Imagine Mel Gibson playing the James Garner role in The Great Escape. Now, imagine Mel Gibson in feathers.
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Imagine Mel Gibson playing the James Garner role in "The Great Escape." Now, imagine Mel Gibson in feathers. The guys who brought us the Academy Award-winning "Wallace and Gromit" series, Nick Park and Peter Lord, surpass themselves with this hilarious clay animation send-up of P.O.W. films. "Chicken Run" is that exceptional animated feature that's as much fun for adults as for kids; indeed, it may even be too sophisticated for younger children. Its outstanding picture quality on DVD only enhances its entertainment value.
Stop-motion animation is nothing new, of course. It's been around since the days of silent movies like Willis O'Brien's work in "The Lost World." But it would not be until O'Brien's 1933 effort, "King Kong," that most of us today would take notice. Later, O'Brien's techniques would be carried to greater heights of realism and popularity through the special-effects films of Ray Harryhausen, things like "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad," "Jason and the Argonauts," "Clash of the Titans," etc. Similar to those earlier movies, "Chicken Run" uses a combination of clay-puppet figures and realistic backgrounds to create its inventive illusions. Unlike those earlier movies, however, there are no live actors in sight. Amazingly, the stop-motion process itself has changed little since it was first used so long ago. It still requires each clay figure be painstakingly repositioned for each frame. "Chicken Run" was in production for two years as the filmmakers fashioned about two-and-a-half seconds of film a day. Amazing patience yields most satisfying results.
The setting for the story is never announced, but we get the impression it's a Yorkshire poultry ranch somewhere in the mid 1950s. The first of two main characters, an intelligent, strong-willed hen named Ginger (Julia Sawalha) is undertaking another of her many attempts to help her fellow hens escape the Tweedy Chicken Farm. As always, she is unsuccessful and thrown into solitary confinement in a coal bin, where she whiles away her time bouncing a ball against the wall. Yes, hers is the Steve McQueen part in "The Great Escape," right down to the detail of the ball. Even the movie's theme music is reminiscent of "The Great Escape." In another of the movie's many allusions to other films, the hens gather for nightly meetings in a coop numbered "17." This will mean nothing to viewers who have never seen "Stalag 17," but it's one of many subtle touches that make "Chicken Run" a delight.
The villains are Mr. and Mrs. Tweedy (Tony Haygarth and Miranda Richardson), owners of the farm. The evil Mrs. Tweedy is the brains of the outfit, the Otto Preminger of the stalag, and Ms. Richardson's vocal characterizations are among the most delectable parts of the film. The slowwitted Mr. Tweedy keeps seeing the chickens organizing, but Mrs. Tweedy assures him it's all in his head. "Mrs. Tweedy, the chickens are revolting," he says. "Finally," Mrs. Tweedy replies, "something we agree on."
Then enters the second major character, an American Rhode Island Red rooster named Rocky (Mel Gibson). He's a swaggering braggart who sails into camp announcing himself as the only flying chicken in the world. Naturally, Ginger wants him to teach the hens how to do it so they can all fly the coop, so to speak. He tries, but while he's doing so a new development occurs. Mrs. Tweedy decides the farm can make a bigger profit by turning the hens into chicken pies than by selling their eggs. So she orders a huge chicken-pie machine installed in the barn. It's here that the film has its best, most-exciting moments, as Rocky and Ginger must effect an Indiana Jones, "Raiders of the Lost Ark" type escape from the perils of the machine's blazing ovens and chopping blades. Before long we realize a hot-and-cold, on-and-off romance is developing between them, and this, too, is touching in its innocent banter. "You're the first chick I ever met with the shell still on," Rocky tells her.
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