Copyright (c) 2000 by Michael
Segers, All rights reserved
Chicken Run
Directed
and written by:
Peter Lord and Nick Park
Starring
(voices):
Rocky - Mel Gibson
Ginger - Julia Sawalha
Mrs. Tweedy - Miranda Richardson
Mr. Tweedy - Tony Haygarth
Fowler - Benjamin Whitrow
Runtime
- 88 minutes; rated G
Fantasia 2000
Directed
by:
James
Algar and Gatan Brizzi
Runtime 75 minutes, rated G
Here
is my one-sentence review of Chicken Run: run
or walk, fly or flap, swim or roll to the nearest screen where you can see Chicken
Run. If you've ever trusted me before, or if you've never read a word
I've written, trust me on this one! Of all the films I've reviewed for this
series, from some that were intentionally funny (Galaxy Quest) to
otherwise (The Beach), I've never laughed as much at any film. And, of
all the films I've reviewed for this series, this is only the second for which
the audience applauded—and the other was October Sky! So, chickens and
film-lovers everywhere are crossing the road to get to this unlikely gem.
To
use the adjective that is the highest praise I can give a film, this is one of
the movie-est things I've ever seen. Yes, sisters and brothers, hens and
roosters, this is the real thing. Now, there are a world of yolks and cracks
possible about an epic saga set on an egg farm, but I respect this film enough,
I appreciate it enough, that I am going to avoid such. This is more than a good
film. It is a great film! Please, quote me on that.
It
is almost pointless to tell you the plot. Ginger is a serious young bird who
spends her evenings on top of her hut (these are British chickens; our chickens
would live in a coop) looking out at a distant hilltop, lost in dreams of
walking on grass and living free. Her constant attempts to escape keep her in
solitary confinement in a "dustbin" ("dumpster" to us
colonists), with a weird homage to Steve McQueen in The Great Escape.
But, she never gives up hope.
And,
to quote Emily Dickinson, "Hope is the thing with feathers," a
particularly feathered thing known as Rocky and sounding like Mel Gibson who
literally drops in when things are at their darkest. Now, be warned, especially
if you are thinking of taking your children: things get very dark indeed. Like Babe
(1995), this film does not gloss over or cover up the darker side of farm life.
Hens that fall behind on their egg production are beheaded, and the evil Mrs.
Tweety (long lost sister of Cruella DeVille) installs a device for making
chicken pies that is about the nastiest looking piece of machinery shown on film
since The Pit and the Pendulum in 1961. This film is as grim as the Grimm
brothers' fairy tales.
In
fact, in many ways, this is not a film for children, or at least, not just for
children. The audience I saw it with did not have many children, and the laughs
seemed to come more from the adults. Much in this film will fly right over the
little ones' heads, especially the comic nods to such films as The Great
Escape (1963) and Stalag 17 (1953), with much of the plotting taking
place in hut 17.
This
little fable of dreams and freedom, of cooperation and perseverance, is, I hope,
going to be around for a long time. It is so rich in detail and characterization
that I am sure it will hold up to many viewings and reviewings. The hens are all
distinct characters, with various glasses, caps, scarves, quirks, and interests
(from knitting to physics). They are never just birds of a feather. And, at the
risk of spoiling the suspense for you, before the hour and a half or so of
willingly suspended disbelief rushes by, they all get their frequent fryer, I
mean flyer miles.
I
wish I could have a similar enthusiasm for Fantasia 2000, but I cannot.
Mainly, I need to issue another parental warning. Fantasia 2000 has a
very high squirm factor. Kids all around me were squirming, complaining, and
just not getting it at all, except for The Sorcerer's Apprentice, the one
segment reprised from the 1940 original. As much as I've worked with young
people, I've gotten very bored with their instant dismissals of so many things
as "Boring!" But, this time, I had to agree with them. Frankly, a lava
lamp would be more exciting than much of this film.
Much
of it is just plain weird. Respighi's "Pines of Rome" becomes a ballet
for whales, with the levitating leviathans apparently supposed to suggest some
sort of sublimity, but falling into a kind of silliness. Rather than survey the
damages, let me cast my vote for the best sequence of the seven new ones, George
Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue," with an evocation of a long-gone New
York in the style of legendary Broadway caricaturist, Al Hirschfeld.
These
are great times for animation. This summer, we've seen computer animation at its
best in Dinosaur, but Chicken Run takes us to a simpler world of
clay animation, which must be the most nerve-wracking medium to work in ever
imagined. Reviewing animated films in the good old summer time with a lot of
kids comes in a close second. Keep your feet dry, your heart full of noble
thoughts, and your browsers roving, even though it is too hot for us to rove.
Here
is Rob Blackwelder, of “Spliced Online,” taking a somewhat dimmer view than
I do of Chicken Run—
http://www.splicedonline.com/00reviews/chickenrun.html
Meanhile,
Arthur Lazere, "Culture Vulture," shares my feelings about Fantasia
2000 and also provides a link to his review of a documentary on Hirschfeld
that gives you a good introduction to the great caricaturist—
http://www.culturevulture.net/Movies/Fantasia2000.htm
Visit
a much more likeable poultry farmer than the Tweedy twosome—
http://www.mcsi.net/cornrstn/farm/avram.htm
Learn
about the great George Gershwin in two languages at this Spanish site—
http://personal3.iddeo.es/racsoft/George1.htm
Since
I mentioned the Grimm Brothers, let me share another bilingual site, this one
sharing their stories—
http://www.vcu.edu/hasweb/for/grimm/grimm_menu.html
You
can find the complete Dickinson poem I mentioned (with a note about its
punctuation) at this Canadian site—
http://www.library.utoronto.ca/utel/rp/poems/dickn9c.html
The Rovin' and Ravin' Film Reviews