Advanced Search >
Help Me Search

Movies

Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores

Wide Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Limited Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

58 (Untitled)
96 35 Shots of Rum
56 Adam
72 Adela
39 Adventures of Power
78 Afghan Star
61 After the Storm
66 Afterschool
xx All the Best
58 American Casino
72 Amreeka
48 Antichrist
73 Araya
62 Art & Copy
55 As Seen Through These Eyes
76 Baader Meinhof Complex, The
86 Beaches of Agnes, The
13 Beautiful Life, A
70 Beeswax
35 Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
71 Big Fan
66 Black Dynamite
51 Blind Date
xx Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly
76 Bliss
35 Blue Tooth Virgin, The
26 Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
57 Boys Are Back, The
45 Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
81 Bright Star
70 Bronson
45 Burning Plain, The
xx Carriers
55 Casi Divas
57 Chelsea on the Rocks
62 Cloud 9
65 Coco Before Chanel
69 Cold Souls
59 Collapse
44 Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha
82 Cove, The
75 Crude
82 Damned United, The
67 Departures
xx Dil Bole Hadippa
71 Disgrace
xx Do Knot Disturb
70 Earth Days
24 Eating Out 3: All You Can Eat
85 Education, An
55 Endgame
xx Eulogy for a Vampire
xx Everyone Else
xx Fatal Promises
56 Fifty Dead Men Walking
62 Five Minutes of Heaven
74 Flame & Citron
49 Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution
80 Food, Inc.
28 Free Style
xx From Mexico with Love
50 Fuel
25 Gentlemen Broncos
50 Give Me Your Hand
58 Gogol Bordello Non-Stop
72 Good Hair
89 Goodbye Solo
52 Grace
66 Harmony and Me
81 Headless Woman, The
xx Heretics, The
63 Horse Boy, The
73 House of the Devil, The
xx How to Seduce Difficult Women
74 Humpday
94 Hurt Locker, The
29 I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
16 If One Thing Matters: A Film About Wolfgang Tillmans
75 In Search of Beethoven
83 In the Loop
61 Intimate Enemies
42 Irene in Time
70 It Might Get Loud
46 Killing Kasztner
19 Labor Day
xx Laila's Birthday
41 Little Ashes
41 Little Traitor, The
66 Liverpool
34 Looking for Palladin
80 Lorna's Silence
83 Maid, The
xx Ministers, The
59 More Than a Game
67 Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, The
34 Motherhood
62 My One and Only
xx Mystery Team
48 New York, I Love You
73 Night and Day
66 No Impact Man
47 Ong Bak 2: The Beginning
34 Other Man, The
xx Painter Sam Francis, The
54 Paper Heart
xx Paradise
68 Paranormal Activity
68 Paris
44 Peter and Vandy
35 Play the Game
77 Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
xx Pretty Ugly People
65 Providence Effect, The
76 Rembrandt's J'accuse
69 September Issue, The
79 Serious Man, A
40 Shrink
61 Skin
77 Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake, A
xx Skiptracers
46 Splinterheads
39 St. Trinian's
89 Still Walking
50 Stoning of Soraya M., The
55 Storm
65 Tetro
70 That Evening Sun
72 Thirst
xx Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D (re-release)
61 Trucker
xx Turning Green
83 U2 3D
66 Unmade Beds
66 Unmistaken Child
70 Visual Acoustics
55 Walt & El Grupo
67 Way We Get By, The
69 We Live in Public
64 Wedding Song, The
64 Where is Where?
xx White on Rice
74 Woman in Berlin, A
69 World's Greatest Dad
70 Yes Men Fix the World
69 Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg
xx You, the Living

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Chicken Run

EMAILPRINTDreamWorks

Chicken Run reviews
88
7.0 User Score:

Movie Info

Genre(s): Family/Kids

Written by: Peter Lord (story)
Nick Park (story)
Karey Kirkpatrick

Directed by: Peter Lord
Nick Park

Release Date:
Theatrical: June 21, 2000
DVD: November 21, 2000

Running Time: 84 minutes, Color

Origin: UK

Summary

RATING: G for General Audiences

Starring Mel Gibson, Julia Sawalha, and Miranda Richardson

A claymation spoof of classic prison-camp flicks like "The Great Escape." One of the birds hatches a plot to fly the coop at Tweedy's Chicken Farm.

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

It's aimed at adults as much as children, with jokes that work on multiple levels, and contraptions.

100

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

People who have seen it seem to be crazy about it.

Read Full Review >
100

San Francisco Chronicle Peter Stack

It will be the most talked-about comedy of summer.

Read Full Review >
100

Washington Post Desson Thomson

The visual comedy is brilliant.

Read Full Review >
100

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

It's a purely winning film.

100

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

The suspense isn't exactly breathtaking, but there are some mighty fine laughs in this clever Claymation cartoon.Family fun for all.

Read Full Review >
91

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

A delightful, perceptive, funny, detail-perfect fable.

Read Full Review >
90

Mr. Showbiz Kevin Maynard

Flock (don't walk) to the theater to see Chicken Run.

90

Dallas Observer Gregory Weinkauf

Gleefully blurs the line between species. Vive la révolution!

Read Full Review >
90

The New York Times A.O. Scott

Doesn't try to cram messages of uplift down its audience's gullet. It's a great eggscape from banality.

Read Full Review >
90

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Never loses its priceless stamp of individuality. Reduced to its essence, this is a joke told by a person, not a corporation--and that makes all the difference.

Read Full Review >
90

LA Weekly F. X. Feeney

A delirious fable about every creature's need for espace.

Read Full Review >
90

Newsweek David Ansen

It starts quietly, introducing its splendid gallery of fowl, rats and humans, then builds and builds until it achieves full comic liftoff.

90

Variety Todd McCarthy

Technically superb and witty in an old-fashioned, veddy British way that will delight many adults but will sail over the heads of young audiences.

Read Full Review >
90

Film.com Tom Keogh

Finally, there's a female action hero for the summer of 2000, and she's a . . . chicken. But a chicken to believe in.

Read Full Review >
90

Film.com John Hartl

All but guarantees that you'll want to see Chicken Run more than once.

Read Full Review >
90

Salon.com Michael Sragow

This movie's cornucopia of humorous riffs and stunts never fails to amuse or enthrall because it never ceases to be unexpected.

Read Full Review >
90

TNT RoughCut Heather Fehere

A movie that kids may want to see again and again, and adults will be happy to oblige.

90

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

It may sound silly, but Lord and Park conjure up a world of visual miracles.

90

Slate David Edelstein

Poetry in motion: It's eggsquisite.

Read Full Review >
90

Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector

A scene set inside the chicken-pie-making machinery proves that the Rube Goldberg formula is infallible.

Read Full Review >
90

Film.com Sean Means

That rare movie, a clever and unabashedly fun adventure that has as many winning moments as it has hen's teeth -- which is quite a lot.

Read Full Review >
88

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Not only funny and wicked, clever and visually inventive, but . . . kind and sweet. Tender and touching.

Read Full Review >
88

USA Today Susan Wloszczyna

A little slapstick, a little action, rich characters and a whopping serving of wit. All baked to near-perfection.

88

Boston Globe Jay Carr

There's nothing paltry about its poultry.

88

San Francisco Examiner Wesley Morris

Imbued with infectious pluck. It's also a lucid, competent, titanically entertaining movie loaded with workable gags.

Read Full Review >
88

New York Daily News Staff (Not Credited)

Funny, even thrilling.

Read Full Review >
88

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

A bizarre, thrilling, warmly funny spoof of the WWII Steve McQueen prison camp thriller, "The Great Escape" remade for a near all-chicken cast.

Read Full Review >
88

New York Post Jonathan Foreman

It is not only an amazing technical accomplishment, it's also the wittiest and best-voiced animated movie to come along in years.

80

TV Guide Stephen Miller

Who'd have thought you'd find yourself caring so much about the fate of a flock of fryers? This chicken has legs -- lots of them.

Read Full Review >
78

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

Absolutely delightful filmmaking, chock-full of gorgeously goofy animation and a storyline that cleverly echoes everything from "Stalag 17" to "Cool Hand Luke."

Read Full Review >
75

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

The package is perfectly irresistible.

75

Baltimore Sun Ann Hornaday

That rare kids' movie that may be even more entertaining for its intended audience's adult companions.

40

Village Voice J. Hoberman

A combination of "Barnyard Follies" and "Schindler's List."

Read Full Review >

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 7.0 (out of 10) based on 27 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Per M gave it an8:
A very good movie that contains jokes and interesting scenes for kids and adults alike. Sure, there are things that could be done in other ways, but it is certainly entertaining, funny and clever enough as it is.

Connor gave it a9:
A fun, entertaining film with plenty of uniquely English humor.

Panhandle M. gave it a10:
I ate a sandwich this morning and I was reminded of Chicken Run...what a spectacular film that was. It seems so far away now. Everything was simpler then.

Patrick D. gave it an8:
A great movie.

Scott J. gave it a10:
Chicken Run is a wonderful movie for both children and adults. It is from Aardman Studios, the makers of the delightful British clay-mation Wallace and Gromit short films, about an eccentric inventor and his dog. These guys have mastered clay-mation and turned it into a form of art, winning 3 Academy Awards so far. Chicken Run keeps both the style and the heart of the Wallace and Gromit series, but features chickens as the main characters. They are prisoners in a POW-style chicken coop and desperately want to escape from their increasingly evil owner, Mrs. Tweedee, when a handsome stranger (voiced by Mel Gibson) lands in their midst and offers them hope. The youngest children (like my 4-year-old) might be scared by an off-screen beheading of one of the chickens and some of the tense chase scenes, but other than that the movie has lots of harmless fun and several gently-applied messages about perseverance and loyalty. Adults (like me) will appreciate the amazing humanity that the artists bring to these lumps of clay, and marvel that an entire movie can be made, and made very well, by such a labor-intensive manual technique.

Andrew M gave it a 7:
Chicken Run is very entertaining. It is also very original. And it is very distinctive. But unfortunately it doesn't quite reach its potential. I think its brought slightly undone in, and by, its more earnest moments; it just loses some magic, seems more ordinary. It shines more in the madcap nature that permeates through most of the story...the crazy antics in the coop are endlessly more enjoyable than, for eg, the sensitive, poignant moments shared between the 'lead chooks'. The story itself makes big promises; there are periods, no doubt, when you feel that the film is about to really lift off and take you on a wonderful journey...but at best it only ever flies as competently and comfortably as the lumbering mechanical 'bird' at the end. In the main though, this film is a wonderful achievement and will leave you feeling pretty well treated afterwards.

Grace gave it a 0:
Oh man, how much worse could it get??

Read more user comments >

Popular on CBS sites: SEC Football | NFL | Video Game Cheats | iPhone | Video Game Reviews | Notebooks | Antivirus Software

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use