Cartoon Corner- Chicken Run

I’m having trouble finding a reaction to this one.



On the whole I find myself remembering the first few Dreamworks films more than they probably deserve, through a combination of having an affection for classical animation over computer and finding that the Shrek-model films were so formulaic that the more experimental and serious earlier films stick out in mind more.  And Prince of Egypt was certainly something that was gripping and lived up to my memories.

Chicken Run… I dunno.  Aside from a one liner I remembered vividly from the very first watch (“The chickens are revolting!” “Finally something we agree on.”), the only bit that jumped out at me here was Rocky’s introduction.  The utterly hungry looks they manage to get out of those chickens and Rocky’s clear delight at the situation is simultaneously funny as hell and kinda amazing because damn, I can’t imagine kids really twigging to it.

And really that’s the main take here, it’s really a movie that’s more for the adults in the audience, relying a lot on calling back to its inspiration and unspoken puns or aspects of the particular slice of Britain its set in.  If you’re familiar with mid-60s film and other WWII fiction there’s probably a lot there… and I say probably because in the main I’m not.  ‘fraid most of the war fiction I know is MASH in terms of attempting even the remotest sense of realism.  So… yeah, I’m either not quite old enough for quite enough of a history/film buff to really know a lot of the references, and without that it’s a clever movie without being a lot more than that.

Otherwise I should give a nod to some of the character beats.  While it’s not really a character film overall, I do want to say that Ginger is a pretty good lead and they do a good job of always getting you to root for her even though she’s a bit of a stick in the mud.  I also like that there’s not a huge confrontation with Rocky over the flying rooster bit; they’ve all put so much faith in him he can’t bring himself to admit the truth, but rather than some over dramatic reveal, he leaves with the evidence to let everyone piece it together themselves.  It’s not a noble thing to do or anything like that, but it feels a bit more natural to me than engineering some major reveal for a big public shaming, y’know?

Or maybe I’m just a weird asocial person.  That could be too.

Rating- 5/10