The
chicken, along with the cow, has long been considered one of the dumbest animals
on the planet. After watching the gloriously spectacular Chicken Run, one might
think twice before dining at their nearest KFC.
Taking
its cue from The Great Escape and Stalag 17, this stunning piece of claymation
(courtesy of Nick Park and the other fabulous creators of the Wallace and Gromit
shorts) also manages to pay homage to Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Sweeney Tod, and
countless other films, while also managing to move along briskly with its own
clever charm.
Ginger
the chicken has aspirations of living life outside her cage. She tries to motivate
her fellow friends and gets a big boost in the form of Rocky the rooster (voiced
by Mel Gibson).
Chicken
Run is sort of like Babe in the sense that you begin to see what these feathered
creatures may actually be thinking. I found this to be vastly superior to Babe
and I think it's because Chicken Run has a kind of energy and spirit that was
lacking in the overrated pig picture.
Nick
Park and crew have put more care and heart into these characters than you might
see in a lot of recent live action efforts. Even the chickens' eyes blink in a
constant, realistic fashion. It should also be noted that Chicken Run offers crisp,
quick dialogue, flawless editing, a wonderful John Powell score, and a fantastic
cast including; Miranda Richardson as the evil Mrs. Tweedy, Julia Sawalha (Absolutely
Fabulous) as the innocent and naive Ginger, and Mel Gibson as con-chicken Rocky.
It
seems that claymation is almost a dead art form. That's sad because two of the
very best family films of the 90's happened to use this wonderful form of animation
(Nightmare Before Christmas, and James and the Giant Peach). Maybe Nick Park's
latest creation will let Hollywood know that we'd like to see more of this art
form. In a very disappointing summer movie season, Chicken Run stands out as a
masterpiece. It's funny, magical, adventurous, and sometimes, downright touching.
It's also a family film that hasn't been dumbed down. Chicken Run isn't only the
summer's best film, it's the best movie of the year thus far.
