Chicken Run (2000)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Directors:

Peter Lord
Nick Park

Writers:

Peter Lord (story) &
Nick Park (story) ...

Release Date:

21 June 2000 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Family | Comedy

Tagline:

This Ain't No Chick Flick!

Plot:

Chicken Run is a comedy escape drama with a touch of passion set on a sinister Yorks chicken farm in 1950's England

Plot Keywords:

Animal In Title | Egg | Pie In The Face | Loss Of Friend | Pitchfork

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 22 wins & 23 nominations

Cast

Phil Daniels	...	Fetcher (voice)
Lynn Ferguson	...	Mac (voice)
Mel Gibson	...	Rocky (voice)
Tony Haygarth	...	Mr. Tweedy (voice)
Jane Horrocks	...	Babs (voice)
Miranda Richardson	...	Mrs. Tweedy (voice)
Julia Sawalha	...	Ginger (voice)
Timothy Spall	...	Nick (voice)
Imelda Staunton	...	Bunty (voice)
Benjamin Whitrow	...	Fowler (voice)
John Sharian	...	Circus Man (voice)
Jo Allen	...	Additional Chicken (voice)
Lisa Kay	...	Additional Chicken (voice)
Laura Strachan	...	Additional Chicken (voice)

Also Known As:

C:R-1 (USA) (promotional abbreviation)

Runtime:

84 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS-ES | Dolby Digital EX | SDDS

Certification:

USA:G (certificate #37470) | Iceland:L | Canada:G (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Quebec) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Germany:6 (bw) | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | Brazil:Livre | Chile:TE | Denmark:A | Finland:K-8/5 | France:U | Hong Kong:I | Netherlands:AL | New Zealand:G | Norway:7 | Peru:PT | Portugal:M/4 | Singapore:G | South Korea:All | Spain:T | Sweden:Btl | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | UK:U

Company:

DreamWorks SKG

Trivia:

The filmmakers were nervous about showing Rocky and Ginger kissing, fearing the sight of two chickens touching beaks would look too awkward. This led to the running gag of their being interrupted every time time they are about to kiss (by the sound of the pie machine, by Ginger slapping Rocky, by the gravy explosion, etc.). When the kiss finally comes, it is staged so that the actual contact of "lips" is hidden.

Goofs:

Continuity: The tire mark on Mrs. Tweedy’s forehead disappears/reappears between shots.

Quotes:

Fetcher: It's raining hen.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Have I Got News for You: The Best of the Guest Presenters (2003) (V)

Soundtrack:

Sobre las olas (Over the Waves)

Eggselant

Hailing from the animation house that brought us such jems as Morph, the Wallace and Gromit series and Rex the Runt, Chicken Run is the first ever feature length claymation ever attempted.

Set on a chicken farm in Yorkshire some time in the middle of the century, our plucky (sorry) heroines face a lifetime of hard labor laying for the farmers, and if their performance is not up to par they quite literally face the chop. Ginger, making her way to the top of the pecking order (sorry again) attempts jailbreak after farcical jailbreak, but success is less than forthcoming.

Enter Rocky The Rhode Island Red, (Rocky Rhodes for short, and you can't blame me for that one, the writers came up with it) apparently able to fly, the chickens look to him to help them bust this chicken coup, but Rocky is not what he may appear to be.

That's the plot in a nut (egg?) shell, and as you can imagine the subject matter made for perfect "salutes" to the classic world war 2 escape movies, references to which abound throughout. From Ginger tossing a baseball (actually a sprout) in the "cooler" (coal bunker), to Fowler's incessant ramblings about his old RAF days.

The lead characters are deep and endearing enough for you to care about what happens to them, if a little stereotypical at times. The interaction between them is fluid and believable, all the more amazing considering that Mel Gibson never even set foot in the same recording studio as the other actors, reading his lines in a studio in America instead. The supporting cast provide plenty of humour and Mrs. Tweedy substitutes quite nicely for the Nazi camp commandant.

The animation is lively and colourful the characters wonderfully expressive in that unmistakable style developed in the Wallace and Gromit shorts, and thanks to the fact the sets are real models there is plenty of scope for dramatic lighting effects.

The only real fault I could find in the film was that it just seemed a little too... American at times. Hollywood's involvement showed through the English setting to some degree, especially as you get to the movie's climax which seems to go a bit overboard, especially compared to the utterly hysterical ending to The Wrong Trousers. But all in all I have to say I really enjoyed this movie. Now all we need is a Wallace and Gromit movie.