"Those chickens are up to something."

Rating: 7/10 (7 May 2018)

Not being familiar with the creators of Wallace and Gromit, and not knowing anything about Aardman Productions, the biggest surprise for me was that the story takes place in England with a hen house full of British chickens and an American interloper by way of the circus named Rocky Rhodes. I thought this was a fun picture with a quite noticeable plot familiar to movie fans who've seen "The Great Escape". I liked the RAF guy Fowler; if someone had thought of it, the connection to the RAF might have been translated as the Royal Air Fowl, but who's to second guess? I even noticed something of a tribute to the world of Star Trek when Mrs. Tweedy grabbed the string of lights dangling from the escape plane, and one of the chickens sounded the alarm by saying 'it's a cling-on Cap'n'. Non-Trekkies wouldn't catch the reference. All in all a colorful and action packed, family friendly animated feature that's sure to please. I always come by these flicks so much later after their original run, but was glad to catch it before it flew the coop altogether.