Chicken Run

***Chicken Run*** is a 2000 British-American stop-motion animation family film produced by Aardman Animations and directed by Peter Lord and Nick Park. It was the first feature-length film to be produced by the Academy Award Winning creators of *Wallace & Gromit* and the first produced in partnership with DreamWorks, which co-financed the film (along with Pathé) and distributed the film in America. The film features the voices of Julia Sawalha, Mel Gibson, Timothy Spall, Phil Daniels, Tony Haygarth and Miranda Richardson. *Chicken Run* received widespread critical acclaim and was a box office hit, grossing $224 million worldwide against its $45 million budget.

It is a pastiche of and homage to *The Great Escape*; the chicken coop in the opening shot deliberately looks like a POW internment camp, complete with what looks like a guard emplacement (it's actually a water tank).

The plot centers on a band of chickens who see a smooth-talking Rhode Island Red named Rocky as their only hope to escape from certain death when the owners of their farm decide to move from selling eggs to selling chicken pot pies.

## Plot

The Tweedys are a middle-aged couple who run a struggling chicken farm somewhere in Yorkshire. Mrs. Tweedy is the malicious brains of the pair, while Mr. Tweedy is more dim-witted and believes the chickens are plotting against them, much to Mrs. Tweedy's exasperation. The chicken coop is run in the style of a World War II POW camp, with the chickens accountable for the number of eggs they lay daily. Their official leader Ginger has attempted numerous escapes to flee the coop, but is routinely thwarted by Mr. Tweedy and his dogs. Ginger becomes increasingly desperate to find a plan of escape after Edwina, another hen, who has not laid any eggs for several days, is slaughtered for the Tweedys' dinner with a hatchet.

Seeing their income drop, Mrs. Tweedy finds an article in a magazine suggesting a new way to bring in more profits. Ginger attempt to rally the other chickens' spirits so they will speed up their efforts to escape. However, she soon comes to concludes that their only viable plan is to go over the fence, something that has not been tried yet. As she stands outside that night, she sees a Rhode Island Red rooster named Rocky, who hurtles over the fence and crash-lands into the coop, breaking his wing. After Ginger finds a piece of a circus poster, suggesting Rocky can fly, she agrees to hide him from his owners if he teaches them how to fly. Rocky reluctantly agrees, and begins to put Ginger and the other chickens through a set of exercises that seem to have no purpose, while assuring them that they are making progress.

The chickens are surprised by a large piece of equipment being delivered to the farm, following Mrs. Tweedy's order to double their feed rations. Ginger concludes that they are being fattened up for slaughter. Rocky's wing completely heals after a disco dance that evening. Ginger is then taken by Mr. Tweedy for a test of their new equipment, which is revealed to be a machine for producing chicken pot pies.

Rocky rescues Ginger from the machine, and sabotages it in the process so that they will have more time to work on their escape. Fowler, an older rooster who has been doubtful of Rocky's acts, gives Rocky his respect for saving Ginger, now begins to respect him and gives Rocky his old Royal Air Force badge in tribute. Rocky decides to leave the farm the next day, leaving behind Fowler's medal and the missing section of the poster, which shows Rocky flew by being shot out of a cannon, and in reality had no flying ability. Trying to rally the chickens, Fowler starts talking of his days in the RAF, which inspires Ginger to propose the construction of an aeroplane to fly all the chickens out at once after breaking up a brawl that ensues. The chickens race against time to assemble their plane while Mr. Tweedy works to repair the pie machine. Meanwhile, Rocky sees a billboard for "Mrs. Tweedy's Chicken Pies" and grows concerned about Ginger and the others.

The chickens finish their machine just as Mr. Tweedy completes repairs and enters the coop to grab the chickens. Led by Ginger, the chickens launch an open revolt, tying up and gagging Mr. Tweedy and readying the "crate". As they prepare for take off Mr. Tweedy breaks himself loose and knocks down the ramp. Ginger jumps down while Fowler turns the plane around, knocking Mr. Tweedy unconscious. As Ginger struggles to lift the ramp, Mrs. Tweedy arrives with an axe. Rocky, having had a change of heart, flies in over the fence and hits Mrs. Tweedy. Ginger and Rocky grab onto a string of lights caught on the plane's landing gear. Mrs. Tweedy soon wakes up and now in a burst of primal rage grabs onto the lights too, weighing down the crate. Ginger heads down the string to cut it, but after losing the pair of scissors, tricks Mrs. Tweedy into using the hatchet to sever the string. Mrs. Tweedy ends up crashing into the pie machine, plugging up a the safety valve and causing it to explode, destroying the barn. The chickens cheer and continue flying to safety as Mr. Tweedy reminds his wife, "I told you they was organized." The film concludes with the chickens having found an idyllic setting in a bird sanctuary where they can live in comfort and raise their new chicks, while Ginger and Rocky fall into a romantic relationship. Meanwhile, Nick and Fetcher discuss starting their own chicken farm so they can have all the eggs they could eat, but then end up arguing over whether the chicken or the egg came first.