Plot
Chicken Run is a comedy escape drama with a touch of passion set on a sinister Yorks chicken farm in 1950's England
Release Year: 2000
Rating: 7.2/10 (66,289 voted)
Critic's Score: 88/100
Director:
Peter Lord
Stars: Mel Gibson, Julia Sawalha, Phil Daniels
Storyline Having been hopelessly repressed and facing eventual certain death at the chicken farm where they are held, Rocky the rooster and Ginger the chicken decide to rebel against the evil Mr. and Ms. Tweedy, the farm's owners. Rocky and Ginger lead their fellow chickens in a great escape from the murderous farmers and their farm of doom.
Writers: Peter Lord, Nick Park
Cast: Phil Daniels
-
Fetcher
(voice)
Lynn Ferguson
-
Mac
(voice)
Mel Gibson
-
Rocky
(voice)
Tony Haygarth
-
Mr. Tweedy
(voice)
Jane Horrocks
-
Babs
(voice)
Miranda Richardson
-
Mrs. Tweedy
(voice)
Julia Sawalha
-
Ginger
(voice)
Timothy Spall
-
Nick
(voice)
Imelda Staunton
-
Bunty
(voice)
Benjamin Whitrow
-
Fowler
(voice)
John Sharian
-
Circus Man
(voice)
Jo Allen
-
Additional Chicken
(voice)
Lisa Kay
-
Additional Chicken
(voice)
Laura Strachan
-
Additional Chicken
(voice)
Opening Weekend: $17,506,162
(USA)
(25 June 2000)
(2491 Screens)
Gross: $106,793,915
(USA)
(29 October 2000)
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Did You Know?
Trivia:
The original script featured an additional character: Ginger's little brother Nobby. Dreamworks suggested that Nobby was left out, in order to make the film less cute.
Goofs:
Audio/visual unsynchronized:
In the last few minutes of the movie, when Rocky comes back to the farm on his tricycle, he is heard yelling "Ginger," but if you took a good look at his beak when you hear him say it, you will find that the beak is not opened. It's closed.
Quotes: Mac:
[very rapidly, with a thick Scottish accent]
Thrust! I went over my calculations, hen, and I forgot the key element missing is thrust! Rocky:
[after a long pause]
I didn't get a word of that. Mac:
Thrust. Other birds, like ducks and geese, when they take off, what do they have?
[shouts]
Mac:
Thrust! Rocky:
I swear she ain't using real words. Ginger:
She said we need more thrust. Rocky:
Oh, thrust! Of course we need thrust. Why, thrust and flying are, well, like this.
[crosses fingers]
Rocky:
See, that's flying and that's thrust.
User Review
Son of a gun, "Chicken Run" is pure fun!
Rating: 10/10
After watching "Chicken Run," you will become a believer of many things.
You will believe that a bunch of talking hens wearing beads and bandanas can
speak with British and Scottish accents, practice martial arts, escape from
inside a pie machine and secretly plot their getaway from an egg farm in
1955 England. You will believe that chickens can knit, dance, wear glasses
and play the harmonica. You will believe that rats can wear bad suits and
have an obsession for eggs. You will believe that roosters can fly
airplanes, ride a tricycle and sing "The Wanderer."
Most importantly, you will believe that the otherwise Disney-choked world of
animated films has life again, and that a tiny British studio can top the
big boys from Japan and the U.S. and turn out the smartest, possibly best
work of this genre ever. The one point of light in an otherwise lousy
summer movie season, "Chicken Run" is something you'll want to watch over
and over again. You could sit through it 31 times (like yours truly) and it
never gets boring. The audienced applauded at the end during my first 13
viewings.
Aardman Studios has concocted a recipe consisting of a wonderful (albeit
portly and feathered) cast, a funny, intelligent script, a gripping score,
excellent cinematography and production design, plus great voice work, all
mixed with years of labor and love, and the result is what is easily the
best film of 2000. When was the last time you saw a movie with a cast –
nearly all-female, no less – so determined and believable in their mission
for freedom, and whom you cared so strongly about that you were actually
cheering for them to be successful?
"Chicken Run" may be the first animated film that is an absolute joy for
both children and adults. Children will be tickled by the jocularity of
these hens, while adults will find pleasure in discovering homages to
classic prison films – "The Great Escape," "Stalag 17" and even "The
Shawshank Redemption," among others.
Screenwriter Karey Kirkpatrick has come up with a sharp script, which has
all but become a lost art in the movie world these days. The dialogue is
loaded with puns that work so well. The British slang is a delight, and
makes the chickens' personalities more endearing and – dare I say it –
human.
One of the best lines comes from Mrs. Tweedy talking lovingly about her
soon-to-be chicken pie enterprise. When Mr. Tweedy asks why she only will be
included in the brand name, her reply is: "Woman's touch. Makes the public
feel more comfortable." The other is Fowler's immortal "Pushy Americans,
always showing up late for every war." That's simply brilliant writing.
The flawless (yes, flawless) voice cast is the heart of this movie. This is
one of those rare films in which both the heroes and the villains are fun to
watch. You'll find yourself thinking during the end credits, "I liked this
character the best…no, wait a minute, I think I like this one more…no, no, I
like that one."
Leading the way is Julia Sawalha, playing another character with a spicy
name (from "AbFab's" Saffy to CR's Ginger), and providing the ideal heroine
we moviegoers have yearned for so long. She's so convincing in this role;
you're deeply immensed in Ginger's quest for free range living that you
forget she's a Plasticine chicken.
It's safe to say that 2000 has been the summer of one Melvin Gibson. He
doesn't disappoint with "The Patriot" or with his role as Rocky, the
vagabond flying rooster (listen to his hysterical rendition of Dion's "The
Wanderer"), who easily bested his squirrel namesake at the box office. The
film pokes fun at him in a good-natured way, from his opening "Braveheart"
gag to his nationality.
Rounding out the supporting cast is Lynn Ferguson as the genius Mac, she of
the wild hen's comb and odd spectacles. Jane Horrocks is a show-stopper as
the innocent yet…well, bubbleheaded, knitter Babs. She doesn't have much
dialogue, but definitely does the most with the least as she delivers the
funniest lines in the movie with aplomb. Perhaps the film's most famous
line is when she bawls "I don't want to be a pie!" Why? "I don't like
gravy."
Ben Whitrow's Fowler, the old military rooster, had me in stitches with his
constant rambling about his glory days in the Royal Air Force. Seriously,
wouldn't we all want to be awakened by a rooster who hollers,
"Cock-a-doodle-doo, what what"?
Timothy Spall and Phil Daniels are a hoot as Nick and Fetcher, the Laurel &
Hardy-style farm rats. Tony Haygarth and Miranda Richardson (not straying
very far from her "evil wife" role in "Sleepy Hollow") are perfect as
Willard and Melisha Tweedy, the cruel owners of the prison camp…er, egg
farm. The loving couple is an evil version of American Gothic rendered in
clay. Mrs. Tweedy is the best animated villain since Maleficent from
"Sleeping Beauty."
But my favorite (and this was a tough choice) was Imelda Staunton as the
brusque, oversized and argumentative, yet lovable, Bunty. She was the
character I related to most because my personality is sometimes like hers…I
think I may have finally found my role model! My favorite part in the film
was watching Bunty getting down to "Flip Flop and Fly."
The ending contains the most thrilling action sequence I've seen all year. I
won't dare describe it here…go and experience the magic for yourself. What
I will say is that I haven't had this much side-splitting fun with an ending
since "Mrs. Doubtfire."
I haven't enjoyed a film like this since "Sleepy Hollow" was released 7
months earlier…needless to say, this has been a period of movie ecstasy that
is as rare as hens' teeth, so to speak. I'm sure nobody will care, but what
I found interesting about "Chicken Run" was that it bore a striking
resemblance to SH in terms of the plot: a small citizenry, kept prisoner by
a villain who has a fetish for decapitation, pins their hopes of freedom on
an outsider who is brash and sure of himself on the outside, yet soft and
bewildered on the inside. Both movies are in my personal top 10 of all
time.
After watching this, I dare anyone to find another movie that is as
heartwarming, witty, suspenseful and funny as "Chicken Run." To those who
feel the need to criticize this film for any reason…I deeply sympathize with
your lack of soul. 10/10
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