Script: Make Sure Your Chicken Is In The Right Run

So, with the theatrical release of Wallace and Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, I’ve been right into claymation, and Wallace and Gromit in particular. Naturally I decided to check out some of Nick Park’s other stuff, and sat down to enjoy Chicken Run. And I did enjoy it, but I had this niggling feeling… that I was watching a romantic comedy. A live-action romantic comedy.

I’ve been thinking a lot about animation, and it seems to me that it’s important to pick stories that absolutely demand the animated format, rather than taking a story that could, with today’s CGI and special effects wizardry, just as easily be told live action.

I know, you’re saying, “What about the chickens? And what about the chicken pie-o-matic-thingy? How could that possibly have been live action?” I agree, that demanded to be animated. But aside from that stuff, it didn’t feel like an animated film.

The similarities between the chicken coop and a WWII POW camp were obvious and, I’m certain, intended. I have no problem with that in an animated film. And the romance between Ginger and Rocky was great, and again, not a problem in an animated film. But what bothered me was the humor, or lack thereof.

Animation is a visual thing, so I expect to see visual gags, things that would be impossible in live action. Things like Wallace’s amazing inventions and Gromit’s death-defying escapes via bastardizations of those same amazing inventions. The evil penguin in The Wrong Trousers masquerades, to great humorous effect, as a chicken simply by putting a rubber glove on his head, and who could forget that amazing climactic chase with the train set? That final sequence is the stuff wet clay dreams are made of, and all chase scenes to come in animated films will be measured against it.

Wallace and Gromit rely on a lot of visual communication, too. Gromit doesn’t speak, he communicates entirely through his expressions and his fantastic ears – and we always know exactly what he’s thinking. The Bunnies in Were-Rabbit are almost completely a visual gag as well, to great effect.

The problem with Chicken Run, at least for me, is that all the jokes and communication were dialogue-based. It felt like an incredibly ‘talkie’ film, for animation. And for that reason, I wasn’t sure why I didn’t just watch a period Great Escape-esque romantic comedy with Mel Gibson and Julia Sawalha throwing barbed lines right on the screen, instead of hiding behind a curtain of clay.

When it comes to animation, format is a genre, and you want to make sure you’re in the right one. I still love Nick Park, and Wallace and Gromit will have a place in my heart forever, but sadly, I don’t think this Chicken is marathon material.