Good, but not great

Rating: 8/10 (5 July 2000)

There's a truly great movie in here: one that would let me leave the theatre uplifted, laughing, inspired. Only one thing stands in its way: Mel Gibson.
Now don't get me wrong, I like Mel Gibson. He's a perfectly good actor. He even does a fine job with "Rocky the Rhode Island Red". But I have to wonder: aside from padding, what is this character doing here at all?
There's a short film here about heroic chickens escaping from the farm. They try burrowing under the fence, jumping over it, various means of walking through it. They form plan after plan after plan. And if the film had stuck to that simple plot, it could have been truly worthy of the creator of Wallace and Gromit.
But sadly that wasn't enough. We had to have Mel, the obligatory American insert. In this film he dilutes the humour, defuses the horror, distracts the plot and reduces the whole. Why? To make the film long enough for a general theatre release, and to make American kids go and see it. A case of talent lacking the confidence to do what it does best.
8/10. Could be 10, without Rocky.