Chicken Run is an interesting tale with many elements

Rating: 8/10 (15 February 2018)

The film Chicken Run is a masterpiece of claymation and comedy that provokes emotion and thought. While one would typically assume a light hearted movie about chickens defeating a deluded man who has little control over his life and a mean woman obsessed with profits would have little plot or thought points it is an interesting piece that alludes to world war two and american propaganda. As the story progresses the characters are fleshed out and shown to be a diverse group of individuals that are placed in a hostile concentration camp like world. Where every day is a fight to maintain the morale and hope of others to succeed in a place where only oppression lies.
As the movie develops the viewer understands more and more the hope emotions of these clay chickens attempting to alter their way of life to one that is free of the oppressive regime given to them. With the addition of the American Hero, Rocky we start to see the propagandist type of actions in this film. While the American Hero ideal is disproved the character is still shown to have heart and the ability to save the people demonstrating a satirical view of American ideals and values but still showing how they are able to help others and move past themselves when it is most valuable to others.
On the happier side of this story the characters are unique and fleshed out giving an interesting perspective into each character and how oppression affects the mind. For some people they can't understand how other humans or sentient beings in this case can be so negative and mentally either deny or snap as in the case of the propetuarilly knitting character, Babs. In others it instills the want to escape and take leadership of the rag tag groups of individuals that are all stuck together in this position to attempt to encourage both themselves from the depressing normal fate of this type of society. Some just take what they are given and decide this is what life is meant to be and that they are there for a reason and shouldn't bother to escape or go against their masters. Finally there are those that utilize fear and hope to manipulate others for personal gain as the rats and Rocky initially does. Overall the characters generate an interesting cast filled with psychologically unique and accurate characters while maintaining a humours facade of jokes and non human violence that allows this movie to be able to be enjoyed by both adults and children on different levels of analysis.
In addition to the contents of this movie it was shot extremely well and the attention to detail in this piece drew one in to be able to enjoy this movie. As a story it fulfilled the classic paradigm of a very clear antagonist and protagonist highlighted by color schemes and camera angle to portray these clay creations as realistic and either positive or negative beings. In addition to character development and placement each sequence was filled with motion and thought as the chickens altered from dynamic beings filled with personality to average chickens in an attempt to deceive their masters.
Overall I enjoyed this movie immensely, it gave many possibilities for analysis and for simple enjoyment. As a movie I found that it fulfilled my want to enjoy a nice movie and laugh at the antics of these chickens and the failing plans of the dominating villains but also be able to see into the world if them and enjoy the thought provoking story of people attempting to hide the secrets of their escape from their dominating masters in a analogy to nazism. This paradigm allows for many different consumers to enjoy this movie.