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.

Before the fantastic The Book of Life, Reel FX gave us Free Birds and It is one of the most laziest and annoying animated comedies I have ever seen, the characters are not all that memorable, the story is stupid, the jokes are generically juvenile. I know It's a comedy and Your not to supposed to take It seriously, but I just didn't care what was going on.The only good things is the animation is half-way decent, It has some funny/quiet moments but that's not saying much, the Voice-Acting Is passable from Owen Wilson, Woody Harrelson and Amy Poehler.Not much else to say but just bad, not the worst but defiantly Top 5, I'll say It's on par with the Nut Job being just mediocre.Watch the Book of Life instead of this, It's not worth your money.I'm giving this a 2/10.

Free Birds is the story about Reggie...an outcast of a turkey who is being raised on a farm but is the only one who knows why he and all his other turkey friends are there. When the other turkeys eventually realise what's going on, Reggie still manages to become the main menu item. However, as a quirk of fate, Reggie is picked out by the President to become the Pardoned Turkey. Living the life of riley at the White House, Reggie meets Jake...the (only) member of the Turkeys Liberation Front who's on a mission to go back in time and stop turkey's becoming the item of choice for Thanksgiving Dinner and Reggie is Jakes unwilling Liberation partner. Soon, Reggie & Jake find themselves going back in time and get caught up in the middle of a turkey clan's fight for survival all while trying to avoid becoming dinner themselves.Free Birds is another cracker of a movie from DreamWorks and is a movie that the whole family will enjoy. I've read reviews of people complaining about the storyline and that the idea of turkeys going back in time is ridiculous. I've got news for all you moaners...it's an animated movie! Get over it! Is it any more ridiculous than a snail racing in the Indy 500, or a scientist who makes it rain food? Animated movies aren't restricted to "rules" and are supposed to be fun, which is exactly what Free Birds is.There are a lot of good funny moments in this movie including Jenny's droopy eye (the timing of which is done masterfully), the constant contests between Jake & Ranger, and the few in-jokes the movie has (the Angry Birds reference for one) as well. The animation - as we have come to expect from animated movies these days - is superb and is crystal clear in Blu-ray and the cast do a fantastic job with their characters.I could go on, but I'll just end by saying that Free Birds is a great movie and is very much recommended, so ignore the ridiculous hate and give it a shot.

Not nearly as good as the other time traveling animal (Mr. Peabody), but has some charm of its own. Although that might depend on your take of Owen Wilson (since he's the voice of the main character here). You might want to rate higher or lower I guess. The time travel thing does not work entirely, but what makes it worthwhile is the fact that it has a few jokes here and there (definitely not the "twist" towards the end though that's for sure).This animation works more the kids and less for the adults, though there are some stabs at American/native history here. It still is kept simple and the whole thing is predictable. There are worse things though and your kids/young ones won't mind watching this at all.