Rating: * * * * out of * * * *
Rated G: nothing offensive
Voices.....Julia Sawalha, Mel Gibson, Miranda Richardson, Tony Haygarth, Jane Horrocks, Timothy Spall, Phil Daniels, Lynn Ferguson, Benjamin Whitrow. Running Time: 85 minutes
Directed by Peter Lord, Nick Parks.
Sometimes there are animated wonders. The year 1999 had the amazing "Toy Story 2", 1998 had the classic "Mulan", and going all the way back to the original "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" animation has come a long way. However let's not get on the subject of Disney films, but rather Dreamworks Animated Movies, whose films include 1998's "The Prince of Egypt", and 2000's flop "The Road to El Dorado" has now come out with a new instant classic "Chicken Run", a brilliant, funny well animated movie that is worthy of all the praise it can get.
Taking place in the 1950's, "Chicken Run" is about a big group of chickens, whose farm they live on belonging to the Tweedy's is a bit like a Poultry Holocaust setting, they try and try their hardest to get out of this pin, because if they do not lay eggs anymore, they die and become friend chicken. The main character Ginger (Julia Swalha) is the young chicken who is the one that is destined to get out and try if her tries fail. She tries many times, but is locked away in a dumpster for a few days to return back to the pin and do it all over again. One day a gift from heaven comes, the suave Rocky the Rooster (voiced by Mel Gibson) who literally flies over their pin, saves the day by trying to teach the girls how to fly out of this coop.
However Mr. and Mrs. Tweedy have something else on their minds, and the chickens must get out of the pin and escape or die frying. Along the way they have some hilarious misadventures, with sweet and clever dialogue and very well developed characters for chickens that is. The voices also are a standout with Julia Sawalha being the best out of all of them. She brings out her voice and makes it full force as well as hilarious. The supporting chickens are funny as well, that at times had me rolling so hard. Mel Gibson is a great voice too and fits Rocky the Rooster quite well. Miranda Richardson does the spooky character voice for Mrs. Tweedy and sounds very nice, as well as mean. Tony Haygarth plays the cowardly Mr. Tweedy who really isn't as mean as Mrs. Tweedy is.
The animation on the film is beyond amazing, the claymation used in this film is colorful, brilliant and fantastically done. You can really tell in some scenes that alot of work (3 years) was put into this film. In the end, however it shows wonderfully. The movement of these chickens is smooth and makes those old Gumby episodes look like mush. Even with Disneys $200m flop 'Dinosaur' I would have to pick 'Chicken Run' as having the best animation so far this year, not because of the fact that its animated, but because of the fact of all the work that was put into this film in the past three years and $42 million dollars later.
The film a wonderful children's movie that kids will sit and enjoy, laugh at and be entertained by. Its direction, voices and story are so brought out well, that this may be one of the best animated films I've seen. It is certainly one of the best films of 2000. There really isn't any flaws in the film, which is a rare occasion in Hollywood these days. Last year we had "American Beauty" another Dreamworks film, and in 1998 we had "Saving Private Ryan" yet another Dreamworks film. If this is the case, I hope Dreamworks puts out more films like "Chicken Run". Because as long as they do I will certainly be there to watch them.
Reviewed by Brandon Herring 7-17-00
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