Hey, all. "Moriarty" here. NORDLING, the author of this review, is one of our regulars in the chat room, and an all-around good cat. When he told me that he was taking his sprout to see CHICKEN RUN today, I asked him to send us something that would sum up how he and his daughter experienced the movie together. Let's face it... as much as I would encourage all film geeks to see this several dozen times in the theater, it's going to the the parent/child business that will either drive this to success or doom it to failure. NORDLING's reaction is the one that DreamWorks has to worry about most... and it sounds like it's no worry at all. Take a look.
Well, where do I start.
A year ago, I read Harry and Moriarty's infiltration of Burger King just to find out more scoops about this project. I had heard of Nick Park and Peter Lord before, of course, through Wallace and Gromit and Creature Comforts, but although I liked them a lot, they really never inspired me all that much.
Until about 2 months ago.
At that time, my daughter - we'll call her Nordette - was getting old enough for me to show her the finer things in animation. Iron Giant was a must, and, like her old man, she loved it. She especially loved the scene where the Giant chews down on an electrical power plant. And Toy Story - those were musts. "To-oys!" she said, like the little boy in Close Encounters. We saw Toy Story 2 twice in the theater together.
Mind you, she's not even 2 yet. A movie geek in the making.
So, I bought Wallace and Gromit. And she was hooked. As was I. Looking at those lovely shorts through a child's eyes...I can't tell you how beautiful, how funny, how moving those cartoons are. When Wallace's Breakfast-and-Dresser machine pops those sleeves on his arms, my daughter raises her arms just like him. When Gromit hangs upside down in the TechnoTrousers, my daughter would lean her head over to look.
So my anticipation for Chicken Run was growing daily. I get REALLY excited about movies (just ask my wife, who puts up with it), so the excitement of taking my daughter to this was...well, pretty big.
No bull. Chicken Run will be remembered forever like Toy Story, or E.T., or Wizard of Oz. One of the best children's films ever made.
This film was brilliant - on a technical level, voiceovers, and sheer joy of storycraft and dialogue. Mel Gibson is a great Rocky - funny, aloof, and when the time comes, fiercely heroic. Unfortunately I didn't get the name of the actress who played Ginger, but she was very much the anchor of the film. After about 1 minute I quickly got over my "How'd they do that" phase and just sat back and enjoyed the tale. I don't want to spoil too much...but the commercials says it all, plotwise.
As for my daughter...she watched the whole thing. When she saw the chickens making their many attempts to escape, she giggled. When Rocky the Lone Free Ranger (God, I love that line) made his appearance, she clapped. And when the plan finally went underway, she cheered.
There are such moments of joy in Chicken Run. This is a movie that should be hailed from the mountaintop. So many groups cry out that there just isn't enough good films for families anymore. Well, if you don't go (a la IRON GIANT) they won't make them. Go to this.
On the way out of the theater I asked my daughter, "Did you like it?" She pointed at the poster of Ginger and said "Chicken! Chicken!" She never said chicken before.
She'll be saying it a lot in the future. I will be sure of that. Because we will be seeing Chicken Run some more. It's a wonderful, beautiful movie. If you think I'm just fueling the Hype Engine, go ahead. I know crap, and I know classics. Chicken Run is a classic.
Thank you, Harry and Moriarty, for your burger King spy work. It will be forever appreciated. If you hadn't, I might not have seen this.
