The best thing, worst thing, and main thing about the CG kid’s flick “Free Birds” in about the time it takes to watch the trailer.
REVIEW TEXT:
Sure Turkeys might have an issue with Thanksgiving, but think about Pumpkins, we stab them in the face for Halloween and then use their guts to flavor our pies and lattes for the entire season. We should be ashamed.
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“Free Birds” is a CG film from new company Reel FX about a pair of turkeys who go back in time to the first thanksgiving to stop turkey from becoming the main course. Owen Wilson, Woody Harrelson, and Amy Poehler add their voices to the proceedings and do a pretty good job. Not great, but pretty good. And honestly, that’s pretty much the entire review for “Free Birds”. Not great, but pretty good. So I guess we’re done here. Oh right, best thing, worst thing, and all that, ok.
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I guess the best thing I could say about it is that it’s funny. Especially if you’re under 10. Sure, I found much of what was going on to be amusing and even occasionally clever, but by the reaction of the kids in the theater with me you would have thought there was a tickle war breaking out they were laughing so hard. It makes this a nice big-screen babysitter flick, your kid will love it, and it’s just amusing enough that you won’t be begging to end it all. Plus it looks really great on the screen, though it seems anymore that’s basically a given for these CG flicks.
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Worst thing? Well, just as there wasn’t anything great about Free Birds, there really wasn’t anything too awful either. The worst thing is likely how fast and loose it plays with history including a possibly offensive native american stereotype placed on the turkeys of the past. The movie tries to excuse this with a humorous disclaimer at the beginning, but just because you admit that you didn’t care to get history right, doesn’t excuse you if the changes you make send mixed signals. Plus, there is time travel, which is always a sore spot for me, because it’s almost impossible for me not to get distracted by the paradoxes involved. Yes, even when it’s in a movie with talking turkeys.
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Overall, “Free Birds” is probably a movie the kids around you will love and you can stand, even if it tweaks your sense of history. I’m not sure there’s anything really great to say about it, but there’s nothing awful either. As such, let’s go with a C.
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