Chicken Run (film)
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).
Tagline : This
Ain't No Chick Flick!
Cast
Phil Daniels - Fetcher
Lynn Ferguson - Mac
Mel Gibson - Rocky
Tony Haygarth
- Mr. Tweedy
Jane Horrocks - Babs
Miranda Richardson - Mrs. Tweedy
Julia Sawalha - Ginger
Timothy Spall - Nick
Imelda Staunton - Bunty
Benjamin Whitrow - Fowler
John Sharian - Circus Man
Jo Allen - Additional Chicken
Lisa Kay - Additional
Chicken
Laura Strachan - Additional Chicken
Plot
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. Rocky intervenes and tells Ginger that the best way to motivate them is to lie, causing them to get into a heated argument and Ginger declaring that she cares about the others to much and will never care about Rocky. Rocky agrees with this. However, when he goes back outside he sees all the other chickens depressed. 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, the barnhouse door falls down on her. The chickens celebrate and Ginger kisses Rocky.
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.
Historical and cultural references
One
of the escape attempts shown in the opening credits is of the chickens tunnelling,
and travelling on trolleys down the tunnel. This is a reference to The Great Escape,
in which the escapers also travel on trolleys through the tunnel.
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 coop that Ginger lives
in is numbered 17, apparently an homage to Stalag 17.
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).
Rocky is introduced shouting "Freedooooommm!"
in a slightly comedic manner. This alludes to a line of Mel Gibson's portrayal
of William Wallace in the movie Braveheart.
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 Bartlett
and Hilts.
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"
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.
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 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. Furthermore, the model aeroplane is of a moderately successful
RAF bomber of the early war period, the Whitley.
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, 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]
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".
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!"
The Great Escape also includes a Scotsman called "Mac", played by
Gordon Jackson, who acts as Bartlett the escape leader's second-in-command, much
like this Mac is to Ginger.
The promo title featured on posters for the film,
"C:R-1", was a spoof of the promo title "M:I-2" for the film
Mission: Impossible II. A teaser trailer included on the DVD spoofed Mission:
Impossible II with scenes from Chicken Run.
The entire plot is very similar
to the Colditz Glider attempt
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