CHICKEN RUN (2000) / *** 1/2
Directed by Peter Lord and Nick Park. Screenplay by Karey Kirkpatrick, from a story by Lord and Park. Starring Julia Sawalha, Mel Gibson, Miranda Richardson. Running time: 84 minutes. Rated G by the MFCB. Reviewed on June 27th, 2000.
By SHANNON PATRICK SULLIVAN
"Chicken Run" is the first full-length feature from Nick Park, creator of the popular "Wallace And Gromit" series of short films. Like those movies, "Chicken Run" is done entirely in the Claymation style of animation (albeit far more advanced than those old Rankin-Bass Christmas specials from the Sixties that crop up on TV every December), and features a primarily British cast and setting. The result is a lovely family film, one which is sure to have tremendous appeal for the children while keeping the grown-ups quietly amused, as well.
The Tweedy Chicken Farm is home to hundreds of imprisoned chickens. Some, like Bunty (Imelda Staunton), RAF veteran Fowler (Benjamin Whitrow) and dimwitted Babs (Jane Horrocks) seem to accept their situation. Others, like the feisty Ginger (Julia Sawalha from "Absolutely Fabulous") and scientific Mac (Lynn Ferguson) are determined to escape. To this end, they devise numerous schemes of sometimes mindboggling complexity -- but every time, they meet with failure and are nabbed by the oafish Mr Tweedy (Tony Haygarth). Observes Ginger, it's not enough that just one or two chickens escape -- she wants everyone to be free of the Tweedys.
Then one day, Rocky Rhodes (Mel Gibson), a smooth-talking flying rooster from America, lands in the chicken coop with an injured wing. He claims he can teach the chickens to fly, igniting Ginger's hopes and dreams one more time. But the chickens' mission is given new urgency when profit-minded Mrs Tweedy (Miranda Richardson), tired of making chickenfeed (excuse the pun) selling eggs, purchases a fearsome new pie-making machine. "Chickens go in, pies come out," she declares. "Oooh," says Mr Tweedy, "what kind of pies?"
Visually, "Chicken Run" is a treat. It doesn't possess the same kind of awe-inspiring cinematography as the summer's previous kid-oriented picture, "Dinosaur", but rather allows the viewer to feast upon the details of its every frame. There's a lot going on in each scene of "Chicken Run", and I was particularly impressed by how so many of the Claymation puppets were given distinct mannerisms, like Babs' constant knitting. Claymation is a very different, more tactile style of animation than hand-drawn or computerised cartoons, giving the events an extra layer of reality, no matter how outlandish the goings-on.
This is particularly effective in scenes like one where Rocky and Ginger are trapped in the bowels of the pie machine. The dangers are still comical but they feel more real, and the entire voyage through the contraption is all the more fascinating because of it. Nowhere is this more true than in the movie's outstanding climax, a more thrilling and inventive ending than most films so far this year. You'll believe a chicken can fly... as it were.
The voicework is generally accomplished, particularly amongst the British cast: Mel Gibson does a fine job as Rocky, but he's clearly just playing a skewed version of his own public image here. The other artistes give their characters more personality, and as a result chickens like Ginger and Fowler come across as better-rounded individuals. Indeed, the animals of "Chicken Run" are by and large more interesting than the humans in most other movies this summer! Richardson, meanwhile, finds just the right note as the fiendish but not too-exaggerated Mrs Tweedy. And Horrocks is perhaps best of all as the simple-minded, put-upon Mr Tweedy, who is the only one aware that the chickens are plotting an escape ("The chickens -- they've organised!" he protests to his disbelieving wife).
As a comedy, "Chicken Run" is funny, but I suspect children will get more laughs out of it than adults. Certainly, I found the movie made me just smile more often than outright guffaw. That said, there are definitely elements intended for both age groups, and the screenplay by Karey Kirkpatrick slips in several references which only the grown-ups will get -- the chickens meet in Hut 17, for example, a sly reference to the World War II internment movie "Stalag 17", starring William Holden. Viewers should particularly keep an eye out for the cleverly-named Nick and Fetcher (Timothy Spall from "Topsy-Turvy" and Phil Daniels), two rats who supply the chickens with merchandise -- for a price. This pair forms a hilarious double act, and steal virtually every scene they're in. Be sure to stick around for their post-credits conversation.
"Chicken Run" avoids the pitfall of many kids' movies by not being particularly preachy or heavy-handed in getting its message across. There's a lot of good stuff here, about teamwork and never giving up, but Kirkpatrick doesn't belabor the point. He trusts that his audience is intelligent enough to figure these things out for themselves; I wish other movies had this kind of faith.
Parents will also be glad to learn that, content-wise, "Chicken Run" should be suitable for just about any age. There are scenes of suspense (like the aforementioned journey through the pie machine), but these are tempered with a lot of humor and shouldn't prove notably frightening. Even scenes depicting the stark reality of the chicken farm -- a chicken who can no longer lay eggs is beheaded and cooked for dinner by the Tweedys, for instance -- are handled in a careful manner that gets the idea across without being unnecessarily traumatising.
"Chicken Run" is just what the box office needed amongst the tidal wave of big-budget summer actions flicks: a good-natured, funny movie that pretty much anyone can enjoy. Well-written, well-acted and certainly well-made, "Chicken Run" may by the best family movie this year.
Copyright © 2000 Shannon Patrick Sullivan. Archived at The Popcorn Gallery, http://www.physics.mun.ca/~sps/movies/ChickenRun.html
_______________________________________________________________________ / Shannon Patrick Sullivan | "We are all in the gutter, but some of us \ | shannon@mun.ca | are looking at the stars." - Oscar Wilde | \___________________________|__________________________________________/ | Popcorn Gallery Movie Reviews www.physics.mun.ca/~sps/movies.html | | Doctor Who: A Brief History of Time (Travel) /drwho.html |
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