Chicken Run

Nick Park, creator of the Wallace & Gromit shorts, has teamed up with codirector Peter Lord, America's own DreamWorks, a $45 million budget and a nearly omnipresent publicity campaign to bring us all "Chicken Run." For those of you who were enchanted by the W&G shorts, that previous sentence probably was enough to induce you to see this flick. Yet some otherwise humor-loving Americans found the W&G shorts to be too cute by half, like Jeeves and Wooster but with adorableness substituted for insults about mental capacity, and may be undecided about whether to go see this film or not.

Rest assured, "Chicken Run" retains all of the virtues of Park's previous works and none of their flaws. Park's impeccable craftsmanship shines as always, the visuals are if anything even more amazing than in the W&G shorts, and the humor manages the difficult feat of amusing both adults and children, even while operating under the handicap of a G rating. Ladies and gentlemen, if you like pure flat-out humor, this is a movie you need to put down this paper and see right now.

So why are you reading this sentence? Do you need further justification? Ah, well. The high-concept phrasing of this film's plot is "The Great Escape" with chickens, and the film certainly makes numerous references to that classic tale of imprisoned, soon-to-be-executed men making a break for it (most notably in the score). But this is not just a movie for Steve McQueen-o-philes; Park and company absolutely bombard the viewer with parodic film references, from other classic POW movies like "Stalag 17" to modern classics like "Alien" to modern crap like "Air Force One." The presence of Mel Gibson as the strutting, flying rooster Rocky also provides occasion for satiric merriment, especially when the two rats note during the closing credits that "all that rooster had to do was show up and he got all the credit."

Yet a movie that partakes only of parodies is a thin one indeed, and it is to Park's credit that he explores all methods of creating amusement. While the dialogue is pretty tame for an audience used to the hilarious scatological exuberance of movies like "Me, Myself & Irene," it is nonetheless witty as you could possibly want. Furthermore, the cast, including Julia Sawalha as Ginger the smart hen and Jane Horrocks as Babs the dumb hen, delivers the dialogue expertly. (Is it any wonder that both of these two hail from the much-loved Brit comedy "Absolutely Fabulous"?) Park manages the neat trick of justifying his endless punning by placing the puns in the mouths of the two rats, showing that a pun is indeed the lowest form of humor while getting his laughs anyway.

Impressively for a claymation film, where each movement must be meticulously planned, "Chicken Run" excels in the arts of spontaneous physical humor, such as people falling down at the end of scenes, which is a constant delight. And of course, Park is unrivaled at creating lush comic tableaux with the quirky appearances of his characters and sets; the final showdown between the chickens and the evil mistress of the farm (Miranda Richardson) is both visually gorgeous and humorously priceless.

Besides the obvious and fulfilled potential for a reluctant romance between Ginger and Rocky, "Chicken Run" even manages to squeeze in a bit of pulse-pounding action, which will no doubt delight those whose dates have diverted them from seeing "Mission: Impossible 2" again. Park makes the claymation so kinetic and seamless, you'll wish more action scenes were filmed this way.

What we have before us now is the best comedy of the year thus far, a treat for everyone, one of the nicest summer bon-bons to be served to us in recent years. It's cute enough for kids, funny enough for adults, clean enough for Pat Robertson, and witty enough for Oscar Wilde. If you've read all the way to the end of this review, you have no doubt wasted valuable minutes of your day not seeing "Chicken Run," and while I thank you for the attention, you probably should be running to the theater right now.

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