Free Birds 2013

As Reggie the Turkey (Owen Wilson) stands amidst his flock, a sense of dread settles over him like a shroud. His warnings about the impending doom of Thanksgiving are met with indifference, relegating him to the fringes of farm life. When the other turkeys finally grasp the gravity of their situation, they turn on Reggie, casting him aside in a desperate bid for self-preservation. Fate, however, has other plans, and Reggie finds himself unexpectedly named the “pardoned turkey” by the President of the United States (Jimmy Hayward). As he adjusts to his new life at Camp David, Reggie indulges in pizza parties courtesy of the Pizza Dude (Scott Mosier) and binge-watches telenovelas.

Just as Reggie has settled into a comfortable routine, Jake (Woody Harrelson), the enigmatic leader of the Turkeys Liberation Front, swoops in to disrupt his tranquility. Claiming guidance from a mysterious “Great Turkey,” Jake kidnaps Reggie three days before Thanksgiving, intent on taking him back in time to alter the course of history. As they evade federal agents and cleverly outmaneuver attempts to return them to reality, Jake commandeers an egg-shaped time machine equipped with the A.I. software S.T.E.V.E. (George Takei). With Reggie in tow, they blast off into the past, landing squarely on the day of the first Thanksgiving in 1621.

Their arrival is met with hostility as colonial hunters led by Myles Standish (Colm Meaney) converge upon them. Reggie and Jake are quickly rescued by a band of native turkeys, led by the wise Chief Broadbeak (Keith David), his children Ranger (Jimmy Hayward) and Jenny (Amy Poehler), who captivate Reggie with her charm. As they regroup underground, Broadbeak reveals that the turkeys have been forced to live in hiding since the settlers arrived, unable to mount a defense without risking extinction. With Reggie now embroiled in this ancient struggle, he must confront the harsh realities of his ancestors’ fate and decide whether to forge a new path or remain anchored in the present.

The following day, Broadbeak dispatches Jake to accompany Ranger to gather intel on the settlers alongside Reggie and Jenny. As they carefully navigate the hunting traps that Reggie and Jenny have so meticulously set up, initial animosity between Ranger and Jake gradually gives way to a deeper understanding. Through their reconnaissance, they uncover evidence of the settlers’ preparations for Thanksgiving, as well as the location where they store their weapons. Meanwhile, Jenny’s skepticism towards Reggie’s claims of being from the future begins to wane in light of his unconventional methods for disarming the traps. However, their mission is soon compromised when Standish intervenes, prompting Reggie to utilize S.T.E.V.E. to place Jenny in orbit around the planet, thereby verifying every assertion he had previously made.

Reggie’s attempts to persuade Jenny to accompany him back to the future are met with resistance, as she finds herself unable to abandon her flock no matter how much she may have come to care for Reggie. Jake subsequently seizes Reggie by the arm and reveals a plan to launch an attack on the settlers. However, Reggie’s patience has worn thin due to Jake’s repeated unverifiable claims, and he threatens to abandon the endeavor altogether. In a last-ditch effort to salvage their partnership, Jake shares with Reggie his personal regret over failing to safeguard three turkey eggs during a previous escape from a commercial turkey operation when he was younger. This anecdote prompts Reggie to remain committed to their mission, despite still harboring reservations about Jake’s credibility.

Reggie and Jake ultimately manage to utilize gunpowder to destroy the settlers’ weapons cache, but Jake inadvertently leaves behind a trail of explosives that leads directly back to the tree where the turkeys are hiding. This mistake proves disastrous when Standish and his men flush out the turkeys from their underground sanctuary, capturing sufficient numbers for the impending feast and ultimately claiming Broadbeak’s life in the ensuing chaos. In the aftermath, Jenny is sworn in as the new chief of the flock and orders those remaining to prepare a counterattack against the settlers.

As a crestfallen Reggie departs from his temporary residence with Jake, he is met by the weight of his own regret, his heart heavy with the knowledge that he has been forced to abandon his friends. Upon his return to Camp David, Reggie finds himself face-to-face with three enigmatic versions of himself, their collective presence a stark reminder of the complexities of time travel. The awkward encounter that ensues reveals to Reggie, courtesy of one of his future selves, the shocking truth: he was once the Great Turkey, using S.T.E.V.E.’s incredible capabilities to manipulate both his voice and appearance with devastating effect. This revelation sparks a newfound sense of purpose within Reggie, driving him to return to the past in a bid to prevent the impending catastrophe.

As Reggie navigates the timeline, he utilizes S.T.E.V.E. and the Pizza Dude (who had also been pulled forward from their own era) to convincingly argue that pizza is a far more palatable option than the traditional turkey centerpiece of the First Thanksgiving. This unorthodox approach yields an unexpected result: the settlers and arriving Indians alike are swayed by Reggie’s impassioned plea, and as such, the menu for the historic celebration is rewritten, with turkey no longer playing a central role.

In the aftermath of this temporal tampering, Reggie makes the difficult decision to remain with Jenny, while Jake elects to take S.T.E.V.E. in search of new and exciting adventures. However, just moments after his departure, Jake returns, hinting that their meddling may have inadvertently set the timeline awry, leaving Reggie and Jenny to ponder the far-reaching consequences of their actions.