You don’t expect turkey liberation movies aimed at young children. Yet that is the improbable pitch for the latest computer animated A-minus list mashup Free Birds.
Given director Jimmy Hayward’s background in animation, it comes as no surprise that the movie has good visuals. Given that his last directorial effort was Jonah Hex, it’s also no surprise that the movie is a conceptual, dramatic and, yes, historical disaster. Deft comic voicework by Owen Wilson, Woody Harrelson, Amy Poehler and George Takei could not save their turkey of a film.
Hayward’s problem, as the film acknowledges a few times, is the fowl themselves. Many species in the animal kingdom are relatively easy to sympathize with. Turkeys are not high on the list. The birds are exceedingly stupid, a fact that even the story’s protagonist, presidentially pardoned turkey Reggie admits. “Let’s face it, turkeys are dumb,” says Wilson. They are also loud, ugly and (unavoidable pun alert!) foul smelling.
The “turkey drop” episode on the late 1970s-early ‘80s sitcom “WKRP in Cincinnati” is considered one of the funniest moments in TV history. For a promotional event, the radio station rents a helicopter and flies a bunch live turkeys over a crowd. Several birds are dropped on the crowd from a great height. Carnage and chaos ensue. Authur Carlson, the shaken manager of the radio station leaves us with the immortal punchline, “As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.”
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