him he’s coming after him if he goofs on him in the sequel and Scooby-Doo will give him a "Scooby Snarl" in Looney Tunes: Back In Action? Well, it has continued and it’s still hilarious.
 * The Cameo - Virtually almost every possible cartoon character from Disney, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Hanna Barbera, Warner Bros., Universal, and more has a cameo, and the film treated them with the same dedication and love that animation fans, young and old, felt every single time they watched them. Even Roger Rabbit, Jessica Rabbit, Baby Herman, and Benny the Cab made cameos in this film!
 * Cel Shading - In the real world in the film-within-a-film, the Flock, while animated by Blue Sky Studios, are designed and rendered with a hand-drawn, "cartoony" aesthetic loyal to the original Angry Birds games, resulting in a style similar to The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle, but very reminiscent of 2D animation.
 * Character Development - The entire Flock, especially Hal. Hal just feels like everyone else don't take him seriously until a conversation with Scarlett Johansson, he gains some confidence and patience and regains his sensible and reliable nature.
 * Continuity Nod - Way, way too many to count—the entire film can be seen as a throwback to the original games and the show.
 * The Calvary - Before the Flock are gonna be dissolved by Baron Harmful's dip-filled bombs, they are saved by a magical shield. It turns out that it was Twilight Sparkle and Bugs Bunny saving them.
 * Darkest Hour - Happened twice.
 * After Edgar Baconhooves reigns victory against the Flock, Pig City has become a despaired prison by them, Piggy Island has turned into a cesspool. After The Flock got transported into the real world, Hal goes to sulk alone on a bench, feeling like everything is hopeless. But then a glimmer of hope that Scarlett Johansson came in.
 * After the Flock came back, Baron Harmful betrayed Edgar Baconhooves after a fallout. The Flock saved the latter. The Flock fight Baron Harmful, but they are all defeated; When Baron Harmful, after his villainous breakdown, captures them after his speech, the Darkest Hour gets worse than one can even imagine. The Flock have all been tied up and are about to be dissolved by a vat of Dip, and Bomb's clearly beginning to lose faith and will never see the eggs again. And then all the Toons arrive, along with the entire group of Looney Tunes.
 * Dance Party Ending - Justified, because it's a festival being thrown in the beginning of the film, and after saving Piggy Island, everyone starts dancing to Bomb, Red, Hal, and, Chuck singing "Livin' La Vida Loca."
 * Deadpan Snarker - Hal can throw a few slurs throughout the whole movie.
 * Demoted to Extra - Gold, Penelope, Bounci, Callum, Oscar, Sapphire, Jackie, Ty, Chip, the Hatchlings, and Hockey Bird have demoted to supporting roles.
 * Distinctive Appearances - Unlike The Angry Birds Movie, where the birds and pigs have arms and legs, the character designs in this movie retain the typically limbless designs, which is a spot-on match to their game counterparts.
 * Dude, Where's My Respect? - This is Hal's goal until Scarlett Johansson comforted him — he wants to be treated as the most respected member of the team and to be acknowledged as one of the heroes, but everyone else (except The Flock) just see him as just a straight man until they see him launching himself on the slingshot to save his flock.
 * Everyone Has Standards - Even Mr. Hollywood (from 2 Stupid Dogs) knows that making a live action adaptation based on any cartoon is wrong.
 * Even Evil Has Standards - Sure Edgar's a villain, but he doesn't want Piggy Island destroyed.
 * Fake-Out Opening - The movie opens with a live-action CGI hybrid about the Flock and the pigs, being rendered in a realistic CGI style al a Scooby-Doo and Alvin and the Chipmunks, battling against each other, which is thankfully put to a halt by Bomb.
 * Framing Device - The Flock, the Pigs, and the toons attending the premiere of the movie, making the main movie a Film Within a Film.
 * The Friend Nobody Likes - Well OK, "friend" might be a stretch, but Lu is a member of the Cartoon Network group since Mike, Lu & Og premiered alongside Courage the Cowardly Dog. Almost all toons can't stand her (even Lynn Loud, Lori Loud, Daffy Duck, Dexter and especially Lisa Loud.)
 * Laser-Guided Karma - Edgar getting an appropriate comeuppance when he knows what betrayal feels. Even being isolated by the other pigs for summoning Baron Harmful and Don Bacon while glaring at him, much to Edgar's chagrin, saying that will this never end.
 * Genre-Killer - The trailers actually claims that it will be so amazing that it will hopefully kill the trend of live-action/CGI remakes of cartoons and continue the trend of animated films based on cartoons.
 * Heel–Face Turn - Edgar Baconhooves has one and it was genuine that he was defending the Flock.
 * Easily Forgiven - Bomb gives Edgar a golden egg, when he sees him sulking in sorrow, feeling embarrassed, regretful, and left out, and he accepts his friendship with makeshift sun visors for the Eggs, finally believing that there are three kids in the Eggs after all.
 * Kill It with Fire: The Mystery Inc. gang's response to the 2002 live action Scooby-Doo film is by burning it!
 * Loads and Loads of Characters: The Cartoon Network characters joins forces with the Looney Tunes, the Animaniacs, the Tiny Toons, the Nicktoons, Xilam, Universal, MGM, Fleischer Studios, and the Hanna-Barbera characters to bring an extraordinary ensemble cast of cartoon characters.
 * Medium Blending - The scenes involving the Angry Birds worlds are done in traditional animation like the show (and is given the cinematic budget like The Angry Birds Movie), while all the scenes on land are in live action with the Flock done in gorgeous hand-drawn looking cartoony cel-shaded CGI animation done by Blue Sky Studios, but also with a lower frame rate, in the style of The Peanuts Movie, which gives a television feel to the look of the picture, and it ultimately makes it look like the Angry Birds Toons episode, El Porkador.
 * When they enter the real world, the rest of The Flock's bodies are in cel-sahded CGI, but the pupils on their eyes are animated in frame-by-frame 2-D.
 * When The Flock go to the Warner Bros. studio, as they angrily lash out at Thaddeus Plotz and the Warner Bros. with the cartoon characters have concern and worry if their movie won’t be in 2D, and the ending where the Flock, the Pigs, and the cartoon characters watch their movie in a live action theater, they remain 2D a la Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Space Jam, and Looney Tunes: Back in Action.
 * Morning Routine - Bomb has his morning routine in the beginning, down to a Rube Goldberg science.
 * Motive Rant - Edgar Baconhooves has one in this movie.
 * My God, What Have I Done? - Edgar feels truly ashamed of himself when he finally realizes that his actions have consequences when he's betrayed by Baron Harmful.
 * Mythology Gag - Every single frame of the film is full of Easter eggs in different Angry Birds media for diehard Angry Birds fans to find. Some of the more pointed examples in the film itself:
 * In the second trailer, some of Michael Jackson's Bad has a saxophone playing the Angry Birds 2 theme.
 * To Off Duty and Super Bomb: One scene shows Bomb getting a strawberry ice cream from an ice cream stand.
 * To the cinematic trailer of the original game: Red sees a mosquito touching one of the eggs and swats it.
 * To Chuck Time: Chuck begins slowing down time to defeat Baron Harmful's army.
 * Bubbles saying "Don't mess with Bubbles!!" is a reference to his movie counterpart.
 * Michael Jackson's "Bad", which was heavily featured in the second trailer and used in the final battle, was used for the first two trailers of The Angry Birds Movie.
 * Oh, No... Not Again! - The opening starts off when the Flock start groaning that a live action adaptation of their show has begun production, going to the Warner Bros. Studio to stop this plague once and for all.
 * Parents Know Their Children - Chuck's mother and father, Lucy and Patrick respectively, immediately recognize him, whereas it takes him a few moments to realize who they are.
 * Product Placement - A prominent example is when 7-Eleven is seen in the middle of New York City, and Chuck immediately mentions Sprite and Fanta. There's also plugs for KFC, Pizza Hut, Airheads, Pringles, Taco Bell, and Hershey's.
 * Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure - Subverted. When he imagines that his flock is gonna break up and disband, Hal decides to stop this argument before it gets too heated. See Rousing Speech below.
 * Rage Breaking Point - When Baron Harmful captured the Flock, Hal reaches his anger limit, going berserk, and launches himself via slingshot. You can tell he got very angry at Baron Harmful for doing that. Guess what he did next...
 * Rivals Team Up - Oddly enough, Yosemite Sam and Garnet against Baron Harmful.
 * Roger Rabbit Effect - The beginning, the ending, and the sequence of the Flock got teleported to the real world, a genuine conversation between Scarlett Johansson and Hal, and them returning to Piggy Island with the help of Sofia Vergara and Eddie Murphy!
 * The Flock, while animated in CG when they got transported into the real world, are detailed with a cel-shaded technique to appear as if traditionally animated, essentially presenting the characters like those in Looney Tunes: Back in Action or Who Framed Roger Rabbit, but using a cel-shaded technique to do so, similar to The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle, in contrast to their environment and the human characters, all of which are live-action.
 * Rousing Speech: After the motivation that Scarlett Johannson gave him, Hal actually delivers a genuine inspirational speech before the ensuing argument between the members of Flock continues. At the end, even Bomb notes that the speech is moving, and immediately tells the Flock to work together as a team.
 * Ship Tease: Eddy and Shareena Wickett in one scene, oddly enough.
 * Shout-Out: Droopy as the elevator operator for the second time in a feature film.
 * Luna Loud and Muscle Man dueling by playing Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2. Sound familiar to any of you?
 * Sir Swears-a-Lot: Red's mental breakdown opened a flood of insults he was holding back on Stella's reckless behavior and some car horns covered some adjectives that even Chuck is shocked.
 * Stealth Insult: The teaser trailer goes from praising the animated films based on cartoons (The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie and its sequel, My Little Pony: The Movie, The Peanuts, The TransFormers: The Movie, Mr. Peabody and Sherman, possibly The Angry Birds Movie, The Powerpuff Girls Movie, Scooby-Doo in Zombie Island, Hey There, It's Yogi Bear!, Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo, Garfield Gets Real, and The Rugrats Movie) at first and then hopes that this film will be what finally "ends" the godawful stupid pandering "family" movies that are in live action with the cartoon they're adapting in badly done CGI for good.
 * Stock Sound Effects: Unlike most recent outings with the classic cartoons, Archival recordings of William Hanna for Tom and Jerry, Mel Blanc for Captain Caveman's iconic yell, K-9, Dino, and Woody Woodpecker's laugh, Don Messick for Muttley, Wally Maher for Screwy Squirrel's laugh, Bill Melendez's vocal effects for Snoopy are reused for this movie
 * The Stinger/That's All, Folks!: Steven Universe comes up and says it when the mid-credits end, but then Garfield shows up to say it himself, Porky Pig shows up and protests, Squidward and Daffy Duck interrupt and try to say it their way, but the Flock (sans Bomb), the Toons and the Pigs knock them down and say it, with Yakko Warner saying "Goodnight everybody." and Bugs Bunny saying "And dat's de end!". Bomb then appears, saying to the audience, "Now you can all go home, folks."
 * Spiritual Successor - With all these cartoon cameos, the mix of live action and animation, and the source material of Angry Birds, this film could be considered one to The Angry Birds Movie and Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
 * Stock Subtitle - In the DVD and Blu-ray menu, Chuck asks why the movie is named Angry Birds X: The Fine-Feathered Movie before launching into a list of various titles parodying various Hollywood films that heavily feature the Flock themselves, like "Day of the Bullfinch", "Bomb's Revenge", "A Cardinal Will Rise", "The Fellowship of the Eggs", "Dead Chicken's Society", "The Goldfinch King", "2 Fast 2 Goldfinch", and "Flock Reloaded". This soon gets on everyone else's nerves. Chuck even made a jab at the 2016 Angry Birds Movie, much to the Flock's surprise. Chuck: Or "Angry Birds X... The REAL Angry Birds Movie?!"
 * Tagline: "If you think this is another crummy live-action/CGI remake of your beloved cartoon, then you thought wrong!"
 * "What happens in Piggy Island stays in Piggy Island."
 * "When it comes to saving their island, it helps to be a big flock."
 * "Get ready for some angry business."
 * "The cartoon movie to end all live action cartoon remakes."
 * Take That!: At one point, Poppy inserts a music cassette into her portable radio while the Flock are sailing on their boat, which is Jake Paul's "It's Everyday Bro", much to the entire Flock's annoyance and Chuck's fury. Chuck immediately takes it out of the radio and throws it to oblivion.
 * Throughout the beginning, Bomb, Matilda, Red, The Blues, and Chuck start insulting bad movie directors, i.e. Raja Gosnell, M. Night Shyamalan, David Kellong, and Michael Bay.
 * Freddie Prinze Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar, Linda Cardellini, and Matthew Lillard regretting they ever did Scooby-Doo and its sequel.
 * Scooby-Doo chastising Raja Gosnell for making a live action/CGI adaptation of his cartoon.
 * Bomb making a well-deserved roast on Raja Gosnell.
 * This Cannot Be! - When Baron Harmful sees the Flock have returned to Piggy Island, he says “Utterly impossible!”
 * This Means War!: Luna Loud and Muscle Man's "dueling guitars" set piece at the All-Toon Companionship Festival involves a staged fight which culminates in Luna Loud slamming her guitar over the latter's head, knocking out Muscle Man. Muscle Man says this line, "You know who else says this means war, MY MOM!!!", and the competition heats up from there.
 * Toon Town: Due to being the spiritual successor to Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
 * Toon: Just about almost EVERY SINGLE TOON THAT LIVES IN TOONTOWN!! They can range from humans (like Dan and Lincoln Loud), anthropomorphic animals (like Spongebob Squarepants, Mickey Mouse, and Bugs Bunny), extraterrestrial creatures (like Wander, the Crystal Gems, and Sylvia), mythical beings (like Cosmo and Wanda), etc.
 * Villainous Breakdown: Baron Harmful begins to lose his shit when the Flock return back to Piggy Island.
 * With Us or Against Us: Baron Harmful’s rant to the Flock shows he doesn't believe in good or bad pigs, just "birds vs. pigs."
 * You Can Talk?: Scarlett Johannson has the reaction to Hal when Scarlett Johannson asks Hal if this seat is taken and Hal said no. Hal's response: