Chicken Run (Animated) (Wide Screen) > Reviews > Runaway from it now

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Disliked it
Story	Very ordinary
Characters / Performances	Satisfactory
Special Effects	Good
How does it compare to similar films?	Satisfactory

Advantages:	SOme funny moments, action towards the end, a lot of effort has gone into making it, films before this one were all good, good animation
Disadvantages:	Far too many of the same kind of ideas, not eccentric enough, doesn't come up to quality of Wallace and Gromit, too dark, not enough comedy

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

Whilst most people are familiar with, and love the 'Wallace and Gromit' animated series created by Aardman animations, very few people who I have talked to about this movie (which was created by the same team of engineers and animators) actually enjoyed it anywhere near as much. Personally, I think that I went to see the movie with too high-an-expectation. Knowing that the 'Wallace and Gromit' films have been as good as they have been in the past, I was looking for something that was going to exceed that and I didn't get it. In fact, that was the whole reason that I went to see the film at the cinema but I alongside most of my friends who have seen the film have been disappointed. However, very young children seem entertained when, towards the end of the movie, some action begins to appear on the screen.

The movie is about a group of chickens who are constantly trying to escape from a farm before they get turned into dog food by the farmer. The plot is simple enough and the idea is original and the idea of them escaping death and conquering it brings a very traditional yet somewhat expected storyline to this movie. The predictable ending of them all getting away with it doesn't come without some troubles though, which makes the film slightly more intriguing and interesting.

However, the characters don't have the original charisma of Wallace and Gromit and Wendolene and all of the other characters that have preceded the movie which is where the start of the problems lie. Also, apart from the ending being able to be predicted by a 5 year old, the plot contains too many setbacks which are too repetitive and not enough action to be an entertaining enough movie.

The humour is also lacking, in as much as the few jokes that are within the movie are too 'British' and subtle for little children to understand and thus, along with the macabre background scenes and general lighting of the film make it too dark to be a comedy for children.

I appreciate that I am sounding very biased about this movie, as the animation is clever and unique throughout, and the concept is good, not to mention the fact that they have obviously tried so hard and spent a lot of time on the movie to make it popular with children. But to be quite blunt, harsh as it may be, the movie doesn't work.

I imagine that this film would be better on video than it is on the main screen, but to be quite frank, I wouldn't recommend this film to anyone as I don't think that anyone would enjoy it. Certainly don't go expecting a Wallace and Gromit Part 2, as you do expect all of the Disney movies to be of the same genre. It is a lot darker and nowhere near as full of eccentricities and idiosyncracies that make up the first few films that Aardman made. Certainly not a see-more-than-a-few-times type of film, you might like it, but personally I don't.