After years of fruitless warning of his farmyard brethren of the coming Thanksgiving doom, Reggie the Turkey finds himself spared as the annual Pardoned Turkey. However, Reggie's easy life is disrupted by Jake, a fanatic turkey who drags him along with the insane idea of going back in time to make sure turkeys are not part of the first Thanksgiving. Through foolhardiness and luck, the pair manage to take an experimental time machine to do just that. Now in 1621 at the Plymouth colony, Reggie and Jake find themselves in the middle of a turkey clan's struggle for survival. In doing so, their preconceptions of the world and themselves are challenged forever in a conflict from which the world will never be the same. Written by

Plot Synopsis:
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Reggie the Turkey (Owen Wilson) has always been afraid of Thanksgiving because turkeys have always been on the menu. However, his attempts to warn his farm-based flock constantly fall on deaf ears and has made him an outcast. When the other turkeys finally realize what's going on, they throw Reggie to the wolves in an attempt to save themselves. In a surprise twist of fate, he winds up being named the "pardoned turkey" by the President of the United States (Jimmy Hayward) and is subsequently taken to Camp David. Although initially hesitant, Reggie soon eases into a routine of doing nothing but enjoying pizza delivered to him by the Pizza Dude (Scott Mosier) and watching telenovelas.

About three days before Thanksgiving, Reggie gets bag-kidnapped by Jake (Woody Harrelson), the president and the only member of Turkeys Liberation Front.[7] Jake tells him that a "Great Turkey" told him to find Reggie and take him back to the first Thanksgiving with him to take turkeys off the menu once and for all. Despite interference by federal officials and several attempts by Reggie to trick him back to the surface, Jake manages to commandeer an egg-shaped time machine with an A.I. software named S.T.E.V.E. (George Takei) and takes Reggie with him back to the same day in 1621. Once there, they are immediately attacked and separated by colonial hunters led by Myles Standish (Colm Meaney). Reggie and Jake are quickly rescued by native turkeys led by Chief Broadbeak (Keith David) and his two children Ranger (Jimmy Hayward) and Jenny (Amy Poehler), the latter of whom Reggie is immediately smitten with. Broadbeak explains that the turkeys in the area have been forced underground since the settlers came and that they can't risk fighting back without the settlers taking them.

The next day, Broadbeak has Jake go with Ranger to spy on the settlers with Reggie and Jenny spring all the hunting traps they've set up. Despite initial hostility, Ranger and Jake find out that the settlers have already begun preparations for Thanksgiving as well as where they keep their weapons. Meanwhile, Jenny, who believes Reggie is lying about being from the future, is impressed with his unorthodox way of springing the traps. However, they are soon intercepted by Standish and Reggie is forced to get her in orbit over the planet aboard S.T.E.V.E., validating everything he said in the process. Reggie tries to convince Jenny to go back to the future with him once everything blows over, but she tells him she can't bring herself to leave the flock no matter how much she likes him.

Jake drags Reggie away from Jenny and tells him he has a plan to attack the settlers. However, Reggie has gotten sick of all his unproved stories and threatens to leave. Desperate, Jake tells him that this trip was more about him making up for him not being able to save three turkey eggs while escaping a turkey-fattening facility when he was younger, although still maintaining that the Great Turkey convinced him to go through with this. While still reluctant to believe what he said, Reggie still goes along with the plan. They manage to use gunpowder to destroy the weapons shack, but Jake inadvertently leaves a gunpowder trail back to the tree the turkeys are hiding under. Standish and his men flush the turkeys out from underground, capturing enough for the feast and killing Broadbeak in the ensuing panic. Jenny is sworn in as the new chief and orders the remaining turkeys to prepare an attack on the settlers.

Despite Jake's attempts to get him to stay, a heartbroken Reggie heads back to the present. Once back at Camp David, Reggie is confronted by three future versions of himself. Through the awkward conversation, Reggie discovers from one of them that he was the Great Turkey, having used S.T.E.V.E. to throw his voice and appearance. Inspired, Reggie goes back in time to stop the attack, erasing Standish from history in the process. Through S.T.E.V.E. and the Pizza Dude (who was also brought back to the First Thanksgiving), Reggie convinces the settlers and the arriving Indians that pizza is a more acceptable food than turkeys, taking them off the Thanksgiving menu entirely.

In the end, Reggie decides to stay with Jenny while Jake takes S.T.E.V.E. in order to look for new adventures. However, Jake returns moments after leaving and implies to Reggie and Jenny that their antics have caused the future to be thrown out of whack.

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tavives from United States
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"We have a Turkey situation"

"How should we address it?"

"With cranberry sauce." (HA, HA, HA,HA)

This was just a fun, silly movie -- perfect for a family outing. It has no pretensions to be anything more than just a goofy, romp through "history". No, it doesn't contain any riotously funny scenes. No, it doesn't contain any hidden agenda. No it doesn't contain a subtext of humor aimed at the parents/adults in the audience. And no, it is not a thinly veiled attempt by Hollywood to promote a "Vegan" agenda. (Seriously?!?)

It's not great art. It doesn't even really try to manipulate the heart strings.

It reminded me a lot of "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" and even referenced it at one point.

It's just exactly that kind of a (again) fun, silly little movie.

Nothing more, nothing less.

Just take the kids and enjoy it.

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MsMovie from United States
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Bear in mind, I am writing this from the perspective of a parent who just shelled out for kids tickets, my ticket, concession stand, and it wasn't cheap, and then to have this movie be SO awful and SO boring (yes, my kids called it boring!), well, I am very disappointed.

All of the funny-seeming parts were in the trailer, and when you see them in the context of the movie they aren't very funny either. I was in a packed theater and there was hardly any laughing going on at all - that is a very bad thing. Laughter is contagious, but not in this film!

The voice acting was average at best, although Owen Wilson was good, but one turkey cannot carry an entire movie, especially when the plot was so lame.

The animation itself was OK, but without a decent story and characterizations, a movie is going to fail, and this one did big time! We didn't expect factually accurate obviously, you'd have to be crazy to think it was, but we were hoping the humans wouldn't be portrayed as either total morons OR really evil and vicious. Pixar doesn't show humans that way in Toy Story, neither did Turbo or Despicable Me 2.

This movie is a definitely wait for it in Redbox etc, or even wait for it to come on TV. If you have 2 kids or more, you're going to be paying out a lot of cash for a trip to the movies to see this and you will be horribly disappointed.

Highlight of the movie was the trailers BEFORE the movie - which showed us a couple of upcoming animated movies that might actually be good.

The one thing I will say for the movie is they had great marketing - they suckered us in on election day in VA when we had nothing better to do, but let this review be your warning, go see SOMETHING ELSE!

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Jesse Boland from Burnaby, BC Canada
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Well it has been quite a while since I watched a movie that the whole family can watch, and enjoy. Most of the animated films of the last couple of years have been so totally dumbed down that they just don't have enough of that subtle stuff that keeps the adults amused as well. So this is a nice change, really. Woody Harrelson and Owen Wilson do a great job pulling off a Turkey buddy movie with Time travel. I don't know how terribly racist some people might take this movie, and I really don't care all that much. There were no Turkeys at the first Thanksgiving, but that doesn't matter either. The point of the movie is finding a place that you belong, and to never give up trying. Nothing really much else. There are some good solid chuckles in here, and the animation is really good. This one will be on repeat in your home for a while if you have the young'nses running around. So yeah I Enjoyed this one more than I had expected, and am glad I accidentally hit play. ;) I recommend this to anyone who wants a movie that they can watch with the whole family. I'd call for pizza first though cause your gonna want some.

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Wim Boeren (williamwb@zoho.com) from Belgium
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I don't understand the hate for this movie: is was just plain fun. I don't know how this movie is offensive, probably because I'm not American, so I can't comment on that. First off all: don't look for a message in this movie. I keep reading, people saying there is a message. There is NO MESSAGE here. It's just fun. It's so bad it's good. The plot didn't make any sense and that's what was funny about it.

I'm very relieved to finally see an animated movie made just for fun and without feeling the need to add an unnecessary message or plot or emotional attachment. There was only one instance where they tried to get you emotionally involved, it didn't work but it didn't disturb me either.

Very refreshing and highly recommended during the holiday season!

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gerry barnaby Film Reviewer from United Kingdom
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Sorry this is a film that doesn't deserve the bad reviews it got because if you cant find this film funny you are miserable as hell with no sense of humor because this is a extremely funny with slap stick humor, compared to most animated film this is so worth watching.

The writing in this comedic tale is spot on with the humor -- while the voice performances and animation are brilliantly done. The only downside to the movie, is the lack of inclusion of the song's that normal come in to animated film's…but seriously this was a laugh-out-loud movie that really only slows down during an attempt to throw in some romance. There is some amazing and hilarious animation done between Woody's voice acting for the character Jake

and the leader of the pack Chief Broadbeak voiced by Keith David in the old world when they try to out do each other in a macho contest, with some hilarious outrageous laugh out loud moments.

Owen Wilson voices of Reggie, the only sain turkey among a dumb pack of turkeys was brilliant to show a unsung hero of the bird world, i like that they gave his character that romance element as well which was funny with Jenny voiced by Amy Poehler, who his character just acts like a love sick puppy but it just brilliant done. Through this whole film you just find yourself laugh because the level of the slap stick humor you just cant help but laugh your head off, i really don't know why some people can find this film funny, because I've never laugh so hard in my life at an animated film, special even more so with the angry birds reference, it just a classic animated film that all the family will love, you just cant go wrong with this animated film chicken run was good, just turkeys do it better.

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PsnViolet from United States
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So yeah, a thanksgiving movie about two turkeys going back in time to keep turkeys from being eaten at the first thanksgiving. Setting aside the fact that they probably weren't the main course if they were eaten at all, nobody should have expected this to be anything but a stupid kids' movie. But, I at least expected it to be that, a stupid kids' movie. Calling this movie a stupid kids' movie is an insult to stupid kids' movies.

Let's start with what I'll be generous and call a story. Owen Wilson is a turkey. E-I-E-I-O. I'll be kind and have that be the only time I make that joke. Owen Wilson turkey is the turkey chosen for the presidential pardon, despite the fact that he doesn't fulfill a single one of the qualifications, and lives a cushy life with TV and all the product placement Chuck-e-cheese pizza he can eat. Then, a buff turkey named Jake shows up and tells him that he's on a quest from the "Great Turkey" to stop thanksgiving from ever happening. And there's your problem right there, that's the dumbest thing I've ever written. And that's not even the dumbest thing to happen in the movie. From there, they break into a government lab and steal a time machine, voiced by George Takei, who turns in one of the only good performances this movie has, simply on his greatness alone, and the time machine somehow understands the turkey's voice commands. They end up three days before the first Thanksgiving at Plymouth, and they're immediately chased by an over the top villain hunter until they're saved by the local turkeys, and from there, you have three choices of plots, Dances with Wolves with turkeys, Pocahontas with turkeys, or Avatar with turkeys. Just replace the natives with turkeys or have the people be cannibals and it's pretty much the same plot. And then, the last few scenes happen.

Thesis papers could be written about everything wrong with the ending. If anybody cares about spoilers, now would be the time to stop. So, anybody over the age of 10 should be able to figure out that Owen Wilson turkey is the "Great Turkey" that Jake saw in the past, but it takes 4 of him to even get close enough to have George Takei tell him. Yes, they do the time travel movie thing where he tells himself what's going on, but that could be forgiven if it wasn't done so stupidly. Then he does the thing where he goes back in time and starts the plot, again, cliché, but forgivable. Then, the movie gave up. There's no other explanation for what happens next. You may want to be sitting down for this next part. So, the turkeys are going to attack the settlers after they burnt down their home (with flaming pumpkin catapults(I know, stay with me)). The settlers rationally respond by attacking them with cannons (though to be fair, the turkeys destroyed their guns, which, to be fair again, you'd have to be dumb to have happen). Then, just as they're about to be destroyed by cannon fire, a group of Indians show up and say "those are some angry birds". If you're dumb enough to stay in the theater after that, like I was, then you'll realize that is the high point of this last act. Owen Wilson turkey comes down in the time machine and stops all the cannonballs mid-shot and absorbs all the cannons and the evil hunter into a magnetic vortex. Then, he comes down off the time machine, and George Takei tells them all that Owen Wilson turkey is the "Great Turkey", and he gives them the gift that will stop the settlers from eating turkey. Pizza. He brings a ton of Chuck-E-Cheese pizza for them. I tried to walk out then, but my sister didn't let me. And the Turkeys, Settlers and Indians lived happily ever after. Owen Wilson turkey gets Stands-With-A-Fist/Pocahontas/Natari turkey to fall in love with him and stays with the colonial age turkeys, and Jake stays in George Takei and goes off to, I don't know, fight crime through time or something. And George Takei finishes the movie off with one of his classic "Oh My"s.

I have exactly four good things to say about this movie. One is George Takei's always great to hear, even if he is totally wasted. Two, the only real laughs that didn't come from him came from self aware people in hazmat suits at the laboratory, and they at least knew how dumb the idea of turkeys messing with a time machine was, even if everybody else in the facility didn't. Three and four are two good scenes in this. One scene is when the hunters find and subsequently destroy the turkey's nest. There is actually a good scene here, it's shot well, there's actual tension, and it belonged in a better movie. The last is when Owen Wilson turkey takes Pocahontas turkey up in the time machine and they're looking down on the earth. Pocahontas turkey starts asking questions, and a better movie could have taken this aspect further. But none of that saves this from being an overall brain dead movie with about as much respect for its audience as it does for history. I have never wanted to eat a turkey sandwich more in my life, and I can't wait for thanksgiving this year.

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croxton3 from United States
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My kids and I loved this movie, so I was surprised to see the low rating on IMDb. The negative comments seem to center on three things:

(1) "Cultural insensitivity," chiefly for portraying 17th century turkeys like Indians. I don't get this one. They are put in opposition to pilgrims, who are trying to eat them, and the Indian association seems natural. (2) A "vegetarian" message. I am relatively sensitive to such message (e.g., I thought it was rather heavy-handed in "Jurassic Park"), so I can say that there simply isn't one here. It's about turkeys trying not to get eaten, not that people should never eat meat. (3) "disregard for time-travel paradoxes" (quoting from Wikipedia here). It's a movie about talking turkeys, and this guy is bothered by inconsistencies in time travel? If this bothers you, it's time to take off the bow tie and unfasten the suspenders, you need to loosen up.

Okay, the plot is not great, and there really isn't a message (at least not much of one). The joy of this movie and others of its ilk is in the presentation. There are a lot of funny lines, and the animation is amazing. I love seeing how cartoonists can elicit the most focused emotions simply by depicting a turkey's face.

If you are looking for a deep movie, this one is probably not for you. If you are looking for a great way to spend 90 minutes, you will enjoy this one.

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dwpollar from Evansville, Indiana USA
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1st watched 11/23/2013 – 8 out of 10(Dir-Jimmy Hayward): Hilarious & inventive animated movie about two turkeys who go back in time to try to change the fate of future turkey's ending up on the dinner table during this festive time of year. The writing in this comedic tale is spot on -- while the voice performances and animation are very well done. The only downside to the movie, in my opinion, is the lack of inclusion of the song Free Bird…but seriously this was a laugh-out-loud movie that really only slows down during an attempt to throw in some romance. Owen Wilson is the voice of the one-of-the-kind turkey in a stupid current flock as the only one who knows they are getting fattened up to enter their death. The president pardons him from being the main course on Thanksgiving and he is living the good life until he runs into a wild turkey searching out a time machine to turn things around for his kind. Woody Harrelson is the voice of the wild one and the time machine, "Steve", leads them back to before the first Thanksgiving. There is some amazing and hilarious animation done between Woody's character and the leader of the pack in the old world when they try to outdo each other in a macho contest. I was wildly surprised with this movie with it's lame idea but the humor and pacing was great --- the turkey love part was a little much – but other than that this animated movie was excellent. If you are looking for a satisfying and fun time at the movies where you and the kids can enjoy it at the same time see this movie!!

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therunner42 from Australia
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This movie got some tremendously bad user reviews but my little girls were desperate to see it . Free Birds tells the story who of a turkey who tries to change history by going back in time to make turkeys a non-choice at Thanksgiving. Being Australian I had no interest in Thanksgiving and being an adult I had no interest in turkeys. I had resigned myself to 90 minutes of playing with my phone (hidden from view under a blanket). However, I found this movie fun and interesting. It disregards history with wild abandon and this makes it even more funny. Woody Harrelson and Owen Wilson are great as the two key characters. There are real laugh out loud moments and my two girls loved the president's daughter the most saying her lines over and over in the car. Look it won't be the greatest movie you ever see and it certainly isn't at the standard of Frozen (but little boys make like it more). However, it is a fun way to spend the holidays and the four of us had a great afternoon.

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Neil Welch from United Kingdom
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Reggie is a scrawny turkey who is trying to persuade the other turkeys that Thanksgiving is bad for them. When they finally get the message, their reaction is for Reggie to go first. Fortunately he is reprieved by the President's daughter. However, he is taken out of his life of luxury by macho turkey Jake, who time travels with Reggie (in time machine S.T.E.V.E.) back to 1621, where they attempt to join forces with the local tribe of turkeys to forestall the inclusion of turkeys in the Thanksgiving festivities.

This 3D CGI feature features the voices of Owen Wilson as Reggie, Woody Harrelson as Jake, and George Takei as S.T.E.V.E. Amy Poehler plays love interest Jenny from the turkey tribe, a kind of Flockahontas, if you will, who has a pleasingly daft recurring sight gag (in more than one sense). As the plot synopsis indicates, its story is bizarre to the point of dementedness. For all that I quite enjoyed it (I love time travel fiction, and there are some good time travel gags in it), it is essentially a kids' film but, maybe, one which is a bit too off-the-wall and dense to please its intended audience. I might be wrong.

I have seen better characterisation and animation, but the 3D is good, and the autumnal backgrounds are gorgeous.

Weird, but not unenjoyable.

thanksgiving|turkey the bird|hunting dog|sabotage|chipmunk|rival|spoiled daughter|historical figure|historically inaccurate|buddy comedy|title at the end|atheist|colonial america|english colony|gunpowder|president of the united states|camp david|computer animation|time travel|

AKAs Titles:



Certifications:
Argentina:Atp / Australia:G / Canada:G (British Columbia) / Germany:6 / Hong Kong:I / Hungary:6 / India:U / Ireland:G / Mexico:AA / Netherlands:6 / Peru:PT / Philippines:G / Portugal:M/4 / Singapore:PG / South Korea:All / Switzerland:6 / UK:U / USA:PG (certificate #48534)