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June 23, 2000 (United States)
June 30, 2000 (United Kingdom)
Chicken Run is a 2000 animated adventure comedy film produced by Pathé and Aardman Animations in partnership with DreamWorks Animation. Aardman's first feature-length film, it was directed by Peter Lord and Nick Park (in their feature-length directorial debuts) from a screenplay by Karey Kirkpatrick and based on an original story by Lord and Park. The film stars the voices of Julia Sawalha, Mel Gibson, Tony Haygarth, Miranda Richardson, Phil Daniels, Lynn Ferguson, Timothy Spall, Imelda Staunton, and Benjamin Whitrow. Set in the countryside of Yorkshire, the plot centres on a group of British anthropomorphic chickens who see an American rooster named Rocky Rhodes as their only hope to escape the farm when their owners want to turn them into chicken pies.
Chicken Run was a critical and commercial success, grossing over $220 million and becoming the highest-grossing stop-motion animated film in history. At the time, this film was DreamWorks Animation's most successful release, but this was overtaken by Shrek the following year.
23 years later, a sequel, titled Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, was released on Netflix on 15 December 2023. Its Netflix release followed its world premiere at the 67th BFI London Film Festival on 14 October 2023, which would also see preview screenings taking place at UK cinemas at the same time.
Storyline[]
In post-World War II Yorkshire, a flock of chickens live on an egg farm structured like a prisoner-of-war camp. The farm is run by the cruel Mrs. Tweedy and her husband, Mr. Tweedy, who kill and eat any chicken that is no longer able to lay eggs. Led by the rebellious Ginger, the chickens constantly devise new ways to try to escape but are always caught. Mr. Tweedy suspects the chickens are organized and plotting resistance, but his wife dismisses his theories while being frustrated with making minuscule profits.
One day, Ginger witnesses an American rooster named Rocky Rhodes glide over the coop's fences and crash-land; the chickens put his sprained wing in a cast and hide him from the Tweedys, who were promised a handsome reward by Rocky's owner for his return. Inspired by Rocky's apparent flying abilities, Ginger begs him to help teach her and the other chickens to fly, so they can escape. Rocky gives them training lessons. That evening, the Tweedys have strange boxes delivered to them; they contain the parts to a machine that Mrs. Tweedy hopes will turn the farm into a full-scale, automated, and profitable chicken pie factory. When Ginger notices that the Tweedys have increased their food supplies while ignoring that some chickens have stopped laying eggs, she deduces that the Tweedys are planning to kill all of them for meat. After Ginger and Rocky get into an argument, Rocky holds a morale-boosting dance party during which it is revealed that his wing is healed. Ginger insists he demonstrates flying the next day, but Mr. Tweedy finishes assembling the machine and puts Ginger in it for a test run. Rocky saves her and sabotages the machine, buying them time to warn the chickens and plan an escape from the farm.
The next day, Ginger finds Rocky has left, leaving behind part of a poster that shows that he is in fact part of a "chicken cannonball" act with no ability to fly on his own. Ginger is inspired by elderly rooster Fowler's stories of his time in the Royal Air Force to create an aircraft to flee the farm. The chickens assemble parts for the plane, a deckchair as a take-off ramp and a line of Christmas lights for a runway as Mr. Tweedy fixes the machine. Mrs. Tweedy orders Mr. Tweedy to gather all the chickens for the machine, but the chickens attack him, leaving him gagged and bound as they finish the plane, which Ginger convinces Fowler to pilot.
Meanwhile, Rocky encounters a billboard advertising Mrs. Tweedy's chicken pies and returns to the farm out of guilt for abandoning the chickens. Mr. Tweedy knocks over the chair before being knocked out, then an alerted Mrs. Tweedy attacks Ginger as she helps the plane take off. She is subdued by Rocky, who leaves with Ginger by holding onto the lights, which have been snagged by the departing plane. Mrs. Tweedy follows by climbing up the lights with an axe; Ginger dodges an axe swipe which cuts through the line, sending Mrs. Tweedy falling into the safety valve of the pie machine and causing it to explode. Having freed himself, Mr. Tweedy reminds Mrs. Tweedy of his warning that the chickens were organized, causing her to growl at him until he pushes the still-standing barn door onto her.
The chickens celebrate their victory while Ginger and Rocky kiss, and they fly to an island bird sanctuary where they make their home. Sometime later, the chickens have settled into their new home, and Rocky and Ginger have started a romantic relationship. Nick and Fetcher, two rats that have been helping the chickens throughout the film decide to start their own egg farm, but they cannot agree on whether the chicken or the egg comes first in starting the farm.
Also See[]
Movie Trailer[]
Sound Effects Used[]
Image Gallery[]
Audio Samples[]
(The low pitched and slowed down edited version of Hollywoodedge, Big Metal Clangthud CRT031903 as heard in the film.)