Chicken Run from the creators of the Academy Award winning "Wallace & Grommit" claymation shorts, is a wildly, insane romp through a chicken farm inhabited by a variety of hens and a retired member of the R.A.F. The opening 10 minutes sets up "The Great Escape" parody with hilarious results.

After the demise of one of the hens due largely to unproductive egg-laying, the rest of the hens are more determined to make their escape before they all end up on the butcher block. Into their midst drops "The Fabulous Flying Rooster", straight from America. He is quickly recruited to teach the hens how to fly. Of course, he is smart enough to keep his mouth shut regarding the fact that chickens can't fly.

The movie begins to lose steam at this point, but little by little it begins to draw you back into its amazingly wonderful world of chickens who can build almost anything.

The directors have had many years to polish their visual skills to add just the right amount of humor, suspense & horror. The scene with the chicken potpie machine & the final escape are visual marvels. I was laughing out loud by the end of the movie.

The producers and screenwriters must have had a riot writing and executing Chicken Run. They produce a non-stop array of visual and audio jokes parodying every escape movie ever made and then some. Multiple viewings of this films will probably still reveal hidden gems.

Claymation has come a long way since Wil Vinton's classics. This movie proves once and for all where chicken fingers come from. Well, they don't exactly show any fingers, but the chickens have to be using something to build all of the wonderful delights they have created here. Enjoy!!

Movie review © 2000 - Lawrence L. Novotny. All Rights Reserved.

All images © 2000 DreamWorks SKG
Pathé
Aardman Animations