Chicken Run
Directed by Peter Lord and Nick Park
By Poonam Khanna

Chicken Run is a World War II prison movie, an army training flick and a love story - all set on a chicken farm. It’s a formulaic movie with a brilliant twist guaranteed to elicit laughs. The movie, the first feature by famed Wallace & Gromit creators Peter Lord and Nick Park, borrows heavily from such classics as The Great Escape and cult hits as The Shawshank Redemption (the chickens, one of them points out, have been imprisoned mentally as well as physically). Ginger (Julia Sawalha of Absolutely Fabulous fame) is the leader of a group of chickens imprisoned on a chicken farm by the cruel Mrs. Tweedy (Miranda Richardson) and her bullied husband (Tony Haygarth). If the chickens stop producing eggs, the gluttonous and overbearing Mrs. Tweedy takes them out to the woodshed and serves them up for dinner.

In desperate attempts to avoid this fate, the chickens try again and again to escape from the farm - they dig tunnels and try going under the wire like their counterparts in the Great Escape. But they aren’t quite as skilled. Ginger decides they must all get out at once. When Rocky, a rooster voiced by Mel Gibson, comes flying over the fence and crashes into the farm, Ginger has her plan. She asks the rather arrogant Rocky (with whom all the chickens, except of course Ginger, fall in love) to teach the chickens how to fly. Like all good comedies, Chicken Run deals with some rather harsh realities. It has a dark side to it which makes the antics of the chickens all the more endearing (and which is likely to turn at least a few viewers permanently off chicken). If Chicken Run has one fault, it’s that it’s predictable - there’s never any doubt about just how the movie will end. But watching the chickens get there is still well worth it.
A Girl Is A Girl - Dir. by Reginald Harkema
Boys and Girls - Dir. by Robert Iscove
Butterfly - Dir. by Jose Luis Cuerda
Gone In Sixty Seconds - Dir. by Dominic Sena
Grass - Dir. by Ron Mann
The Color of Paradise - Dir. by Majid Majidi
The Idiots - Dir. by Lars von Trier
The Perfect Storm - Dir. by Wolfgang Peterson
Thin Lizzy - Are You Ready
Shot in 1981 for German TV series Rockpalast, Are You Ready doesn't showcase the late Phil Lynott and company at their peak, but this DVD still rocks. The popular notion about Ireland's Thin Lizzy is that the band declined after the 1978 landmark double album, Live and Dangerous... Full Review
Toro y Moi - Causers of This
Last year's most exhilarating subgenre alternated between the ridiculous names of "chillwave" and "glo-fi." Chaz Bundick, or Toro y Moi, may be the last of the bunch to have his say, but he has two reasons to be excited: Causers of This is the first of two albums he's prepared for 2010 and he... Full Review
Dallas and Travis Good
The centre of Blue Rodeo's universe is a non-descript building on the Danforth in Toronto, housing their management company Starfish Entertainment and their renowned Woodshed Recording Studio. If the band have any roommates at the Woodshed, then it's the Sadies.... Read More
Social Networking
• Be our friend on MySpace
• Be our fan on Facebook
• Tweet us on twitter
Viewing the June 2000 Issue: • Contents Page • News • Click Hear • Articles --> On the Cover  •  Points  •  Blab  •  Critics Cliches  •  Point of View  •  Questionnaire  •  Zines • Music Reviews --> Recently Reviewed  •  Aggressive Tendencies  •  Destination Out  •  Groove  •  Pop Rocks  •  Wood, Wires & Whiskey • Motion Reviews --> Recently Reviewed  •  Film Reviews • Music School --> N/A • Contests • Contact --> About Us  • Advertising  • Distribution  • Getting Reviewed  • Getting Published  • Letters To The Editor  • Partnerships  • Subscriptions • Exclaim! Radio --> Aggressive Tendencies Radio  • Beats & Rhymes Radio  • Frequencies Radio  • Destination Out Radio  • Groove Radio  • No Future Radio  • Pop Rocks Radio  • Wood, Wires & Whiskey Radio • Exclaim! TV • Home & Latest Issue • Browse Issues