Thursday, November 28, 2013
Free Birds Adoption Movie Guide
Reggie the turkey has been skeptical of farmers for a long
time. But on the whole farm, Reggie is the only turkey who doesn’t blindly
accept the farmers’ corn as a free gift. Because of his eccentricity (and
perhaps also because of his scrawniness), Reggie is excluded from his community
(see Turbo and Ratatouille). Good fortune finds Reggie, though, and he is
selected by the President of the
The Adoption
Connection
There’s no real connection to adoption in Free Birds, but
there are themes of the importance of babies; a group of eggs are rescued from
disaster by a team made up of some relatives and some non-relatives.
Strong Points
Characters sometimes exemplify courage and determination.
One explains, “never give up, ever, no matter what stands in our way.”
Characters do eventually learn the importance of depending
on – and being dependable for – others.
Challenges
As a very young bird, Jake’s mother helps him escape from a
factory farm. The expectations of the whole clan of birds rest on his shoulders
– to build a better future. Jake is heroic, but some kids might resonate too
closely with being given adult-sized expectations.
Recommendations
There’s not a lot of meat on these bones (get it… It’s a
turkey movie… Oh, never mind…) Free Birds is inoffensive, but it doesn’t really
do much in the way of communicating a deeper meaning. I know it’s a kids’
movie, but, the best kids movies often do have some depth. I feel like this one
doesn’t. Nothing in it seems likely to be traumatic, though, so if your kids
want to watch a turkey-themed movie at Thanksgiving, it’s not a bad choice. But
kids any older than 8 or 9 will probably be bored.
Questions for
Discussion
What would you tell “past you?”
What would you tell “future you?”
Happy Thanksgiving from Adoption at the Movies!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment