Great animation movie!

Rating: 8/10 (13 July 2006)

Old fashioned entertainment, superbly crafted by the Lord & Park duo.I liked it even a bit more than their great "Wallace and Gromit" series. The voices are extraordinarily cast, the story never looses rhythm and music shows how much they love cinema. There are MANY "movies for children which also cater for adults". Probably too many. This one is my favourite, and I like the genre without being an absolute fan.
You may not know "the great escape" and all the other films they quote, but you do "get the picture", and quite a few laughs. It has a couple of great chase sequences, and the villain being a grim and masculine woman adds a different flavour.
My favourite character is "Ginger the instigator chicken". What a great leader and motivator she is! When I saw this the first time, I thought it was TERRIFIC. Now, right after the 2nd time, and about 5 years later, I saw it with joy but not amazed. I don't think I'd buy it, better stick to "Ice age" if you had to choose one "film for children" for a "desert island".
As usual, there are many levels of analysis. You could make parallels with Nazi films, industrial society in which we're all "caged" even race and gender relationships. Jana L. Perskie "ceruleana" (New York, NY USA) from Amazon is great when she writes on the meaning of freedom and how "films for children" do have a meaning for us, world-weary adults. I just won't get into that this time for I rather leave this fun film unanalyzed. For some reason I feel like Distant Voyageur "Nicholas Computer" (Io) from Amazon at that.
While not entirely "moving", you'll eat chicken with a tinge of remorse next time :).