Additional Features
The kids should really love the extras on the DVD of this comedy hit. The DVD-ROM features two games, plenty of coloring pages, a lively story version of the movie, and enough accoutrements (screen savers, desktop icons, and more) to turn your computer into a chicken coop. For other fans, there's a concise documentary on the making of the film and another on the history of Aardman Animation. And when you feel the need, you can always press the screaming chicken panic button to relieve stress.
--Doug Thomas
Review
This film marked the smashing feature-debut of Aardman Animations, the Oscar-winning model-animation studio from Britain that specializes in "Claymation." Co-directors Nick Park and Peter Lord have eliminated the jerky motion traditionally associated with the process through the use of high-tech models and computer-aided filming methods; the painstaking methodology results in a triumph of a family film, seamlessly blending a sly script, intelligent pacing, memorable visuals, and joyful vocal performances by stars Mel Gibson, Miranda Richardson, and Julia Sawalha. The barometer of a successful "kids picture" is whether there are enough laughs to keep adults entertained, and Chicken Run is Grade A on all counts. A box-office success, the film was also a triumph for the animation division of Dreamworks Pictures, the U.S. studio financing the project, which quickly re-upped with Aardman for another feature project. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
