A brilliant masterpiece for the 21st Century!

Rating: 10/10 (22 June 2000)

Nick Park, the director of the award winning WALLACE & GROMIT shorts has finally released his first major film titled CHICKEN RUN. And I personally rank Nick Park on the same level of family entertainment as other such entertainers as John Lasseter, Jim Henson, and Walt Disney. Each of these men take a different form of style to tell a fascinating story in a fantasy world. Though computer animation, to puppets, to animation, to claymation, all of these forms of entertainment will both amaze and wow children of all ages. CHICKEN RUN is to THE GREAT ESCAPE, what A BUG'S LIFE was to SEVEN SAMUARI or MAGNIFICANT SEVEN. CHICKEN has a group of chickens who live on Tweedy's farm. The chickens are to produce at least five eggs a day, and if they don't they become supper for the Tweedy's. The chicken farm is run by the sadistic Mrs. Tweedy (voiced by Miranda Richardson), and her not to bright husband, Mr. Tweedy (Tony Haygarth). The profits for the egg business are running low so Mrs. Tweedy comes across a offer to make chicken pot pies. Which spells doom for the chickens on the farm. Ginger (Julia Sawalha) has been leading the chickens on many various escapes, but they all fail. Then hope arises in the form of a rooster, Rocky the Rooster (Mel Gibson). Rocky just escaped from the circus, and is a feature attraction. So to cut a deal, Ginger will keep her mouth shut, if Rocky helps teach the chickens on how to fly. CHICKEN RUN is very similar to the brillance of both TOY STORY movies and BABE. The animals and animation are cute and funny, while the jokes are very witty and funny. Such lines as: "my egg shell was bigger than that place," and "you're a 20 minute egg, aren't you?" are some of the cleaver dialogue featured in the film. The voices from the actors are also well done. Gibson, Sawalha, and Richardson are all good doing the vocal talents for their characters. And I also enjoyed Imelda Staunton as the not too bright Bunty. And the animation is among Nick Park's best. It's just as enjoyable and funny as any of the Wallace and Gromit adventures, and what makes the film spectacular is that Park uses different camera angles for the claymation. I have to give high credit to that originality.
CHICKEN RUN is among not only the best film of the year, but also one of the best family films of all time. I just hope that Americans will see the creativty that is coming over from Great Britian with this film. If you loved the enjoyable TOY STORY films and A BUG'S LIFE, and even if you love Wallace & Gromit, then CHICKEN RUN is one of the few films this year that is worth the price of admission. And it's a film that is just as enjoyable to see the second time around as it is the first time! ***** (out of five)