''Richard the Stork'' (Released in North America as ''A Stork's Journey'', German: Überflieger — Kleine Vögel, großes Geklapper and also known as Little Bird's Big Adventure) is a 2017

computer-animated Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating animations. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both static scenes (still images) and dynamic images (moving images), while computer animation refer ...

adventure film. It was directed by and Reza Memari. ''Richard the Stork'' premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in Germany on February 12, 2017. Animated movie was released for a limited time on Google Play on June 1, 2017. It premiered in theaters in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

on June 30, 2017. A sequel ''Richard the Stork 2'' will be released in 2023.

Plot

Richard, an orphaned sparrow, is adopted and raised by a group of storks. But when they leave on their annual migration south for the winter, Richard, a little non-migrating bird, endeavors to embark on the long arduous journey to stay with his stork family that must reveal his true identity and leave him behind in the forest, since he would not survive the journey to

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. Determined to prove he is a stork after all, Richard ventures south on his own, joined by an eccentric pygmy owl named Olga with an imaginary friend named Oleg and a narcissistic, disco-singing budgerigar named Kiki. Along their epic journey, they run into many obstacles, like deadly

bats Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera.''cheir'', "hand" and πτερόν''pteron'', "wing". With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most bir ...

, internet-addicted

pigeons Columbidae () is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. They primarily ...

, mafia

crows The Common Remotely Operated Weapon Station (CROWS) is a series of remote weapon stations used by the US military on its armored vehicles and ships. It allows weapon operators to engage targets without leaving the protection of their vehicle. ...

and a thundering jumbo jet. When they finally find their way to Africa, it's up to Richard to rescue his stork brother Max from the clutches of a monstrous

honey badger The honey badger (''Mellivora capensis''), also known as the ratel ( or ), is a mammal widely distributed in Africa, Southwest Asia, and the Indian subcontinent. Because of its wide range and occurrence in a variety of habitats, it is liste ...

. The tiniest stork must learn to see himself as the greatest sparrow to unleash his true potential and be reunited with his family.

Cast

* Cooper Kramer (original dub) and

Drake Bell Jared Drake Bell (born June 27, 1986) is an American actor, singer, songwriter, and musician. Born in Newport Beach, California, he began his career as an actor in the early 1990s at the age of five with his first televised appearance on ''Hom ...

(Lionsgate dub) as Richard, an orphan tween

house sparrow The house sparrow (''Passer domesticus'') is a bird of the Old World sparrow, sparrow family Passeridae, found in most parts of the world. It is a small bird that has a typical length of and a mass of . Females and young birds are coloured pale ...

main protagonist, *

Shannon Conley Shannon Conley (also credited as Sonny Dey, Holly Bobbit, Ursula Conlon, Vibe Jones, Candi Washington and Deborah Zane) is an American voice actress and musician based in New York City. She has done voice work in English dubs of Japanese anime for ...

(original dub) and

Jane Lynch Jane Marie Lynch (born July 14, 1960) is an American actress, comedian and author. She is known for starring as Sue Sylvester in the musical comedy series '' Glee'' (2009–2015), which earned her a Primetime Emmy Award. Lynch also gained recog ...

(Lionsgate dub) as Olga, a pygmy owl that was disliked by her family because of her large size. * Marc Thompson as Kiki, a

budgerigar The budgerigar ( ; ''Melopsittacus undulatus''), also known as the common parakeet or shell parakeet, is a small, long-tailed, seed-eating parrot usually nicknamed the budgie ( ), or in American English, the parakeet. Budgies are the only spe ...

who lives in an

karaoke bar A is a type of karaoke establishment commonly found in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the United States and Canada. It originated in Japan, and is now popular worldwide, particularly in Asia. Karaoke boxes consist of multiple rooms contai ...

Erica Schroeder Erica Schroeder (born April 27, 1975),https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=828626443878803&id=164914246916696 sometimes credited as Bella Hudson, is an American voice actress, best known for her role as Ilvira in the Netflix animate ...

as Aurora, a female

white stork The white stork (''Ciconia ciconia'') is a large bird in the stork family, Ciconiidae. Its plumage is mainly white, with black on the bird's wings. Adults have long red legs and long pointed red beaks, and measure on average from beak tip to e ...

, the adoptive mother of Richard. *

Jonathan Todd Ross Jonathan Todd Ross (born May 30, 1978) is an American voice actor and writer. He is known for providing voices on properties for 4Kids Entertainment, Central Park Media, Media Blasters, as well as audiobooks. He is also credited as Todd Garbeil. R ...

as Claudius, a male white stork, Max's father *

Jason Griffith Jason Adam Griffith is an American voice actor, known for his voice over work for NYAV Post, 4Kids Entertainment and DuArt Film and Video. He is best known as the voice of Sonic the Hedgehog and Shadow the Hedgehog in the English dub of '' Son ...

as Max, a young white stork, Claudius's son *

Michele Knotz Michele Knotz is an American voice actress who works for New York City-based studios, including TAJ Productions, Headline Sound, and Central Park Media. Career Born in New Jersey, Knotz attended DeSales University in Center Valley, Pennsylvani ...

(original dub) and

Justine Ezarik Justine Ezarik ( ; born March 20, 1984) is an American YouTuber. She is best known as iJustine, with over one billion views on her YouTube channel. She gained attention as a lifecaster who communicated directly with her millions of viewers on ...

(Lionsgate dub) as Social Media Pigeons

Production

''Studio Rakete'' in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

and ''Studio 352'' in

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

created the storyboard. ''Studio Rakete'' was also responsible for the design of the main characters; Studio ''352'' designed the supporting characters. Most of the character animation was done by Bug AS in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...

. Lighting/shading, FX simulations and compositing of the final pictures was done by ''Walking the Dog'' from

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

and

Rise FX Rise FX is a German visual effects company with offices in Berlin, Munich, Stuttgart, Cologne, and London. Rise FX has worked on several films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe like '' Avengers: Endgame'', '' Captain Marvel'', ''Ant-Man and the W ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

. The movie was animated and rendered using

Houdini Harry Houdini (, born Erik Weisz; March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926) was a Hungarian-American escape artist, magic man, and stunt performer, noted for his escape acts. His pseudonym is a reference to his spiritual master, French magician ...

with over 500 shots to be finished.

References

External links

*
Ulysses Filmproduktion
2017 films Belgian animated films Belgian children's films English-language German films English-language Belgian films English-language Luxembourgian films German animated films German children's films Luxembourgian animated films Norwegian animated films Norwegian children's films Animated films about birds Animated films about orphans Films about owls Fictional storks Films about badgers 2010s children's films Films directed by Toby Genkel 2010s English-language films 2010s German films {{animation-film-stub