Great fun
Chicken Run about a chicken ranch and the chickens are hell-bent on escaping. The movie begins with a hilarious series of failed escape attempts lifted right from The Great Escape. Ginger, the lead hen, is basically Steve McQueen. Think the trademark McQueen scenes from that movie and they're here too. Then the hens plot their next escape in Hut "17". Hmmmmmmmmmmm. Now what other WW2 German POW camp movie is being reffed?
Mel Gibson extends his forte of playing rebellious leaders from human (Braveheart, The Patriot ) to the animal kingdom with this flick. He plays an American rooster who literally drops on the hens and seems to have the answer to the hens' prayers. Other characters include a bossy hen, the four-eyed geek chicken (complete with a nearly unintelligble Scottish accent) who does all their calculations, the old RAF-raised codger of a rooster, scheming rats who'll steal anything that ain't nailed down, and of course the Wicked Witch of the West, uh, the rancher's wife who's determined to make buku bucks from the chickens. Even if that means the chickens won't appreciate the method achieving good cash flow.
Anyone who becomes an animator must have the patience of Job. Animating one or two characters has to be tough enough, but there are sequences in Chicken Run that'll make your jaw drop. The dance sequence is a mindbender: about thirty chickens are dancing in beat to the music, some of the chickens are talking, and the camera is trucking and follow-focusing some characters. I know they use video to check their work as they go, but damn.
Unlike other summer flicks with "plots" so paper-thin that you could write them on the back of a napkin, blow your nose and still not get the verbage wet; CR has the real thing. Plus there are sequences of such sheer inventiveness (what happens inside the chicken pie machine stands out) that you'll be laughing in delight. So to say the creativity level of Chicken Run scores rather high is putting it mildly.
This movie is total G-rated fun that the whole family can enjoy. Considering how Disney is apparently stuck recycling The Lion King plot, thankfully there is someone else providing terrific animated entertainment. It's a must see.