As tradition follows, the President of the United States has pardon a turkey and will no longer become Thanksgiving dinner. The turkey named Reggie (Owen Wilson) is no living the presidential life and has no issues adjusting to luxury. Until one night, Jake (Woody Harrelson) abducts Reggie and forces him to travel back in time to change the course of history. Jake’s goal is to change the Thanksgiving menu, to remove the turkey. However, upon arriving in 1621, they both realize the task at hand is more difficult that they imagined.
I was not sure what to expect form Free Turkeys, at a glance the animated film features a great voice cast with Woody Harrelson, Owen Wilson, Amy Poehler and George Takei to name a few, and an animal that has not been the center of attention in a film before. The first part of the film is promising with some good gags and comedy, but unfortunately that’s the high point of the movie. What follows is 2 thirds of the movie that just simply do not add up to much entertainment.
The story really took a dive after the turkeys go to the past, the entire writing and character development is silly. The writing alone was just lazy, before we knew it; the story had already fallen back into old gags for the majority of the film. A few sporadic scenes of comedy are far too few to really give this a positive vibe. The final portion of the film has some redeeming qualities, but really not enough to save the animated film. Kids will no doubt find it amusing, but I’m not sure how many more times adults will be willingly watching Free Birds again.
Free Birds arrives on Blu-ray with very nice 1080p transfer as expected for an animated film. With a colorful and vibrant palette, Free Birds offered a nice array of colors. The image was clear and pristine throughout. The detailing was great, but I couldn’t help but notice that the actual animation was not as polished as I had hoped. Still, the imagery is not bad; all I am saying is that it could have been better. The dark scenes were a tad bit darker than usual. Overall, Free Birds looks good on Blu-ray.
Free Birds arrives on Blu-ray with a 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track. The movie is primarily dialogue driven, even though it’s an animated film, however, that doesn’t mean that the speakers didn’t get put to work. The dialogue is clean and clear throughout with excellent directionality in the fronts. In many cases, the rears offer support with some nice ambience effects. The LFE channel is put to work in a few scenes, especially during the time traveling in the big explosion scenes. Even though the track is good, is definitely far from being reference quality.
Birds Flipping History
Animating Free Birds: The Main Course
Winging It: Animators in Action
Talking Turkey with Composer Dominic Lewis
Shake a Tail Feather
Theatrical Trailer
Free Birds had a good start and looked very promising. With a great set of voice actors, I was disappointed with the direction and quality that was finally delivered. However, Free Birds has some entertaining moments for the kids. The Blu-ray looks and sounds good with a decent set of supplements to round up the release. I would recommend a rental before a purchase.