Storks Movie Review

Storks is a disney movie that tackles the topic of babies and answers the question of where they come from. As presumed from the title you can see that the movie is focusing on the idea that storks deliver babies. This movie is very well animated and highly entertaining. Across numerous review sites it has scored very high with a 7/10 on IMBD, a 63% on rotten tomatoes, and a 89% from Google users. These ratings are well deserved by the movies comedy that is able to not attract children but also able to keep the adult audience interested. However it is 2017 and movies cannot be looked at on the surface anymore. We need to analyze them on a deeper more conscious level. This is why there are tests such as the Bechdel and Mako Mori test exist. For those of you that are not aware the Bechdel texts proposes the question if a work of fiction features at least two women who talk to each other about something other than a man. The Mako Mori test analyzes to see if there is at least one female character, this female character must also get her own narrative, and this narrative is not about supporting a man’s story. For this review of the movie Storks I will be using the Mako Mori test.

In short sense the movie Storks does pass the Mako Mori test. One of the two main characters is a female dubbed Tulip. Tulip is in search of her home as to her being a failed Stork delivery, and she is also on a mission to deliver a newborn baby to a home. This narrative arc given to Tulip allows her to pass the Mako Mori test and in the eyes of the Mako Mori test be considered a non gender social stigma conforming movie. However I feel as though the Mako Mori test is not the best way to test a movie on this level, therefore I have created my own test. The Social Stereotypes test.

The Social Stereotype test analyzes the main female characters in a movie and to pass this test they must be able to go against the stereotypes that have been assigned to females. When Storks is looked at through these eyes the movie fails horribly. Throughout the movie the main female character Tulip is deemed unfit for a real job, that is done by men, and is given the job of managing mail, because it is a simple task which she cannot mess up. This aligns with the stereotype that a woman cannot correctly do the job that a man will do. However this is not the main thing that causes Storks to fail this test. Tulip’s constant emotional instability and breakdowns cause her to conform to the stereotype that females are weak and unstable. However this doesn’t make this movie a bad movie. It must be kept in mind that the target audience is small children that most likely do not even know what sexism is and for that audience the movie does a superb job.