2026: Okay so these Flashback reviews are kind of a mess. I’m not sure if I should write a whole different review and post both (see The Nightmare Before Christmas), or just post the original with minimal commentary, or what. But this one? I did it dirty not originally giving it a full 6pack for Look. And the story pops up a half beer. So this is what you get, for this one...
You know what’s even more entertaining than chickens? British chickens. Main Hen Ginger really is the Papillon of chickens. And Coop 17? Hmm, where have I encountered that number before? Great humor and references throughout. Thoroughly enjoyable. Even more so today, given what has transpired in the world of cinema and its CGI laziness in the 26 years since this release. You can’t exactly “fix it in post” when it’s stop-motion animation. You got a good product, you stick with it till the end.
The Better rating? It’s not exactly nostalgia, it’s just somewhat subjective comparison to the overall entertainment value of movies then versus now. I honestly try to make my reviews as objective as possible, but sometimes the beer and love for a beautifully animated film takes precedence. Plus, if this gets traction with those whacky Brits again, it lays out the perfect blueprints of how they can escape their now fully Orwelled country. Sad. Good thing this one has some funny bits to see them through!
Really is beautifully modeled. Not sure why I copped out on not giving this one a 6-pack for Look. It’s not just the smoother animation than past projects, it’s the style that it’s presented in. Nicely done voice-work by an accentless Mel Gibson doing as the Rogue American Cock. Can I even say that on the interwebs in this day and age? Guess we will see, as Orwell continues to spin in his now windfarm-powered grave. This is an enjoyable movie. Great dialogue. Nice references even if you don’t catch them all.
And Ending with the Chicken vs Egg conundrum? Perfect. Dammit. Now I have to watch their 2024 outing: Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl. I’m sure I’ll have no regrets though. Hopefully. Times be a-changin, and those Brits have gotten a bit...wankered...as of late.
Original review, brief and succinct, follows…
If chickens actually had opposable thumbs, they would be our masters. At least in the mind of Nick Park, creator of the Wallace & Gromit series of claymation shorts. In this feature-length story, he takes his english humor (humour?) and talent and applies it to chickens.
Life is meaningless for the chickens entrapped at Mrs. Tweedy's chicken farm. Between its drab, stockade-like life and fear of the hatchet for not producing enough eggs, it makes for a dreary existence, particularly for one particular chicken, Ginger. She could easily escape by herself, but knows it's no use without busting out all her friends as well. After multiple failed attempts, redemption seems to come in the form of the American rooster Rocky, whose ability to "fly" may just be the ticket out they're all looking for before Mrs. Tweedy does in the lot of them.
What we get again from Nick Park and crew is some great characters and wacky contraptions that could only be believable in the world he's fashioned together. While not quite as endearing as the characters of Wallace & Gromit, it's still loads of fun for kids and parents alike, without resorting to juvenile pranks and lightly masked sexual innuendoes that seem to pop up in a lot of the CG animations as of late.
