CHICKEN RUN
Rated G - Running Time: 1:24 - Released 6/23/00
Many parents who spent the '90s raising small children (self included)
will be familiar with Nick Park's Academy Award winning "Wallace
and Gromit" animated shorts. Featuring the exploits of a
man and his smarter-than-average dog getting themselves in all
sorts of crazy situations, Wallace and Gromit provided many kids
with wholesome, clever entertainment with a British twist. I was
always amazed at how Park and his staff could produce such hilarious,
quirky characters out of simple pieces of modeling clay. Chicken
Run is the first feature-length film from Park's Aardman production
company, and it is no less brilliant. His directorial collaboration
with Peter Lord provides a peek into the secret life of chickens,
with lots of physical humor, fantastic characters voiced by some
well-known actors, and a marvelously funny story of courage and,
er...pluck.
The action takes place on an Auschwitz-style chicken farm run
by Mr. and Mrs. Tweedy (Tony Haygarth and Miranda Richardson).
While Mr. Tweedy is bumbling and suspicious, his wife is just
plain evil, keeping strict records of egg production and slaughtering
any hen whose numbers fall off. Ginger (Julia Sawalha, Absolutely
Fabulous) and her fellow yardbirds seek freedom through numerous
Hogan's Heroes-style escape attempts, but while Ginger
often succeeds in getting herself out, her conscience prevents
her from leaving the others, and therefore she usually ends up
in solitary confinement (the coal bin). One night as she dreams
forlornly of life on the outside, an airborne fowl drops from
the sky practically into her lap. He is Rocky the Rooster (Mel
Gibson), a brash American circus bird who has apparently learned
to slip the surly bonds of earth. Since the fall injures his wing,
he is bound to stay a few days, and quickly becomes the talk of
the henhouse.
Ginger is certain that Rocky is their ticket out of oppression;
if he can teach them all to fly, they can stage a mass exodus
over the wire. Meanwhile, Mrs. Tweedy has discovered another,
more sinister way to use her unproductive prisoners: chicken pies.
So now the clock is running, and Rocky must find a way to liberate
the flock before they all end up baked in pastry.
I am glad to see that Chicken Run is unashamedly rated
G. So few kids' films these days have the guts not to include
some violence or bad language so they can score a PG or PG-13
rating and thereby attract teenagers. But not only is this film
free of objectionable material, the screenplay by Karey Kirkpatrick
(based on a story by Lord and Park) is clever and full of subtle,
character-based humor. Visually, the characters resemble those
of Wallace & Gromit, with rows of white teeth much too large
for their mouths (although they have upgraded the eyes to include
irises), but their behavior is hilariously diverse. Rocky is the
cock of the walk, and the object of coy flirtation from most of
the addle-brained hens; only Ginger is smart enough to see through
his flashy facade. The one other suspicious member of the feathered
community is Fowler (Benjamin Whitrow), the elderly rooster veteran
who rants stuffily about his days in the R.A.F. Rounding out the
coop is the none-too-swift Babs (Jane Horrocks, Little
Voice), and the scientifically disposed Mack, who sports
thick glasses and an even thicker Scottish brogue. Also adding
fun is a pair of rats who serve as petty criminals; their puns
during the flying lessons are unbearable.
The animation in this film is delightful, with a marvelous sense of physics. It's hard to make bits of clay flutter like feathers, but somehow they do. It is rather dark, both literally and figuratively, and there are obvious borrowings from Park's previous films. For instance, the chicken pie machine, a scary mass of rivets, gears, and levers, is surprisingly similar to the sheep-to-sweater machine in Wallace & Gromit's A Close Shave. But Chicken Run is a lot of fun and a noble story, finally expunging the cowardly reputation that has too long been associated with flightless farm birds. ****½