Free Birds Review

            When I first heard of  Free Birds (around February 2013) I was reasonably excited for it. I thought a movie about turkeys would be cool. But was it cool or was it a movie that should have stayed in 1621.
          Reggie (Owen Wilson) is a pretty smart turkey. He is the only one in his group of turkeys that know that the farmers are fattening them up for Thanksgiving. One day the President of the United States comes to Reggie's farm to pick a special turkey that will not be eaten. Reggie (of course) is the one picked and is taken to the white house. There he lives a comfortable life of eating pizza and watching soap operas. Suddenly another turkey named Jake (Woody Harrelson) takes Reggie away from his fuzzy bunny slippers and explains to him that "The Great Turkey" told him that he and Reggie were meant to go back in time and take turkeys off the menu, or in other words, go back in time and stop the first Thanksgiving from serving turkey. They take off in the time machine named Steve (George Takei) to the first Thanksgiving.

          From the short description I've made here, you can probably tell it's really cheesy. The story is not something amazing, it is pretty predictable. It begins on a cheesy tone and ends with it too. The characters are...likeable, but you feel like you barely know them. The animation is not super great, but just good. Compare it to some of the stuff you see now a days and it's no comparison. But the one thing that caught me off guard was the humor. This movie was really funny! Most, if not all, the jokes made me laugh, even just a little bit. Some even had me laughing about it later.
           The only reason I watched this movie was because it was at Redbox and I wanted to watch a movie I could review on this blog, but I was actually surprised a bit. I had hear it was really bad from reports such as the ones at Rotten Tomatoes, but I did not think it deserves such ridicule. It wasn't a horrible movie, I actually enjoyed it. It was the first animated film this studio (Reel FX) has ever made, and you have to take that into account. But even then, it wasn't a fantastic movie, which is what the movie makers need to strive for.
         I give this one  ★ ★1/2 stars. I couldn't give it three because of one thing, it lacked originality. It felt too much like Chicken Run (which is one of my favorite animated/stop motion films). So, it you want to see what this movie was like, rent it. Chances are you'll like it for it's humor, but everything else won't be as enjoyable.
                                                                                                                             -Film Filosopher