The movie is all about owls. Specifically, talking owls. Now, I can suspend disbelief for that. Talking animals are a pretty standard storytelling device. No issues there. Owls with complicated backstory and a vivid oral history? Sure. That's fine too. Comes with the whole being able to talk.
But, drawn history? Maybe, yeah. Some kind of scratching or whatever, sure. Written history? That's pushing it a bit. I mean, how exactly are they scribing these things? Some codified form of squawks and such? I guess I can let that slide. Of course, the real question is this: Where are they getting ink?
I've got no issue with the owls in the movie flying around. No issue with them maybe doing a bit of ornamentation to themselves. Dyes, markings, maybe some found stuff, whatever. Even basic handcrafts, I can allow. I mean, they've got feet and beaks, they could maybe work out some form of weaving or something. Sure.
Where I start to get into hassles is when the movie starts showing a whole lot of the birds using fire. Birds and fire do not go well together. Yet the movie is loaded with scenes of the birds around large flaming torches and candles. Which of the birds are making the candles? What bird is sitting around making the wicks? And then heating up wax and making the candles? On top of that, who is maintaining the torches? What is keeping them burning? Wood? Oil? I don't know, but the movie certainly implies it is the latter.
Then it takes a step beyond that, to a lot of birds wearing metal facemasks. Fitted, shaped and very clearly some kind of worked iron or steel. Forging? No. That's a bit too far. For one, the birds would need to get very close, or have tools to do the work for them more easily. But even then, they'd need to be working with a serious form of mechanical leverage to get forging happening properly. Especially for the detailed, delicate and intricate work shown in the film. Filligree? Gold plating? Seriously well out of my area where reasonable suspension of disbelief comes in. At this point, we're dealing with magical properties, but the opening of the story implies it to be somewhat realistic.
Beyond the facemasks, comes the claw weapons. These are hunter birds. Razor sharp claws. Do they fight with them? Not if they can help it. I'll get back to the bird fighting thing in a moment. Apparently, any warrior bird of any worth is outfitted with metal claws. Not sure what kind, but the metal was rather yellow from what I could see. So, maybe bronze or brass. Maybe just some kind of decorative steel? I don't know. We're back to the whole forging thing here. Beyond that, we're also dealing with leather glove things to attach these claws.
Leather? Where the hell are they getting that from? Sure, if you can assume the birds have figured out forging, tanning isn't a big jump anymore. But honestly, where are the birds getting this leather from? Which large animals are they taking down, skinning and then tanning the hides to make the leather? It appears to be regular leather, so I'm assuming a cow or horse or something like that. I suppose, though, that if a lot of armed owls wanted to take down a cow, they'd probably have a pretty good success rate.
Getting back to the battles. They are pretty much ridiculous. A bunch of birds flapping towards one another, then baring claws. That bit is actually pretty realistic. Of course, when they are also wearing metal masks, steel claws and pulling off martial arts moves on one another, it just seems a bit silly. A lot of the fights involve one bird smacking another into the ground, and the downed bird just laying there for a moment or two. I suppose that's at least somewhat accurate.
One other bit that bothered me. In addition to all the metalworking and leatherworking, there also appeared to be a defunct kind of fabric making happening. At least, the bad guy side had a lot of big banners strewn around the inside of their cave thing. Either the banners came from some kind of human settlement that was abandoned, or the owls made it. I'm happier thinking the former, since there's not much other fabric stuff shown in the film.
Getting beyond the difficulties I had with the whole forging, fire use and whatnot, I also have an issue with the structure of the bad guy lair thing. If you have a force of slaves, you also have to deal with the serious issues of feeding and housing. Sure, you could simply work them to death, but that seems like a dangerous proposition. After all, eventually someone should notice all the stolen young birds, right?
Anyhow, the movie is pleasant enough to look at, though the story is rather rushed, and there really is rather little behind any of the main characters to make me really care for any of them. I'm not all that concerned about whether or not the characters live or die, and I'm not all that concerned about the secondary antagonist. He seems to be a little too poorly defined, and his motivations are weak at best.
Maybe it is a better book than it is a movie? I doubt I'll take the time to find out.
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