By Steve Ryfle
Story
When greedy Mrs. Tweedy turns her egg farm into a chicken pie factory, the resident hens concoct a desperate, last-ditch plan to escape their fate behind the chicken wire. Farmer Tweedy knows the chickens are up to something, but his tight-ass wife insists that it's all in his 'ead.
Acting
You know Mel Gibson plays Rocky the Rooster, the would-be action-chicken, but chances are you've never heard of any of the wonderful British thesps who play the other poultry. Julia Sawalha of the Brit sitcom Absolutely Fabulous is the voice of Ginger, the heroic hen who leads the chickens to freedom. Jane Horrocks (Little Voice, and also of AbFab fame) plays a dim-witted egg-layer, and Phil Daniels and Timothy Spall are brilliant as Fletcher and Nick, a pair of rats with a penchant for thievery.
Direction
Co-directors Nick Park (of Wallace & Gromit fame) and Peter Lord (a founder of Britain's acclaimed Aardman Animation studio) have created an animated film that's visually inspired and entertaining throughout -- for adults, that is. You gotta wonder if the dreary chicken farm, with gray skies looming and a concentration camp-like atmosphere (not to mention all the thick Brit accents), will be a bit off-putting to the kiddies.