Sometimes a movie has a plot that is so ridiculous that you think it's honestly a joke. A movie with a premise so insane and absurd that the trailer for it seems like a fake one that you would find on the internet. "Free Birds" is one of them. Ever since I saw the first trailer for this movie back when I saw "Monsters University", I legitimately thought it was a joke. I couldn't believe that a movie with a plot as ridiculous as this could ever be made, but here we are. A movie about two turkeys that time travel to stop the first Thanksgiving, and it's just as bad as you could've imagined. Here's why this movie doesn't work.A turkey named Reggie (Owen Wilson) has recently been pardoned by the President of the United States and has been enjoying a life of luxury at Camp David. For a while now, he's been doing nothing but eating pizza from Chuck E. Cheese's (the only pizza company this movie could afford) and binge watching on a Mexican soap opera. He is then kidnapped by another turkey named Reggie (Woody Harrelson) who tells him that the "Great Turkey" told him to find him and bring him to a time machine to stop turkeys from being put on the Thanksgiving menu. To do this, they must go in an egg shaped time machine and traveling back to 1621 to stop the Pilgrims led by Myles Standish (Colm Meaney) from setting up the first Thanksgiving feast. Once they arrive in the past, they run into a group of native turkeys led by Chief Broadbeak (Keith David), his daughter Jenny (Amy Pohler) and his son Ranger (Jimmy Hayward). Despite the natives reluctance to fight back, Reggie and Jake decide to stay with the turkeys in hopes that they can convince the others to help stop the first Thanksgiving. There's more plot I could discuss, but that would get into spoiler territory.After the film was over, I was shocked to find out that the director of this movie also directed "Horton Hears A Who!" at Blue Sky. Though where that film had some good writing from Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio who would later join Illumination, this film has some really bad writing. Just from the brief plot synopsis, you could already tell how bad the story is. It honestly feels like a really unfunny joke being stretched out into an hour and half long movie. Not only that, the ending for this movie (which I won't spoil) is absolutely terrible. It's honestly one of the worst endings you could have come up with for a movie like this, and given this movie's plot, that's not saying a lot. The animation is also not very good which is a shame because it's coming from a pretty good studio. The animation studio Reel FX made this movie and are notable for successfully taking certain Looney Tunes characters like Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner and turning them into computer animated characters. I don't know why but something about the animation here just seemed off to me. It felt a little unpolished and looked like it was made for a direct to DVD release and not a movie made for theaters and I found it pretty unforgivable. As for the characters, I found some of them likable but the others annoying and forgettable. I did like the characters of Reggie and Jenny and the likable chemistry the two had together, but I found Jake incredible annoying and tiresome and the other characters just forgettable. In fact, I mostly forgot about them by the time the film ended.Though honestly, forgetting about "Free Birds" is probably for the best. The plot was so stupid, the animation was pretty mediocre and while some of the characters were likable, the others were annoying or forgettable. There are other Thanksgiving movies out there, and in my opinion I think this is the right turkey to skip.

Free Birds isn't a movie to be taken too seriously and if you're watching it with your kids, probably best to not pay attention to its narrative or plot. The story goes from strange to completely bizarre and the pacing is noticeably bad. Despite its strong opening, this movie suffers from a script that had to have been so rushed it barely made the release. It also suffers from unlikable characters and "what the.." moments. To say it's a bad movie would accurately describe my feelings toward this holiday themed train wreck.All this being said, to say it doesn't have good sides would be a great disservice. First of all, this film is for kids and chances are, your 5-12 year old will probably sit through it and enjoy themselves. For the rest of us, there are a few intelligent and, quite honestly, funny jokes that make this a potential guilty pleasure. Animation itself is quite strong in most places. In fact, it's quite impressive animation considering it's competition (with better stories) compete well in the effects department. Color is vivid and the image is clear and sharp which makes any animation easier to watch.Unfortunately, the few intelligent jokes and references doesn't save this film. Although it serves its purpose of entertaining the kids for a few hours while the parents nap from the Thanksgiving dinner, it doesn't forgive the incredibly poor story and painful experience it is of sitting through this film. Better to find a different holiday animation flick.

Free Birds is a pretty good animated film. I was not expecting much at all due to all the negative reviews on it. The movie does start off kinda slow and dull, but after about the first 20 minutes goes by it actually gets good and becomes entertaining. There are many funny lines of dialogue between the different characters. And the characters are very likable. Is it going to be nominated for an Oscar? No. Does that mean it is bad? No. This film has a well written script and has good visuals. This movie is very family friendly and I think the adults and the kids will both like it. Like I said the 1st 20 minutes can be slow and dull but just stick with it, it gets a lot better as it goes on. There's some nice romance and friendship involved as well. 7/10 for free birds

Reggie (Owen Wilson) is a scrawny turkey who knows that they are on the Thanksgiving menu. None of the other turkeys believe him. Luckily for Reggie, he gets pick by the President's daughter to be pardon. Jake (Woody Harrelson) is a strong slightly dumb turkey who takes Reggie on a mission. He takes him to a shed in Camp David which turns out to be the entrance to a secret base with a time machine. The two turkeys go back to 1621 Plymouth colony to take turkeys off the Thanksgiving menu. Reggie falls for the chief's daughter Jenny (Amy Poehler). The time machine is called S.T.E.V.E. (George Takei).The advertisements keep touting the fact that one of the producers (Aron Warner) also produced Shrek. Really? That's just stupid. There is also the tough sell that they're getting turkeys off the menu. Turkey is tasty. If one can accept the idea of Thanksgiving without turkeys, then this movie has a chance. 'Chicken Run' is more palatable because it doesn't propose to take all chickens off the menu. The animation is reasonable for a family movie. It's not the top of the line but it's good enough.I really like the idea that turkeys are the Indians to the Pilgrams settlers. It works quite well. Reggie and Jake are fine but I wish they get friendlier faster. There is one joke that made laugh hard. "STEVE's not here, man." It's a great stoner joke. I wish Cheech or Chong was doing it and they could keep it going for awhile. On the other end of the spectrum, the 'angry birds' joke was groan inducing. I thought the big capture is quite thrilling and the resulting low point very touching. I also really like the final resolution for the Thanksgiving meal because that is filled with great big pitfalls. This premise has its difficulties but I find most of it is resolved reasonably.