Chicken Run

"Those chickens are organised ... that ginger one is their leader."

You might be thinking, how can chickens be organised? And it's probably what you'll be thinking right the way through the hilarious film, Chicken Run. You will find that you're laughing at this funny film, and all its jokes, as much the third or fourth time you watch it as the first. Or even more. This extremely entertaining film is another must see from the makers Nick Park and Peter Lord, who are well known for their short films, Wallace and Grommet.

Chicken Run has a simple storyline, but this does not detract from the masterful way in which it is told. A group of chickens are kept behind barbed wire fences in the Tweedy's chicken farm. They are continually forced to lay egg after egg, and begin to realise that there is a much better life outside the fence. They try to escape, but time after time their plans fail miserably. These escapes are lead by Ginger, the chicken's leader. Almost just in time, the chickens so called saviour comes. Rocky, the Flying Rooster, who says he will teach them to fly. Soon after Rocky arrives they discover that the Tweedy's plan to make the chickens into big money making, chicken pies. Throughout his stay with the chickens, Rocky struts around the barnyard wasting the chicken's time. But they don't realise this, because they don't know his biggest secret. Throughout the chickens adventure they learn the valuable lesson of teamwork.

Park and co-director Lord use the very tricky technique of clay animation. They move the models bit by bit, so masterfully that you cannot tell that you are watching clay models, instead of a computer animated film. And even with this complex process they use as much detail as any other movie. The characters are full of animation and seem so real as you watch the film.

Another