No chicken escapes . . .

Rating: Null/10 (17 November 2014)

A moment comes and goes too quickly in 'Chicken Run'. A chicken named Ginger has just received a shock and looks directly into the camera in a very tight close-up. There is, in those eyes heartbreak and betrayal. Director Nick Park has figured out what George Lucas and Frank Oz figured out when creating Yoda. It isn't enough to have a character that can move and blink their eyes. It's what is behind them that counts.
This kind of real gesture is on display all through 'Chicken Run' a delightful animated feature debut from the creator of Wallace & Gromit. He has created a film that works on a level that never seems written specifically for six-year-olds. The characters are chickens, yes, but underneath they are as smart as we are.
The story: The chickens of Tweedy's farm are in a desperate state. Their cruel owner demands results and when one chicken doesn't fill her quota of egg production, its the chopping block. To further the example of the dilemma our heroes face, we hear the whack of the ax and later see a plate of chicken bones on the kitchen table.
A hen named Ginger (voiced by Julia Sawalha of 'Absolutely Fabulous') tries plan after plan to escape. She has tried tunnels, digging and a catapult all to no avail. Every time she gets close, Mr. Tweedy catches her and throws her in the box. If this sounds a bit reminiscent of 'The Great Escape', the movie has more up its sleeve. And yes she does have a moment at which she bounces the ball (or in this case cabbage) off the wall of the box.
Ginger begins to realize that time is of the essence when Mrs. Tweedy turns from egg production to the more profitable business of making chicken pies.
A blessing falls from the sky in the form of Rocky the Flying Chicken (no smiles please). He comes sailing out of the sky bellowing 'FREEDOM!' and if you know Mel Gibson's movies you'll understand that. Rocky has just escaped from the circus and Ginger thinks that he may know how to help fly over the fence.
Nick Park and Peter Lord are professionals at Claymation. Park made Wallace and Gromit and the delightful 'Creature Comforts'. Lord made 'Adam' (you can smile at that one). They have not only managed to create great expressive eyes but give them large expressive mouths with rows of bold white teeth. The clever dialogue by screenwriter Karey Kirkpatrick (who wrote "James and the Giant Peach") is no shock to anyone familiar with Park's past work. They speak, as people would, not in tired old clichés and catchphrases.
In place of tired catchphrases we get clever homages to 'Braveheart', 'Indiana Jones', 'Sweeny Todd', 'Star Trek', 'Stalag 17' and the aforementioned 'The Great Escape'. The characters in 'Chicken Run' aren't all the same character multiplied. We get: a ruffled old veteran, a dim-bulb constantly knitting, a pair of swindling rats and a Scottish hen. That Scottish hen gets two of the movie's best homages to Star Trek. The first line 'Captain she can't take anymore' we expect. The second we don't expect and I wouldn't dream of spoiling it.
'Chicken Run' reminded me a lot of 'Antz', that great forgotten computer animated feature from two years ago. Both use state of the art animation to tell stories about characters that aren't lead around by their fast food tie-ins. These are films about perseverance and teamwork and contain characters that open their mouths and actually have something worthwhile to say.
NOTE: PLEASE STAY THROUGH THE CLOSING CREDITS!!!