i know that ” funnest ” isn’t a word .
” fun ” is a noun , and therefore cannot be conjugated like an adjective .
but that’s the word that came to me right after viewing ” chicken run . ”
no wonder : this is the kind of movie that reduces you to childish expressions , like ” that was the funnest movie i’ve ever seen ! ”
so to hell with webster’s — ” chicken run ” is one of the funnest movies i’ve seen in a while .
i can’t remember the last time i’ve seen anything funner .
the chickens at tweedy’s farm are up to something .
living in a concentration camp-like atmosphere , they are led by one plucky hen called ginger ( voice of julia sawalha ) who continually comes up with plans for escape — and always gets caught , subsequently spending day after day in the coal box .
one night , a brash american rooster flies in over the fence , calling himself rocky ( mel gibson ) , famous flying rooster and circus performer .
rocky promises to teach the chickens how to fly , and the situation grows more desperate as the nefarious mrs . tweedy ( miranda richardson ) decides to abandon the farm’s egg-selling plan for a pie-selling plan .
she orders a huge pie-making machine , cackling , ” chickens go in ; pies come out . ”
what sort of pies ?
chicken pies , of course .
co-director nick park and his studio , aardman animation , produced three oscar-winning short films : ” creature comforts , ” ” the wrong trousers , ” and ” a close shave . ”
the latter two were the second and third installments of a trilogy starring the delightful team wallace & gromit , a man and his dog famous for getting themselves into increasingly peculiar adventures .
part of what made the ” wallace ” films brilliantly entertaining was park’s uncanny ability to make an old story seem new .
” the wrong trousers , ” for example , pulled out a lot of old hitchcockian suspense tricks , and ” a close shave ” owed a great deal of inspiration to classic detective stories .
but in the hands of park and his team , the stories felt fresh and inspired , and not the least bit contrived .
now teaming with co-director peter lord , park has created a similar creature in ” chicken run . ”
the plot is largely lifted from ” the great escape ” ( watch for a quick reference to the ball-bouncing scene ) , with some spielberg-inspired action sequences providing the excitement .
thing is , the film doesn’t feel like it’s been lifted from somewhere else ; ” chicken run ” feels fresh , alive , like nothing else ever done .
part of it is the original idea : who in the world came up with the idea to make a prisoners-of-war movie starring chickens ?
park and lord milk the incongruity for all it’s worth : the characters treat their situation as if it were dead serious , and to them , it is .
but they’re * chickens * , so it’s funny to us .
another thing that helps ” chicken run ” ( and most of park’s films ) succeed is the animators’ subtle way of giving nods to the very films they’re cribbing .
there are references to ” the great escape , ” obviously , and ” stalag 17 . ”
the chase sequence inside the chicken grinder parodies both ” raiders of the lost ark ” and ” indiana jones and the temple of doom . ”
there’s even a nod to ” the blues brothers , ” if you can believe it , and the filmmakers even get in a little light-hearted ribbing at the expense of their star voice actor , taking a couple of very subtle jabs at mel gibson’s nationality and film history .
the ” braveheart ” reference is a hoot if you catch it .
when you consider just how fine a line resides between a funny parody and a redundant one , ” chicken run ” is downright brilliant in its execution .
consider this : since july of last year , i’ve seen dozens upon dozens of ” blair witch project ” parodies , on television , on the radio , and online .
out of all those , maybe one or two were amusing , the rest tiresome .
why ?
because once you got past the thought that ” they’re parodying that‘ ; blair witch’ movie , ” most of the parodies had nothing to offer — no insight , no original idea , no greater purpose .
they were only funny if you had seen the movie ; otherwise , you got nothing .
conversely , ” chicken run ” doesn’t lean on its parodies — the film references are never the sole focus of any scene .
if you’ve never seen ” indiana jones , ” the chase sequence is still fun .
even if you have no idea who mel gibson is , rocky remains an interesting character .
park , lord , and screenwriter karey kirkpatrick realize that an audience does not need a parody shoved in their faces before it’s understood , and as a result , ” chicken run ” is filled with visual and verbal jabs that are never too obvious , but not quite vague either .
enjoyment of this movie doesn’t require knowledge of film history , but if you’ve got it , ” chicken run ” is that much richer .
the voice cast turns in uniformly lively performances , and the characters they play are given so many subtle nuances that it’s hard not to fall in love with every one of them .
ginger is perfect , spunky and opinionated , but with a soft heart that forbids her to leave her companions behind , and julia sawalha ( known as the cute mousy girl on ” absolutely fabulous ” ) nails it .
she has warm , human chemistry with gibson , whose rocky hides his personal doubt under a brash gung-ho veneer .
the characters’ inevitable romance doesn’t feel contrived , but sweet .
poor mr . tweedy ( tony haygarth ) suspects the chickens are organizing in some way , but his limited intellect prevents him from figuring things out , and his overbearing wife certainly isn’t any help .
jane horrocks delivers a lovely voice characterization as tragically optimistic babs ( a hen that runs away with most of the best one-liners , all while perpetually crocheting a sweater ) , and two supply-trading rats that seem to have walked straight out of a monty python sketch nearly steal the show during the lively central swing-dancing sequence .
they even come up with an inspired riff on something that’s baffled scholars and theologians alike for decades : the chicken vs . egg dilemma .
one might have expected this inevitable joke to come off as wearisome , but as with most of ” chicken run , ” it comes as a delightful surprise .
the film manages to cross all barriers ; it should be accessible to both children and adults , brits and yanks , rats and chickens .
the animation is first-rate .
remember that this was all done the old-fashioned way , with actual humans moving clay figurines around on a tiny set bit by painstaking bit , and you see just how truly remarkable ” chicken run ” really is .
this movie possesses that same quality that makes pixar studios’ animation great : precise and unwavering attention to detail .
as in such top-notch family fare as ” a bug’s life ” or ” toy story 2 , ” ” chicken run ” has something to offer in nearly every frame .
certainly a passive viewer can enjoy it as a straightforward story with a worthwhile moral and some surprisingly touching scenes , but a active , attentive viewers will enjoy it even more because they’ll catch all the details .
anyway , the movie’s just a boatload of fun .
funnest damn movie i’ve seen all year .