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Chicken Run is a 2000 animated adventure film comedy film directed by Peter Lord and Nick Park and written by Karey Kirkpatrick from an original story by Lord and Park. Produced by Pathé and Aardman Features in partnership with DreamWorks Animation, it is Aardman's first feature-length film. 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 Anthropomorphism 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 released in the United States on 23 June 2000 and in the United Kingdom on 30 June 2000. It 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 .
A sequel, titled , was released on Netflix on 15 December 2023.
One night, Ginger sees an American rooster named Rocky Rhodes glide over the farm's fences and crash-land; the chickens put his sprained wing in a cast and hide him from the Tweedys, who have been 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, threatening to turn him in if he refuses. Rocky reluctantly gives them training lessons. One evening, a load of equipment is delivered to the farm, containing the parts for a Pot pie machine that Mrs Tweedy has ordered as part of a plan to convert the farm into a profitable pie-making factory. When the Tweedys increase the chickens' food rations and ignore the decline in egg production, Ginger deduces that the couple's new plan is to fatten the chickens for slaughter. 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 talks Rocky into agreeing to give a flying demonstration the next day. 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 escaped overnight, 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, making them realize that their chance to learn how to fly has been crushed. In the midst of being devastated, Ginger is inspired by elderly rooster Fowler's stories of his time in the Royal Air Force to build an aircraft to flee the farm. The chickens assemble parts for the plane as Mr Tweedy fixes the pie-making machine. Meanwhile, Rocky comes across a billboard advertising Mrs Tweedy's chicken pies and returns to the farm out of guilt.
Mrs Tweedy orders Mr Tweedy to gather all the chickens for the machine, but the chickens subdue him and finish the plane, which Ginger persuades Fowler to pilot. As the plane approaches the take-off ramp, Mr Tweedy manages to knock over the ramp before being knocked out; Ginger races to reset the ramp, but a now-alerted Mrs Tweedy attacks her. Before Mrs Tweedy can hurt Ginger, Rocky returns and subdues her, before helping Ginger re-raise the ramp, allowing the plane to take flight. Rocky and Ginger grab onto the runway lights, which have been snagged by the departing plane. An axe-wielding Mrs Tweedy follows them by climbing up the lights, but Ginger tricks Mrs Tweedy into cutting the line, sending her falling into the pie machine, blocking the safety valve and causing the machine to explode in a mushroom cloud of gravy.
The chickens celebrate their victory after defeating the Tweedys 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 continued their romantic relationship. Nick and Fetcher, two rats that had helped the chickens throughout the escape, decide to set up their own egg farm, but they fall into a circular debate over whether they must use a chicken or egg to start it.
When a chicken speaks, each sound corresponds to a different beak that was placed on the character.
Pathé agreed to finance the film in 1996, putting their finances into script development and model design. DreamWorks officially came on board in 1997. They beat out studios including Disney, 20th Century Fox (which had distributed many of Aardman's earlier projects, including the Wallace & Gromit shorts, in the U.S.), and Warner Bros. (which had also distributed some of Aardman's earlier projects in the U.S.) and largely won due to the perseverance of DreamWorks co-chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg; as a company they were eager to make their presence felt in the animation market in an attempt to compete with Disney's dominance of the field. Katzenberg explained that he had "been chasing these guys for five or six years, ever since I first saw Creature Comforts." DreamWorks secured their first animated feature with the film, and they handled distribution in all territories except Europe, which Pathé handled. The two studios co-financed the film. DreamWorks also retains rights to worldwide merchandising.
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave three and a half stars out of four, writing: "So it truly is a matter of life and death for the chickens to escape from the Tweedy Chicken Farm in Chicken Run, a magical new animated film that looks and sounds like no other. Like the otherwise completely different Babe, this is a movie that uses animals as surrogates for our hopes and fears, and as the chickens run through one failed escape attempt after another, the charm of the movie wins us over."
Chicken Run and its sequel have been noted for their depiction of feminism, revolution, Marxism, veganism and fascism. According to Florentine StrzeIczyk, Chicken Run points to the way that masculinity and femininity are mediated in popular film genres. It also received attention for its female-led cast. Film School Rejects called the movie feminist, noting that "the stereotypical 'woman's work' of these female chickens (such as their sewing and knitting) is crucial in constructing their mechanism for escape and vital towards the revolution itself."
| Annie Awards | Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Theatrical Feature | |
| Outstanding Individual Achievement for Directing in an Animated Feature Production (Nick Park and Peter Lord) | ||
| Outstanding Individual Achievement for Writing in an Animated Feature Production (Karey Kirkpatrick) | ||
| British Academy Film Awards | Best British Film | |
| Best Visual Effects | ||
| British Academy Children's Awards | Feature Film | |
| Broadcast Film Critics | Best Animated Feature | |
| Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics | ||
| Empire Awards | Best British Director (Nick Park and Peter Lord) | |
| Best British Film | ||
| Best Debut (Nick Park and Peter Lord) | ||
| European Film Awards | Best Film | |
| Florida Film Critics | Best Animated Feature | |
| Genesis Awards | Best Feature Film | |
| Golden Globe Awards | Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy | |
| Kansas City Film Critics | Best Animated Feature | |
| Las Vegas Film Critics | Best Family Film | |
| Los Angeles Film Critics | Best Animated Feature | |
| National Board of Review | ||
| New York Film Critics | ||
| Phoenix Film Critics | ||
| Best Family Film | ||
| Best Original Score (John Powell and Harry Gregson-Williams) | ||
| Satellite Awards | Best Motion Picture—Animated or Mixed Media | |
| Best Sound | ||
| Southeastern Film Critics | Best Film |
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment released Chicken Run on Blu-ray in North America on 22 January 2019.
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