Customer Reviews

Chicken Run

5 star:		(111)
4 star:		(41)
3 star:		(18)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

CHICKEN RUN is a delightful film, fun for both children and adults! The stop motion animation is brilliant and the characterizations and the voices that supplied them are superb! What is basically an animated poultrified GREAT ESCAPE comes across with laughter, touching sentimentality, and lots of wonderful vignettes. Julia Swahala and Jane Sherrocks (both from Absolutely Fabulous) are indeed absolutely fabulous in their roles. Sawahla's Ginger is the epitome of today's female action hero---brave, loyal, independent and a touch feisty! All of the hens are wonderful, and producers should be ashamed in not featuring them in the credits. Their names don't appear until the end and they go by so fast you can barely read it. These actors are wonderful and deserve more credit for the quality of this film. Its only "star", Mel Gibson, is dashingly heroic and fits Rocky to a tee. Tony Haygarth (so good in Frank Langella's Dracula) does great with Mr. Tweedy's role and Miranda Richardson as the evil Mrs. Tweedy is perfect. This film is lovingly made and has wonderful music, as well. Also, catch some references to other films, such as "Raiders of the Lost Ark" where the tumbling boulder is replaced by tumbling wingnuts, and catch Mrs. Tweedy's Cruella deville impression after she is bombed with gravy!
I loved this movie, it makes you feel good, and is excellent to boot! Don't miss out on this one!

All those 1 star reviews claim that the movie was bad and not funny. Well, the first time was about to see it I thought it would be funny. It had quite a few funny moments but overall I got impression that it was rather sad (but optimistic). Then I realized that I liked it that way.
Technically, it is perfect, even in the era of 3D animated movies.
Chickens are not your prime target of any movies, but this is THE chicken movie to own. Funny and sad at the same time, if you think about it.

P.S: my usual comment for amazon reviewers. Before you claim that this or that movie is THE worst you ever saw, think twice. It might imply that you indeed have seen VERY few movies in your life, or that you are just talking bull. Can you seriously claim that a particular movie is the WORST movie you have ever seen? I don't know about you, but it would take me some serious thinking to come up with a SINGLE WORST movie I ever watched. Unless you are a Tibetian Monk, you probably did not think it through. It might be bad, but is it the worst?

Peter Lord and Nick Park's CHICKEN RUN (2000) is truly a film for all ages. Produced by Mel Gibson, it is about how a stray American rooster, Rocky (voiced by Gibson himself) comes to the aid of a group of chickens at the sinister Tweedy Chicken Farm, who are trying to escape before they can be made into pies. On its surface, this story would appear to be rather simplistic; however, it is witty, funny, entertaining, intelligent and interesting. In short, it is everything that most G-rated animated films aren't today. Peter Lord and Nick Park, co-creators of the popular British Claymation "Wallace and Gromit" series, have outdone themselves in crafting a feature film that is both visually stunning and extremely well-written.

CHICKEN RUN makes use of numerous film references, especially from THE GREAT ESCAPE (1963), STALAG 17 (1953) and RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981). All are cleverly interwoven with the story. The vocal performances are excellent, especially from Julia Sawalha as Ginger (the hen leader), Jane Horrocks as Babs (Ginger's bubbleheaded best friend) and Miranda Richardson as the evil Mrs. Tweedy. If the names of the first two (and their voices) sound familiar to you, no doubt you'll recognize that they are Saffy and Bubble, respectively, from "Absolutely Fabulous"; arguably the greatest British comedy series of all time. As for the male voices in CHICKEN RUN: Tony Haygarth is hilarious as the dimwitted Mr. Tweedy, the always-great (and Mike Leigh favorite) Timothy Spall is the hapless Nick and, of course, Mel Gibson is funny and charming as Rocky 'The Flying Rooster'.

CHICKEN RUN has modern Claymation that is absolutely amazing compared to the old shows such as "Davey and Goliath" or "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" or "A Year without Santa Claus," etc. To cop a phrase, this isn't your dad's Claymation! Instead, it is a wonderful feast for eyes both young & old, with humor that adults can appreciate. This project started as a labor of love for all those involved, and turned into one of the best films of 2000.

MOST RECOMMENDED

When I saw this advertised, I wasn't sure what to think. I'd never seen Wallace and Gromitt, created by the same team. I was pleasantly surprised.

The film follows a group of chickens in an egg farm. Slowly, they disappear by the farmer's axe as they stop producing eggs. The chickens continually try to escape, but to no avail. Eventually, Mrs. Tweedy the farm's owner, decides to get out of the egg business, and into the chicken (pot) pie business.

The chickens get wind of her plan, and decide they must escape at all costs. Their salvation, literally, flies over the fence one day as Rocky, voiced by Mel Gibson, enters their lives. He claims that if they hide him in their coops, he'll teach them how to fly so they can get over the fence to safety.

All in all this was a very good movie, and suitable for children. The humor is good, and the plot sound, for an animated chicken movie that is. I'd like to see more feature films done in the style that this was done in. Like I said, I've never seen Wallace and Gromitt, so maybe it's time I checked it out, and you should check Chicken Run out as well. You'll be pleasantly surprised as well!

Hopefully they will not be binge eaters, but my kids just love this film and have watched it 30 times (at least). As I watch them watch it, I am fascinated at the many levels this can be seen on: as a concentration camp drama, as an ironic and hilarious drama on American bravado, and as just a great and funny story with deliciously delineated characters. This animated film maker is unique in that he is really serious about his art - wanting to do more than just make money - and uses a technique that many think is outmoded (claymation).

Warmly recommended. I never groan when my kids decide to put this on, as I even do with many disney films. This is superior filmmaking. Truly. Get it.

As a fan of the Wallace and Gromit movies, I was looking forward to seeing this full-length animated feature and I was not disappointed. Using the same sophisticated adult humour meshed with eye catching animation for the kids, the film is a winner. It tells the story of a group of hens trying to escape from a chicken farm where they are all about to be turned into pies. A rooster arrives on the scene making big, but empty promises of helping them to escape, so it's up to the plucky hens to save themselves.

There are a lot of tie-ins to other movies that adults will recognize and appreciate the cleverness, but there's enough colourful action and adventure to keep the kids happy, too. The voice actors all do a great job bringing the characters to life.
Of course, the animation is superb and very unique and a lot of fun to watch. The film is a real winner!!

When I saw this film in the theater, it didn't appeal to me as much as it does now (I currently own this DVD). This is one of those films that takes some time, and a couple of viewings, to really appreciate. The claymation takes some getting used to, as do the British sensibilities (and accents). But be warned. It grows on ya.

"Chicken Run" is one of the funniest, and definately the most charming, film of the year. The story is almost flawless, and the animation is amazing. There's no question this film will do the same for claymation what Toy Story did for computer animation. The most likable character is Babs, the charmingly dim-witted friend of Ginger, the main character. She will crack you up every time she speaks.

The DVD has excellent video and audio (DTS!). The extra features are welcomes bonuses, although the commentary is a little dry.

"Chicken Run" is a homage to an old Steve McQueen film called "The Great Escape," which was made in the 60s. Many of the visual gags in "Chicken Run" are taken directly from "The Great Escape" so it's worth a rental. I saw it with my brother and sister-in-law and we all liked it.

    Nick Park, the animator, is also the creator of the "Wallace and Gromit" shorts. He received some awards for them. The best one (of the three) is "The Wrong Trousers," although I might be a little biased because there's a penguin in that one, and I like penguins. If you liked Chicken Run, you have to check those out.

Sometimes a movie comes along that is entertaining to all age groups. I am most impressed by these because this is one trick I could never master. I suspect that the creators of such a picture are rare human beings who can manage to be a child and an adult simultaneously. This is different from never having grown up, for the world is full of people who managed never to do that.

The movie in question is Chicken Run, written and directed by Peter Lord and Nick Parks, two enormously eccentric guys from Great Britain. Their chosen field is clay animation, an arduous and difficult procedure in which soft clay figures 'move' through stop motion photography. Chicken Run is the most ambitious project ever undertaken using this process. The results are spectacular.

The plot device is ingeniously simple. Think of a chicken farm as a prisoner of war camp. Think of the captive chickens as forever plotting their escape. In this case, Mr. and Mrs. Tweedy, owners of the farm, and their dogs are the prison guards. One chicken in particular, Ginger, is the trouble maker, the one forever hatching plots to escape. Her ideas are often good, but her comrades are forever screwing the plans up in hilarious ways. A new urgency arrives when Mrs. Tweedy decides that she'd make a lot more money from chicken pot pies than she ever did from selling eggs. A new arrival, a rooster named Rocky Rhodes, gives new hope. It appears that he can fly. Maybe he can teach the chickens how to fly, too.

What makes Chicken Run fly is the fact that it is more than a technical achievement. The story is very funny and very well told. It has some gentle things to say about hope, persistence and survival. The movie is full of delightful, memorable characters. Even the Tweedys, the villains, are amusing. They are everyone's memory of a school teacher who was strict and mean because he or she was so inept and so thoughtless. There are moments that are thrilling, as well as a few that are terrifying. Lord and Park spent a great deal of time working on the scary scenes, trying to lessen their impact on small children. I think they succeeded, and I can recommend the movie for kids as young as four.

Entertaining for all, from 8-year-olds to adults! Cute story, comedic aspects and colorful claymation make an excellent production. It's sort of a not-so-obvious remake of "The Great Escape" and makes a great discussion starter for business, politics, assertiveness, persistence and teamwork. It was a big with our kid viewers who commented: "It's silly and fun but it taught us to look for different ways to solve problems." "The chickens were like real people, with good expressions and human voices." "I learned what prison must be like."

It is totally proper this this review should immediately follow my review of the Great Escape. I can't see one movie without thinking of the other. This is frankly one of the best children's features of the last 10 years.

Forgetting the many in jokes for movie fans or for Mel Gibson fans (" '...the land of the free and the home of the brave. 'Scotland!'") We see a movie full of interesting characters with interesting tag lines: "In my RAF days", "on holiday" etc... We also see a very British film that isn't Americanized and just plain fun the way it is.

The makers of Wallace & Gromit have a reputation for making smart and funny short films in this way. After this one we see they can make feature films of the same quality. The fact that it hasn't been merchandiced (With apologies to Mel Brooks) to death is another plus.

This is clean family fun that any adult will love. It lived up to its previews and surpassed them. In this year of weak movies its worth buying this one. It's better than anything I've seen this year.