Free Birds

Cast of Characters:

Reggie - voiced by Owen Wilson

Jake - voiced by Woody Harrelson

Jenny - voiced by Amy Poehler

Director - Jimmy Hayward

Screenplay - Jimmy Hayward & Scott Mosier

Rated PG for some action/peril and rude humor

      Academy Award nominees Owen Wilson and Woody Harrelson and Amy Poehler lend their voice talents to the new holiday animated feature Free Birds. Does it feature a six minute long guitar solo though?

      All is not well with Reggie (voiced by Owen Wilson) when he finds out the real reason why turkeys are fed all the time by the farmers. After being "pardoned" by the U.S. president, though, it's a life of luxury for him, eating pizzas and watching Mexican telenovelas

      Things change for Reggie once he meets Jake (voiced by Woody Harrelson), the president and only member of the Turkeys Liberation Front. Jake is on a mission to go back in time to the first Thanksgiving and permanently remove turkeys off the menu. With Reggie by his side, they use a time machine, found in a secret government lab and travel back to the first Thanksgiving in 1621. There they meet Jenny (voiced by Amy Poehler), who along with her "tribe" of turkeys look to save themselves from their inevitable holiday demise.

      While not looking forward to this movie, I was surprised by how much I laughed here. To be honest, that's not much of a compliment considering I was expecting to laugh zero times, so one laugh would've been a surprise for me. The animation is the typical first-rate animation that technology provides for us and some of the voice-over work is solid. Owen Wilson brings the usual upbeat enthusiasm that we've seen him bring in his live-action roles to this voice-over role of Reggie, and Woody Harrelson has some fun as the sometimes delusional Jake. Amy Poehler is a likeable comic presence, but the love interest angle between her and Wilson hardly works. We also get the typical stock of animated film characters here: the over-the-top villain, the alpha-male protagonist that thinks his way is the best but then has a change of heart near the end and the usual two goofball minor characters that show up with their zany antics. The main problem though is the story. Yeah, there are laughs, but you never expect political undertones in an animated family film. If that's what the filmmakers are aiming for, fine, but subtlety's clearly not their game. It's not me "reading too much into things". One look at the war paint on the turkeys as they fight the either dumbed down or overly villainous pilgrims and you should have an idea of the obvious angle they're going for. It just seems a bit unnecessary. I doubt there were any kids in the screening room I was at that looked up at the screen and went, "Yep. That's clearly a statement on genocide." Kids don't get subtext. They want animated fun, and although the film has its moments, most of the fun this film contains is all packed in during the first act before Reggie and Jake travel back in time. After that, the laughs come every now and then, but most of the jokes feel forced and there's a serious moment near the climax involving Jenny that just feel out of place and forced.

      Free Birds isn't a horrible movie. I laughed. Sure, mostly in the first act, but like I said before, that's a lot more than I was expecting. The "evil pilgrims vs. the Indians - I mean turkeys" metaphor will go right over the little ones' heads. They'll probably just see it as it is, so in the end it is a harmless film for them that they'll get a kick out of while you, the parent, sit there and roll your eyes at the screen every now and then. There's nothing wrong with a film just for kids, but if Pixar has masterfully shown us for nearly twenty years, it's that there's no reason an animated film can't appeal to all ages. I can justify a rental for this, which is still a shame 'cause there's really not much else for the whole family to see right now in theaters. Maybe you can take your children to see The Counselor instead. I give Free Birds a C+ (★★½).