REVIEW: Skip the ‘Free Birds’ film and just watch the trailer
Time travel is for the birds. Literally.
Reggie (Owen Wilson) is a turkey who’s never quite fit in with his flock. He’s seen the signs. He knows what happens to turkeys for Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, he can’t convince the dumb turkeys in his flock of the dangers in their future.
One day the flock is interrupted by a commotion outside their house. They toss Reggie out as a sacrifice in an attempt to appease the powers that be. Reggie is miraculously saved when he is then chosen as the turkey to receive a presidential pardon.
Reggie goes on to live a life of luxury until he is captured by Jake (Woody Harrelson) and taken on a secret mission to save all turkeys, beginning with the first Thanksgiving. They infiltrate a government facility and escape in a time machine to the year 1621, where the Pilgrims are hungry and the adventure takes off.
“Free Birds” is silly, but the silliness wasn’t taken far enough to be memorable. It may be sufficient for children, but not for adults.
The lead actors, Wilson and Harrelson, weren’t in their prime for the movie. Their personalities were held back and toned down. It’s too bad, because they’re both good actors, especially when it comes to comedies. Many of the other voices come from B- and C- actors and include George Takei of “Star Trek: The Original Series,” Amy Poehler of “Parks and Recreation,” Colm Meaney of “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,” Keith David of “Platoon” and Dan Fogler of “Kung Fu Panda.”
The movie has its fair share of puns and jokes. Unfortunately, the best one is in the trailer. As the turkeys are going to battle against the settlers, an Indian chief says, “Those are some angry birds.”
The effects showing the opening of the space-time continuum were impressive and creative. The actions affected by time travel have been discussed in other movies, but the physical rift has never been shown until now.
Because the movie features time travel, there are a few anomalies that occur. It becomes a chicken-and-the-egg situation, although in this case, it’s a turkey-and-the-egg situation.
I didn’t have high expectations going into the movie, and part of that was because director Jimmy Hayward’s previous films were “Jonah Hex” and “Horton Hears a Who.” It seems like it would be easy to go up from there, but he’s having trouble doing so. I do have to give him credit for telling a story exclusively about Thanksgiving, because it is unique.
“Free Birds” isn’t fantastic, and it’s not worth seeing in theaters even if you’re a fan of the stars.