Chicken Run

Chicken Run
Chicken Run
	File:Chicken Run poster.jpg Film poster for Chicken Run
Directed by	Peter Lord ; Nick Park
Written by	Peter Lord ; Nick Park ; Karey Kirkpatrick
Produced by	Nick Park ; Peter Lord ; David Sproxton
Starring	Mel Gibson ; Julia Sawalha; Miranda Richardson ; Jane Horrocks ; Tony Haygarth
Music by	Harry Gregson-Williams and John Powell
Distributed by	Pathé (Europe); DreamWorks (North America)
Release dates	June 23, 2000
Running time	84 min
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	£22,850,000 GB; $44,350,000 US (est.)

Chicken Run is a 2000 stop-motion animation British film made by the Aardman Animations studios (which produced the Oscar-winning Wallace and Gromit films).

Background

Chicken Run tells the humorous story of a band of chickens who seek escape from their coop before their owners, the unambitious and inconveniently oafish yet suspicious egg farmer Mr. Tweedy and his greedy, overbearing wife, who wants to make them all into chicken pies. The film is a homage to the World War II prison films of the 1950s and 1960s (particularly The Great Escape, Stalag 17, and The Birdmen), but it alludes to numerous other films, including Braveheart, the Indiana Jones films, and Star Trek. (Stalag 17 and the latter 3 films or film series were all released by Paramount Pictures, currently sister studio to DreamWorks after Viacom bought the latter in 2005.)

The star roles in the film are those of Ginger (voiced by Julia Sawalha), a hen who has absolute faith that the chickens can fly out of the coop if only they train hard enough, and Rocky Rhodes (voiced by Mel Gibson), a rooster whom Ginger believes can fly, but who keeps the secret of his flightlessness from her for much of the film. Mrs. Tweedy (voiced by Miranda Richardson) is the nefarious, grasping farm wife whose exasperation at low profits from egg sales leads her to reinvent her farm as a chicken pie factory, while her husband does all he can to prevent the chickens from (as he rightly believes they are) escaping.

The film proved a success with both children and adults, and showed that Peter Lord and Nick Park had the ability to handle the technical and writing challenges posed by a feature film, and thereby serving as a test bed for the 2005 movie outing for Wallace and Gromit, The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

Soundtrack

Chicken Run features much music from 70s pop culture. The soundtrack was released in February 2001. The infamous main song "Chicken Run Into The Sun", also known as the "The Chicken Run Song", is played both in the middle scene, where Ginger and Rocky go through the pie machine, and over the end credits. Jack Zswimmer, who wrote this song, has gone on to work on Disney projects such as Finding Nemo.

Summary

The film opens in a POW camp-like chicken farm in England. The dull-witted farmer, Mr. Tweedy, is on his watch with his dogs checking the locks, while a small group of chickens stealthily attempt to escape from the enclosure. Unfortunately, Tweedy catches on and a lone chicken. Ginger, the ringleader, is captured and thrown in a coal bin, while Tweedy snarls to Ginger's other friends that "No chicken escapes from Tweedy's farm!"

The farm is run by Mr. Tweedy's wife Melisha. Whenever Mr. Tweedy finds and tells that the chickens are well smarter and 'organized', Mrs. Tweedy doesn't believe him. Day and night pass by and the farmer takes the eggs while his nefarious, power-hungry, greedy wife checks progress. All the while, Ginger makes new plans to escape which all end in failure (The opening credits are made of subsequent failed escape attempts). A new day begins and all the chickens stand for roll call while Fowler, an elderly rooster and the camp's (presumably self-appointed) senior officer, babbles on about "his old RAF days". Mrs. Tweedy checks all the chickens, marking down the eggs they have laid. One chicken, Edwina, hasn't laid any in a week and is taken inside a shed by Mr. Tweedy. Ginger sneaks to see what happens, as Mrs. Tweedy swings up an axe, raises it, and silently ends the tragic ordeal by bringing it down - but the viewers see this only as shadows, as killing a chicken on-stage would frighten many young viewers.

Ginger prepares a new plan to go over the fence, calling in two rats, Nick and Fetcher, to sneak in new stuff. Inside the house, the humans have eaten Edwina and Mrs. Tweedy angrily looks over the amount of eggs and wants a new way to make money instead of making minuscule profits. An ad catches her eye about a giant pie machine, with a small cartoon character shouting "I'M RICH!". Mr. Tweedy is keeping watch outside and suspects the chickens' plot, but Mrs. Tweedy tells him that all of this notion of the escaping chickens is all in his head. The idea about going over the fence doesn't go well, but Ginger reminds them about Edwina and tells them that life is better outside the farm.

Outside, a huge blast is heard (presumably the cannon being loaded with a vast amount of gunpowder), a rooster flies over the fence, and crash lands inside the camp. The chickens eagerly hide him and he introduces himself as Rocky Rhodes (a pun on the ice-cream flavour, Rocky Road), a "lone free ranger" from America. (This is a double pun on The Lone Ranger and free range, a method of farming husbandry.) Then Ginger asks him if he can teach them how to fly, but Rocky isn't so thrilled at the idea. Eventually, he reconciles when he sees the circus has come back to take him.

The next day, training begins very bizarrely as Rocky seems to have no idea what he's doing. Eventually the day ends without a single chicken making it off the ground. A huge "Poultry Products" truck appears and unloads vast amounts of equipment. Mrs. Tweedy explains the idea to her husband and the farm will now officially become a full automated factory.

Meanwhile, Mac (a Scottish chicken, who is a bit of an egghead genius) looks over her notes and concludes that chickens simply weren't built for flying. Ginger confronts Rocky about their poor progress and Mac deduces that they require thrust. Ginger warns Rocky that if they do not see progress, the deal is off and they will reveal his presence to the farmers.

The next morning, Rocky gets a cable wire and prepares to sling-shot the chickens over the fence, but that doesn't work out. Roll call begins and Babs (a dim, knitting-obsessed chicken) hasn't laid any eggs, focusing more on the flying. The other chickens realize they haven't either. Instead of chopping Babs, Mrs. Tweedy measures her waistline and orders Mr. Tweedy to double their food rations. Ginger stops them from eating and tells them that the farmers are deliberately fattening them up and kill them all in one stroke. To help out for once, Rocky manages to bring them a radio to cheer them up, which leaves the entire coop dancing. Rocky's bandages fall off, revealing that his injured wing has healed, and Ginger eagerly announces that he can finally show them how to fly tomorrow. But before he can tell her he can't really fly, the power goes out.

Outside, a pie machine has completed construction and Mr. Tweedy brings Ginger in as the first victim for a score to settle with Ginger. Rocky breaks into the barn and rescues her, surviving the innards of the machine and sabotaging it. Fowler gives him a RAF medal and apologizes for doubting him. Both Ginger and Rocky share a tender moment on the roof, overlooking the fields. Rocky explains that life isn't all it's cracked up to be, slightly implying the fact he can't fly.

The following morning, all the chickens eagerly await the flying demonstration. Ginger goes to wake Rocky, but he's gone, leaving his RAF medal. She finds a torn piece of Rocky's promotional poster and slowly adds it, revealing her horror to everyone. Completed, the poster shows Rocky being shot out of a cannon, implying that Rocky is, in fact, part of the circus and could never fly at all.

Their plans shot and their hopes shattered, Ginger gives up and denies any chance of escaping. The whole farm starts fighting. Ginger finally asks Fowler what the RAF is. Fowler tells them it is the "Royal Air Force" and shows them pictures of the airplane he flew in. Filled with hope again, the chickens still plan to fly, but now by building the huge plane. Even the rats help out as they pull apart their own huts to build the plane, racing against Mr. Tweedy who is rapidly fixing the machine. Rocky is once again on the open road, but stops when he sees a promotional advertisement for "Mrs. Tweedy's Homemade Chicken Pies" (She believes "Mrs." is a woman's touch and makes the public feel comfortable). He thinks about the chickens, and realizes the error of his ways.

The chickens finish the plane just as Mr. Tweedy finishes fixing the machine. They attack and tie him under one of the houses and finish construction. Fowler, as pilot, starts up the plane as all the chickens pedal to start the string engines. But Mr. Tweedy escapes from the house, closes the ramp and falls down, and Ginger gets out of the plane to put the ramp back on so that the plane will lift off and fly. Mrs. Tweedy attacks Ginger, but gets knocked out by Rocky, who arrives at the last moment to help Ginger put the ramp back on. The plane takes off and all the chickens cheer, including Ginger and Rocky, who climbed up to the plane by a rope of Christmas lights. Unfortunately, Mrs. Tweedy manages to grab on, and slowly begins climbing up the rope of Christmas lights, holding an axe in her mouth. Ginger tries to cut the rope with Babs' tiny pair of scissors, while Rocky, Nick and Fetcher use the eggs to fire at Mrs. Tweedy. Ginger then loses the scissors, and Mrs. Tweedy, covered in egg, strikes at Ginger with her axe, seemingly decapitating her, much to Rocky's horror.

Luckily, Ginger slowly raises her head to reveal the truth: the blow just missed, and has instead severed the Christmas lights. Then, waving an ironic goodbye, Ginger lets go of the other half and Mrs. Tweedy falls right back to the barn into the pie machine, which explodes, covering Mrs. Tweedy in gooey gravy and destroying the barn. As Mr. Tweedy looks upon the wreckage, he reminds her, "I told you they was organized!". As Mrs. Tweedy growls at Mr. Tweedy, he pushes the Barnhouse door down on her, seeminly crushing her.

At long last, the chickens have reached peace in their own small haven. Mac gives some baby chickens some lessons while Fowler tells them some stories about his RAF days. There are several chicks and the rats are still trying to make an egg business.

Critical Reaction

This film was received excellently from critics, earning a 97% certified fresh at Rotten Tomatoes.

Crew

Crew Position
Directed by	Nick Park Peter Lord
Produced by	Peter Lord David Sproxton Nick Park
Original Story by	Peter Lord Nick Park
Screenplay by	Karey Kirkpatrick
Executive Producer	Jake Eberts Jeffrey Katzenberg Michael Rose
Associate Producer	Lenny Young
Music by	Harry Gregson-Williams John Powell
Line Producer	Carla Shelley
Director of Photography	Dave Alex Riddett
Production Designer	Phil Lewis
Film Editor	Mark Solomon
Human Model	Sam White
Supervising Animator	Lloyd Price
Storyboard Supervisor	David Bowers
Production Manager	Harry Linden

Annie Awards

Result	Award	Winner/Nominee Recipient(s)
NOMINATED	Animated Theatrical Feature
NOMINATED	Individual Achievement in Directing	Nick Park (Director) Peter Lord (Director)
NOMINATED	Individual Achievement in Writing	Karey Kirkpatrick (Screenplay)

Production notes

Chicken Run was the first feature film in Europe to use the Digital Intermediate process, Digitally storing and manipulating every frame of the film before recording back to film.
In early versions of the movie, Ginger had a little brother named Nobby, but the idea was dropped in order to make the film less cute.
The reason all the chickens are wearing scarves is to hide the joint between the head and the body. The scarves hide the 'seam' which is present because the bodies of the chickens are articulated steel frames coated in silicon rubber while the heads are plasticine.

References to popular culture

In the opening credits, Ginger is seen to bounce a Brussels sprout off the wall of the bin in which she is held in solitary confinement. This is a parody of Hilts, in The Great Escape, who does the same with his baseball while in the cooler.

The escape attempt shown in the opening credits of the Chickens tunneling, and traveling on trolleys down the tunnel, is a reference to The Great Escape, which is how people traveled down the tunnel in that film.

The scene where Ginger tells Rocky that she wants to get all the chickens out at the same time, and he thinks she is mad, is a reference to a similar scene in The Great Escape between Roger and Hilts.

Rocky is introduced shouting "Freedooooommm!" in a slightly comedic manner. This alludes to the memorable line of Mel Gibson's portrayal of William Wallace in the movie Braveheart.

Edwina, the chicken who is killed by the Tweedies at the beginning of the film, is a reference to politician Edwina Currie. Currie was a Junior Health Minister under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher when, in 1988, she issued a warning about salmonella in eggs. This caused a collapse in the British egg market and Currie was forced to resign (or "get the chop" as commentators sometimes refer to ministers who have resigned or been sacked from office).

The sequence in which Rocky and Ginger are trapped inside Mrs. Tweedy's pie-making machine and encounter various mechanical dangers is a parody of the three Indiana Jones films' various cliffhanger dangers and subsequent escapes, as well as Ginger rescuing her hat.

The promo title featured on posters for the film, "C:R-1", was spoof of the promo title "M:I-2" for the film Mission: Impossible II.

When Rocky enters the barn to find the chicken pie-making machine, he is awed by the size of it and says "Look at the size of that thing". This is a reference to Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Wedge Antilles says this when he sees the Death Star for the first time.

During the plane sequence, the Scottish chicken Mac shouts a few quotes from Scotty of Star Trek: The Original Series, such as "I cannot work miracles cap'n", "I'm giving her all she's got!", "A 'cling-on' (Klingon) cap'n," and "the engines can't take it!"

After the plane has been assembled, the order is given: "Chocks Away!!". This refers to the triangular wedges used to hold an aeroplane back once its engines are running, which are then removed. In Chicken Run these are represented by bars of the triangular chocolate Toblerone, hence "Chocs Away".

The coop that Ginger lives in is numbered 17, apparently an homage to Stalag 17.

Fetcher's line "It's raining hen" during the scene where Rocky is teaching the chickens how to fly is a reference to the song "It's Raining Men"

Historical references

Fowler repeatedly refers to his years as a member of the No. 644 Squadron RAF. This was a real squadron; it was formed on February 23, 1944, several months before D-Day. 644 squadron was based at RAF Tarrant Rushton airfield in Dorset,^[1] and exclusively flew Handley Page Halifax heavy bombers. The 644's primary missions were "special operations" over occupied Europe, such as making supply drops to various resistance movements, and towing troop transport gliders.^[2]
The propeller of the escape plane is made of road signs sharing names with famous RAF bombers of World War II - Stirling Lane, Lancaster Avenue and Blenheim Place. Further, the model aeroplane is of a moderately successful RAF bomber of the early war period, the Whitley.
There are several references to the Holocaust, including characters, places and technologies.
The entire plot is very similar to the Colditz Glider attempt

References

External links

[1] Tarrant Rushton Airfield retrospective

[2] History of 644 Squadron

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[2]