Chicken Run 720p - (2000 Lang: English)

Son of a gun, "Chicken Run" is pure fun!

Chicken Run is a wonderfully entertaining movie for EVERYONE! Kids will love the eye-candy of chickens doing absurd things and tossing off silly one-liners. Adults will enjoy the brilliantly funny dialogue and the sweet, engaging story. Parents will enjoy taking their kids to a movie that does not have the Disneyesque product tie-ins and must-buy soundtrack. Movie buffs can try to count the references to The Great Escape, Stalg 17, Star Trek and Braveheart and may be pleasantly surprised at the quality of the camera work.

Nick Park, Peter Lord & Co. succeeded (where so many other have failed recently) in making an animated movie whose story, plot and dialogue are equal to the brilliant animation. In the wordless opening minutes we are engaged and in invited to care about these silly chickens. By the time the snappy dialogue gets rolling we've already identified with the chickens' plight. It may be a bit slow through the middle for the younger moviegoers. But the sound of laughter, cheers and applause from the whole audience as the chickens make their final bid for freedom is well worth the wait. The only sad part is we may have to wait another five years for another Aardman Animations to produce another picture of the quality.

Chicken Run is a 2000 stop-motion comedy-drama film produced by the British studio Aardman Animations. As the studio's first feature-length film, it was directed by Peter Lord and Nick Park. It was co-financed by DreamWorks Pictures and Pathé, with the former distributing the film worldwide except for Europe, where it was handled by Pathé. The plot centres on a band of chickens who see a smooth-talking Rhode Island Red named Rocky as their only hope to escape from certain death when the owners of their farm decide to move from selling eggs to selling chicken pot pies. The film features the voices of Julia Sawalha, Mel Gibson, Timothy Spall, Phil Daniels, Tony Haygarth, and Miranda Richardson. Chicken Run received positive reviews from critics, and grossed over $224 million, becoming the highest-grossing stop motion animated film ever.

Mr. and Mrs. Tweedy run a failing chicken farm in Yorkshire; the chickens are caged in the style of a prison camp with a high fence and barbed wire, and two dogs patrol the grounds. Chickens that fail to produce enough eggs are slaughtered for food. Frustrated at the "minuscule profits" generated by the farm, Mrs. Tweedy comes up with the idea of converting their farm into the automated production of chicken pot pies.

One chicken, Ginger, has long had visions of escaping with the help of her hen friends Babs, Bunty, and Mac, and two black-marketer rats, Nick and Fetcher, who help to acquire "contraband" from the Tweedys to aid Ginger's plans. However, she is always caught and put into solitary confinement. While thinking of a new plan, Ginger witnesses a Rhode Island Red cockerel fly over the fence and crash into one of the coops, spraining his wing. Ginger and the other chickens help to hide him from the Tweedys and care for his wing, learning that his name is Rocky. Ginger is particularly interested in Rocky's ability to fly and begs him to help train her and the other chickens to do the same. Rocky is coy, but proceeds to try to help train the chickens, unable to fully demonstrate due to his broken wing. Meanwhile, Mr. Tweedy begins assembling their pie-making production line, and the chicken's food ration is doubled to fatten them.

Amid the training, Rocky holds a large party to help relieve the stress; it is revealed his wing is healed, and Ginger insists he show them how to fly the next day. However, Mr. Tweedy completes the production line and immediately grabs Ginger for a test run. Rocky is able to save Ginger and helps to damage the machine, giving the chickens only a short time to plan to escape while Mr. Tweedy repairs it. When morning arrives, Ginger finds Rocky has fled, leaving behind a part of a poster that shows him to be a stunt cockerel, shot out of a cannon from a nearby circus and unable to fly by himself. Ginger and the other chickens are depressed. Fowler the cockerel tries to cheer the hens up by telling tales from his days as a Royal Air Force mascot, leading Ginger to the idea of creating a flying machine, called the Old Crate, to flee the Tweedys. All the chickens, with help from the rats, secretly assemble the required parts for the plane from their coops while racing against Mr. Tweedy's repairs. While travelling the countryside, Rocky sees a billboard for Mrs. Tweedy's Chicken Pies and is inspired to go back to help.

With the machine now fixed, Mrs. Tweedy insists that Mr. Tweedy gather all the chickens, but the chickens are ready to escape. They knock Mr. Tweedy out and tie him up long enough to complete assembly of their plane. Just before they take off, Rocky returns and joins them. Whilst taking off, Mrs. Tweedy chases them down and catches onto a Christmas light strand snagged in the wheels. Mrs. Tweedy climbs the strand, intent on chopping Ginger's head off, while Ginger races to sever the strand. Ginger manages to trick Mrs. Tweedy into cutting the strand with her hatchet, sending her straight into the safety valve of the pie machine and plugging it, causing the machine to build pressure in its gravy line and explodes, destroying the machine and the barn. The chickens continue their flight to freedom.

Later, the chickens have found a quiet island where they can enjoy their freedom and raise their chicks, while Ginger and Rocky have developed a romantic relationship. Nick and Fetcher decide to start their own chicken farm for eggs but disagree on whether to have the chicken or the egg first.

This movie is all you could hope for in summer film fare. It had action, suspense, romance and a large helping of comedy. I was predisposed to love the movie, being a great fan of Wallace and Gromit, and the movie lived up to those other award-winning works. The movie works on every level, and was fun for all ages viewing it. Even my husband, who disdains children's movies, was truly enjoying himself. Needless to say, the children loved it, despite one rather gruesome off-screen moment, but that seemed not to matter too much. All in all, I can't recommend this movie too highly, it was incredibly entertaining and well-done.