Review of Free Birds (2013) by Spencer S — 03 Dec 2014

It's understandable that pretty much everyone absolutely hated this film, the main reasons being: its premise is laughably horrible, it isn't politically correct, and many find it humorless. I understand these points, and many of them are valid, but I think some credit is due to this holiday film.

Though a lot of this is slipshod, there were a lot of great jokes. The humor in this is really great, blending jokes for both adults and children alike. It's really precocious in its handling of the material and made me laugh a good many times.

Between those jokes, however, are really offensive depictions of Thanksgiving era turkeys as Native Americans, complete with feathers behind their heads and war paint on their faces. The premise, well executed in most of the film, still leaves some giant plot holes and a whole lot of unneeded absurdity.

The worst of this is evidenced by the fact that the Pilgrims are presented as villains who blame the turkeys for their many misfortunes. The turkeys are actually to blame, since this is a kid's movie, but how do the humans know this? It's great for kids, because it's at least funny, but it's not intelligently presented.