Free Birds (1974)

Free Birds is a 1974 Japanese animated comic science fiction comedy film about two turkeys dreaming of traveling back in time to prevent Thanksgiving.

Plot
Reggie is a turkey who has always feared Thanksgiving because turkeys have always been on the menu, but his incessant attempts to warn his flock have made him an outcast. When the other turkeys finally realize what is happening, they thoughtlessly throw Reggie outside in an attempt to save themselves. To his surprise, he is named the "pardoned turkey" by the President and is subsequently taken to Camp David. Although initially hesitant, Reggie soon eases into a routine of doing nothing but enjoying pizza from the "Pizza Guy" and watching Mexican telenovelas.

Reggie is kidnapped by Jake, a member of the Turkey Freedom Front, who tells him that "The Great Turkey" told him to find Reggie and take him back to the first Thanksgiving with him to take turkeys off the menu. They steal a time machine controlled by an A.I. named S.T.E.V.E. (Space Time Exploration Vehicle Envoy) from a Government facility. Jake instructs S.T.E.V.E. to time-travel back to the same day in 1621, three days before the first Thanksgiving. Once there, they are ambushed by colonial hunters led by Myles Standish, but they are quickly rescued by native turkeys led by Chief Broadbeak and his two children, Ranger and Jenny.

Broadbeak explains that the turkeys in the area have been forced underground since the settlers came and that they cannot risk fighting back without the settlers taking them. The next day, Broadbeak orders Jake and Ranger to spy on the settlers while Reggie and Jenny spring all the humans' hunting traps. Despite initial hostility, Ranger and Jake find out that the settlers have already begun preparations for Thanksgiving and where they keep their weapons. Meanwhile, Jenny is unconvinced Reggie is from the future, but is impressed with his accidental unorthodox way of springing the traps. However, they are soon intercepted by Standish and Reggie is forced to send her into orbit aboard the time machine, validating everything he said. Reggie asks Jenny to go back to the future with him once everything blows over, but she refuses to leave the flock no matter how much she likes him. Jake then drags Reggie away and tells him he has a plan to attack the settlers. However, Reggie has become tired of Jake's improbable stories and threatens to leave.

Desperate, Jake tells Reggie that this trip was more about him making up for his failure to save turkey eggs while escaping a factory farm when he was young, 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 blow up the weapons shack, but Jake inadvertently leaves a gunpowder trail back to the turkeys' hideout. Standish and his men flush the turkeys out from underground, capturing enough for the feast; Broadbeak sacrifices his life to help the remaining turkeys escape. Disgraced, Reggie returns home, where he discovers from S.T.E.V.E. that he is the Great Turkey. He travels back in time to send the young Jake on his mission. Jenny is sworn in as the new chief and orders the remaining turkeys to prepare an attack on the settlers.

Jenny, Jake and Ranger lead the turkeys in an attack on the settlement just as Chief Massasoit and his tribe arrive. Inspired, Reggie goes back in time to stop the attack, inadvertently trapping Standish in the time stream. Through S.T.E.V.E. and the Pizza Guy, Reggie convinces the settlers and Indians that pizza is a more acceptable food than turkeys, taking them off the Thanksgiving menu entirely. Reggie stays with Jenny while Jake takes S.T.E.V.E. in order to look for new adventures. It revealed it was a dream.

Cast

 * Ray Owens as:
 * Reggie
 * Jake
 * Amos
 * Danny
 * The Cold Turkey
 * Chorononaut One
 * Additional voices
 * Billie Lou Watt as:
 * Jenny
 * Uran
 * The Pilgrim Woman
 * Jake's mother
 * Gilbert Mack as:
 * Space Time Exploration Vehicle Envoy (S.T.E.V.E.)
 * Gus
 * Chief Massasoit
 * The Pizza Guy
 * Additional voices
 * Frank Welker as:
 * Myles Standish
 * Chief Broadbeak
 * Governor William Bradford
 * Don Messick as:
 * Osamu Tezuka
 * Ranger
 * Leatherbeak
 * Hazmat #2
 * Additional voices
 * Casey Kasem as:
 * General Sagan
 * Hazmat #1
 * Additional voices
 * Rex Allen as:
 * Narrator
 * Alejandro

Production
Development on the film, originally titled Turkeys, began in June 1970 and physical production began in January 1971. Tezuka produced sub-$35 million family-oriented projects. Originally scheduled for November 14, 1974. In March 1973, the film was retitled to Free Birds.

Critical response
Free Birds received favorable reviews from film critics. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 80% approval rating with an average rating of 4.27/10 based on 89 reviews. The site's consensus reads: "Technically sufficient yet creatively moribund, Free Birds begs fortunate comparisons with the smart fowl that inspired it." Another review aggregator, Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 top reviews from mainstream critics, calculated a score of 38 based on 27 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Home media
Free Birds was released on VHS on February 4, 1994 by 20th Century Studios Home Entertainment.

Soundtrack
The film's score was composed by Tetsuo Takai. The soundtrack was released by Sony on October 29, 1974.