Chicken Run - A fun and witty movie for all ages
Chicken Run is a fun family movie that was released back in 2000 by Dreamworks and received good reviews. I remember I initially wasn’t very interested in seeing this movie. However, I watched it with my family and it actually was a really great movie that I enjoyed.
Chicken Run tells the story of a group of chickens trying to escape from their coop before their owners, Mr. Tweedy and is wife, make them all into pot pies. Chicken Run eludes to many other films such as The Great Escape, Braveheart, Indian Jones films, and Star Trek. The main characters in this film are Ginger (voiced by Julia Sawalha) and Rocky Rhodes (voiced by Mel Gibson). Ginger is a hen who has absolute faith that the chickens can fly out of the coop if only they train hard enough. Rocky is a rooster whom Ginger believes can fly, but he keeps it a secret for most of the film that he can’t. Mrs. Tweedy (voiced by Miranda Richardson) is the farm wife whose exasperation about low profits from egg sales leads her to reinvent her farm as a pot pie factory.
The lives of the hens are anything but cheery. They produce eggs, which are collected by Mr. Tweedy and his wife, then, when their egg-laying days are over, they become candidates for dinner. Unwilling to resign herself to such an existence, Ginger begins formulating escape plans. This seems an impossible task until Rocky shows up, crash-landing on the farm after escaping from a circus. In return for the hens hiding him, he agrees to teach them how to fly so they can sail over the fence penning them in.
Chicken Run was made using claymation, made by the Nick Park and Aardman Animations Studios which also produced the Wallace and Gromit movie The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, released in 2005. Chicken Run is an unusual endeavor since its primary aim is not to astound viewers visually. It uses the old fashioned approach to animation and looks kind of strange when compared to other types of animated movies, such as Finding Nemo or The Incredibles. However, I think this type of animation using clay just adds to the charm of the movie. The story of Chicken Run is simple and there is humor for kids as well as adults. Perhaps adults will enjoy Chicken Run more because of all the references to other movies and the wit of some of the dialogue. If you are looking for a fun family film to watch with your family, Chicken Run is a great choice and is available on video or DVD.