CHICKEN RUN
UK, 2000, 84 minutes, Colour.
Voices of: Mel Gibson, Julia Sawalha, Jane Horrocks, Miranda Richardson, Tony Hagarth, Phil Daniels, Timothy Spaull, Imelda Staunton, Benjamin Whitrow.
Directed by Nick Park and Peter Lord.
Chicken Run is the first full-length feature from Aardman Studios. They had achieved great success with the Wallace and Grommet short films, winning several Oscars. They also did the series of Creature Comforts and contributed to a lot of advertising campaigns with their idiosyncratic creatures.
The process of animation in Aardman Studios in Bristol was painstaking with the various small models and organising their movements as well as their photography and the final editing. Voices were also important – in this case the leads from Julia Sawalha and Mel Gibson as well as comic turns from Miranda Richardson, Timothy Spaull and Phil Daniels. There is a very jaunty score.
The film is a kind of remake or tribute to The Great Escape and all the prisoner-of-war films of the 1940s and 1950s. There are some direct homages to The Great Escape.
The idea is novel – the chicken coop envisaged as a concentration camp, patrolled by Mr Tweedie the owner (who was dominated by his strong wife), and his dogs. We see the attempts to escape, the harsh punishment, the growing rebellion amongst the chickens, the old rooster who participated in the war (as a mascot as it turns out), the cheeky American rooster who is bamboozled by Scots accents, talks a lot, pretends that he is more than he is. Ultimately, the chickens build a plane and fly out to freedom.
The film is very entertaining, the action would entertain the children, the dialogue is particularly witty and adults would enjoy it as well.
1.The work of Aardman Studios? The particular style? Success over the years?
2.The animation, the creatures, movement, expressions?
3.The quality of the voice talent, Mel Gibson and his American style, the British, the Scots accent, the old officer from the RAF?
4.The appeal in plot, characters, situations, dialogue, crises? The happy ending?
5.The tribute to the war films, the remake of the prisoner-of-war films, The Great Escape? The musical score – echoing The Great Escape?
6.The coop as a prison camp, the wires, Mr Tweedie as the guard, the patrol, the fierce dogs, the escape, arriving at Mrs Tweedie’s door, her being worse than her husband? Mrs Tweedie and her contempt for her husband, his paranoia about the chickens plotting?
7.The escape attempts, the spade, Ginger as leader, the fat chicken unable to get through, the escapees being tossed in the bin, pursued by the dogs, the variety of attempts?
8.Ginger and her vision, another life? The others having no vision? Babs thinking people disappearing went on holidays?
9.Life in the coop, the demands for eggs, the lists, Mr Tweedie and his demands, Mrs Tweedie and her reading the magazine, doing the figures, seeing the machine, ordering it, its delivery, Mr Tweedie having to assemble it? The testing of the machine and the execution of the chicken, her becoming a pie? The billboard advertising the pies – and Mrs Tweedie going through it at the end?
10.Ginger, becoming desperate? Her leadership, her trying to control the others, the meetings, the planning, the squabbles? Fowler and his stories? Saluting, the drill? Old style? His unwillingness to share his bunk with Rocky, after Rocky’s heroism sharing it, his giving him the emblem, the revelation that he was only a mascot, his having to fly the plane at the end?
11.Rocky and his crash, his poster, his hiding, wanting Ginger’s help – and her bargain or she would scream? Fowler’s hostile reaction? His being a con artist, his stories, his injured wing, his going through the motions of training the chickens, the drill, their going in circles, his boasting? Ginger’s exasperation, his calling her Dollface? The reaction against the Americans? His inability to understand the Scots accent? The dance, his getting better, Ginger and her being taken, his helping her in the machine, their adventures together, the dangers? Getting the medal? His leaving and the note? His cycling away, seeing the billboard, his decision to return?
12.The various attempts at flying, the slapstick and the crashes? The chicken feed, Babs and the chickens getting fat?
13.The decision to build the plane, everybody collaborating?
14.The rats, their personalities, their chatter, the deals with the chickens, wanting eggs in payment? Their being conned by Rocky to get rooster eggs? Their decision to help steal the tools, disguised as gnomes, participating in the building of the plane?
15.The machine being fixed, the need for the take-off, Mr Tweedie and his being tied up, Rocky’s return, lifting the platform, Mrs Tweedie pursuing and clinging to the plane, Ginger and the scissors, her flying through the billboard? The machine, everybody escaping? Mrs Tweedie in the factory, Mr Tweedie locking the door on her?
16.Paradise, telling the stories to the chicks, everybody happy ever after?
17.The finale, the rats and their discussion about which came first, the chicken or the egg?
