A good film for the family...but not Oscar-winning like Happy Feet

Rating: 7/10 (20 August 2009)

Slightly based on the 1963 film The Great Escape comes the egg of that chicken and the child appropriation, Chicken Run , starring Julia Sawalha and Mel Gibson as the two main characters. The movie is not a "chick flick", but the directors and writers Peter Lord and Nick Park make it "eggcellent".
The claymation/stop-motion movie is set in Britain in the 1950's and is about a group of chickens in a coop who are being raised and will be killed when they stop laying their eggs. However, the main chicken, Ginger (Julia Sawalha) leads the optimism of the group and believes they can escape. The chooks have attempted to escape their pen a multiple of times, but have always failed. But then Rocky (Mel Gibson), a rooster who accidentally flies into their pen, is forced to help all the chickens to escape the pen because he can fly. It turns out he is actually escaping himself from the circus.
The voice-over performances of the chickens were average. They were not the best, I believe. However I think that's not really the point of a movie like this. Films like Wallace & Gromit, Harvie Krumpet and the famous Russian short, Peter and the Wolf, are not supposed to demonstrate the voice-over talents of the actors, but more importantly, they are meant to show off the clay art and the skillful editing (Robert Francis, Tamsin Parry, Mark Solomon).
The main thing about this movie that made me "crack up" like an egg was Craig Atkinson's modelling of the chickens. All the way through the movie, I could not help but laugh at the chooks' mouths. They are so funny and absolutely ridiculous and to hear a funny female British accent with words like "Is she going' on a holiday?", just make it a lot more hilarious. The cinematography is great, especially the lighting (in my opinion) and so I say "Well done!" to Andy MacCormack and Paul Smith.
I think it's clever that a movie that's a true story revolving around a concentration camp in the Second World War was transformed into a children's' movie about...well...chickens!! Originally, in The Great Escape, the Jews were being controlled by Nazis and in Chicken Run, the chickens are being controlled and killed by a nasty pommy couple. Which is worse, we might ask! I think if you want a great family animation film with a great story, entertaining animation and a good moral, then definitely watch Chicken Run.
Overall, this movie is decent. The story was well adapted, the modelling and animation was funny and very effective. I thought the style was hilarious (especially the mouths). The actors were not especially good, but the female British accents were enjoyable to watch. However, my complaint is clearly contradicted by the film's Golden Globe nomination for best animation/musical.
In conclusion I would say that this movie should be watched by everyone who wants a good laugh.