Voice Stars: Julia Sawalha, Miranda Richardson, Mel Gibson, Jane Horrocks, Lynn Ferguson, Tony Haygarth

A GROUP of Chickens, led by Ginger (Sawalha) are stranded in a horrible farm with equally horrible owners, Mr & Mrs Tweedy (Haygarth & Richardson), They yearn for a better life, where they can be free and run around and don’t have to stick to any routines. When a flying rooster called Rocky (Gibson) injures himself flying into the farm, the chickens hide him and in return they ask that he teaches them how to fly, so they can finally escape. Meanwhile, the Tweedy’s, tired of not making any profits from eggs, decide that they should go into the Chicken Pie making business. Essentially, there is now a race against time to learn to fly, before the Pie Making machine is completed. But what the chickens don’t know is that Rocky, can’t fly at all.

I love this film, it is fun, humourous and amazing to watch. Upon its release there was a lot of controversy surrounding the death theme in what is essentially a childrens film. But, I believe that this can be overlooked, as the there is an inspirational feel that dominates, that these little chickens are not going to give up.

What is also incredible is seeing how clay-mation has come such a long way from that little 5 minute SHOW I used to watch on the ABC (the name escapes me).

THE EXTRAS

*Audio Commentary- Presented by Directors Peter Lord and Nick Park. It is actually very good, I was quite impressed by the various information provided for the scenes. Also indicating the amount of difficulty the film presented.

*Poultry in Motion (20:50 mins)- Featurette on the making of the film, includes cast and crew interviews and how the films scenes came together.

*Hatching of Chicken Run (15:00 mins)- Featurette on the making of the film, a lot of similar information, as with the first featurette.

*Theatrical Trailers & TV Spots- Chicken Run trailers presented in the following themes: 1)The Mission Impossible Trailer (definitely my favourite); and, 2) Normal Trailer. The TV Spot is presented in a Gladiator Theme.

*Cast & Crew Biographies- Still text information about cast and crew, including filmographies.

CONCLUSION

This film is fabulous and I would recommend it for fans of animation and children’s films….