Intermission: Animated film first full feature from Academy Winners

"Chicken Run"

Directed by: Nick Park and Peter Lord

Starring: Mel Gibson, Julia Sawalha, Miranda Richardson and Jane Horrocks

Rated: G

I first became aware of Nick Park and Peter Lord's Aardman Studios in 1989 when they won the Academy Award for their brilliant, touching and technically stunning animated short, "Creature Comforts." The story featured a news crew interviewing the animals at the London zoo. Each animal started out by saying how nice the place was the food was good and the climate control but they all expressed the desire for a bit more space. The Aardman style of "claymation" animation gave each animal a distinct and endearing personality.

Since then, Park and Lord have gained fame with their "Wallace and Gromit" series and now they have finally created their first feature length film, "Chicken Run."

Through all of their work, it's been the eyes that captivate and my guess is "Chicken Run" will do more for slowing the sales of McNuggets and KFC than mad cow disease did for the beef industry.

I've been a vegetarian for more than half of my life and when I see a film like "Chicken Run," I'm reminded that a great part of my decision was probably based on the countless hours of cartoons from childhood that were so adept at anthropomorphism. After becoming friends with Rocky and Bullwinkle, Huckleberry Hound, Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, I found it hard to justify eating them. Not that my mom cooked squirrel, moose or dog, but you get my point.

Park and Lord give so much personality to the cast of "Chicken Run" that it's hard to imagine someone leaving the theater and going home to a nice chicken dinner.

The plot is filled with in-jokes and references to dozens of other movies, ranging from "Stalag 17," to "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "The Great Escape."

The characters in the film are residents of the Tweedy chicken farm, a place ruled by the stern Mrs. Tweedy and guarded by her rather hen-pecked husband.

Egg counts are taken on a regular basis and when one of the hens drops down to zero, she's off to the chopping block. A plucky young hen named Ginger has been trying to organize a mass coop-break but plans are always thwarted by the gun toting Mr. Tweedy and his pair of ruthless dogs.

Salvation literally falls from the sky one day in the form of Rocky the Flying Rooster, a circus chicken who seems to have the rare ability (in chickens, anyway) to fly.

Although Ginger is rather put off by his cocky attitude Mel Gibson as the voice of Rocky does a great parody of many of his own action roles she's convinced that the rooster can teach the other chickens to fly and freedom will finally be realized.

This plan becomes all the more important when Mrs. Tweedy decides to give up the egg business and buys an automated chicken pie-making machine. This device, and its operation, is one of the highlights of the film.

As time is running out, Ginger and the rest discover a pretty big secret that Rocky has been keeping and are forced to change plans for their great escape.

The last act of "Chicken Run" is entirely engaging and while this is obviously a "kids'" movie, it's so well-written and impeccably executed that it has no trouble holding the interest of the more sophisticated movie goer.

This film is playing at Wehrenberg's Campbell 16 Cin.

(Jim Wunderle works at Associated Video Producers and is a Springfield free-lance writer and musician.)