Thanksgiving isn't a big occasion this side of the world, but even those with a most rudimentary knowledge of it will know that turkeys – lots of them – are consumed on that very day (preferably with cranberry sauce). 'Horton Hears a Who's' Jimmy Hayward's 'Free Birds' plays on that holiday tradition by imagining the unlikely scenario where an independent-minded turkey unwittingly teams up with a plucky (pardon the pun) member of his species to go back in time and reverse the establishment of that tradition.

Like many such tales, our hero Reggie (Owen Wilson) is an underachiever who is looking for something more in his existence beyond being just another member of his species. So while the rest of the turkeys on the farm are immediately lured by food in the farmer's hand and think by extension that he is their friend, Reggie is all too aware that the farmer only intends to fatten them up so he can slaughter them - and no, he also isn't deluded that they will therefore end up in 'turkey heaven'.

Reggie's journey starts when he is chosen among millions of his ilk to be pardoned by the President of the United States and sent to a protected reserve. Unfortunately, it is also at that place where he meets Jake (Woody Harrelson), the President - and we might add, only member - of the Turkeys Liberation Front who claims he is answering a calling from the Great Turkey that visited him years ago to go back in time to the first Thanksgiving and stop turkeys from becoming the holiday meal. It's a classic case of mismatched partners, but thanks to some witty lines from Hayward and his co-scripter Scott Mosier, there is still some amusement to be had amidst the familiarity.

It isn't just make believe though - there is indeed a time machine to be found in the Government lab that Reggie and Jake break into, and with that, an actual time travel to the year1622. Oh, and did we mention that in between the mission of saving his species, Reggie finds additional motivation in the form of a love interest? That'll be Jenny (Amy Poehler), courageous where Reggie is terrified and altogether too attractive for the glib-tongued Reggie to resist.

As far as toons go, this one hardly pushes the narrative limits of imagination. You can almost predict that Reggie will be confronted with a crucial turning point whether to stay with his flock or return to the comfort of his old life back at the reserve - and for that matter, if he will rise to the occasion to be a better fowl. In fact, Hayward demands a fair bit of suspension of belief by playing it fast and loose with the conundrums of time travel, especially as he and Mosier try to make the disparate events across time and space tie together into one coherent whole. We warn you - it doesn't take anyone with more than a bird brain to tell that they are clutching at straws, so you'd be advised to simply accept the creative liberties they take with logic and just plain common sense.

To his credit, Hayward does a pretty fine job with the animation. The detail can't quite match up to established studios like Disney/ Pixar and Dreamworks, but this maiden effort from Reel FX Studios is colourful, energetic, and still visually captivating stuff to keep the young ones glued to their seats. Everything also moves at a pretty fast clip, and even if it does rely on familiar plot and character tropes, at no point does it get boring or repetitive. Hayward also has to thank his enthusiastic voice cast for that, in particular Wilson and Harrelson deliver their respective parts with much gusto.

And so even though Thanksgiving as a holiday doesn't quite resonate as much here as it does in the United States, the humour, fun and excitement that it offers for kids and less demanding adults is universal. The best reassurance we can give is that it isn't a 'turkey'; in fact, despite being entirely formulaic, it still is an entertaining diversion for families, especially for those looking for a cinematic equivalent of a babysitter.

Two turkeys (Owen Wilson and Woody Harrelson) from different back grounds, are somewhat paired together, when they stumble onto a government experiment that involves time travel, when they get into the time machine, they ask it named Steve(voiced by George Takei) to take them for the first Thanksgiving, in order to prevent it, set all turkeys free.

This film is getting a lot of negative reviews, I still can't figure, It's just a fun entertaining film, with incredible animation, and all the actors doing there voices seems like there having fun. It has one heart felt moment, but other than that this film does not take itself seriously. The jokes are laugh out loud funny, some may dislike it, and some may not. But I liked it, although this movie is not for everybody.

Free Birds is not really a good or great film, nor is it terrible. If there was a word to sum it up it would be mediocre. Is it the worst animated film of the year? No, that dishonour goes to Sir Billi(which was billed as Sean Connery's comeback!). Is it the best? Again, no, that's so far been between Monsters University and Despicable Me 2(have high hopes for Frozen, and that is looking like that will be even better than these two). Free Birds does have a few things that came off well. The animation has some nice bright colours and attention to detail(though the character designs could have been smoother in places), the soundtrack is catchy, the scene with the hunters destroying the turkey's nest is indeed tense and the voice acting has the right amount of zest and energy, Woody Harrelson is almost unrecognisable and is clearly having fun, Amy Poehler should do voice acting more often because she is born to do it and Owen Wilson brings some distinctive quirkiness as well(if at times on the one-note side). George Takei while bringing dignity to his part is very underused though, and it does feel like a waste. There are a lot of flaws as well unfortunately. The script lacks crispness and wit and has an overkill of turkey jokes that are both contrived and dumb, some gags are stretched out to pointlessness while the slapstick is heavy on predictability and over-broadness and light on fun and invention.

With the target audience too, children may enjoy it if they understand the humour but it is likely to go over the heads of adults. If that is the case, considering that Free Birds is a family film(NOT a kids' film) the film only does half its job well, if children are not amused it's a failure. Where I was, the reception from both children and adults were largely the latter, but then again it will be different with you. The story is well-intended but is far too simple- even for a family film- and predictable, while it also doesn't do anything with the time travel idea(which had great potential) that comes at the expense of the humour, which very little hits the mark really. The message is good if clumsily and heavy-handedly incorporated(likewise with the few emotional parts that were more manipulative than heartfelt), and there's no better about the characters unfortunately who suffer from flat personalities(some like Jake irritating too) and dealt with far too simplistically to the extent we know little about them. Non-US viewers may also find that because the film is so rooted in American customs and their early history that that is a further reason why the humour is likely to be lost on them. In conclusion, the potential and intentions are there, and it is not as bad as others have said- because the animation, music and voices are good and one scene came off well- but it was lacking in a lot of areas- mostly the humour and the story- and had a lot of wasted potential(doing little with the time travel idea and under-using George Takei). Despite how this sounds, it isn't terrible but rather mediocre, and this is not being said with vehemence but with a heavy heart from a 21-year old animation fan(to avoid over-generalising that defending of panned family films are prone to). 4/10 Bethany Cox