Post by klep on Feb 4, 2019 7:45:22 GMT -6
MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 2/4: Chicken Run
KIDS' MOVIES WEEK!
One time when I was a kid I was sleeping over at my best friend's place and he had something to show me. He put the tape in, and I was greeted by a rarity - stop-motion animation of a befuddled inventor and his clever dog. Wallace & Grommit was my introduction to Aardman Animations, and really my only significant exposure to them before Chicken Run.
Chicken Run was Aardman's first full-length feature film. Directed by Peter Lord and Nick Park, it tells a tale of a bunch of chickens trying to escape the farm before they're turned into pies. It stars a young hen named Ginger (Julia Sawalha) trying and failing to save her hapless flock when a young rooster named Rocky (Mel Gibson) lands in their pen. Ginger, sensing opportunity, tries to get Rocky to teach them to fly, but Rocky isn't all he's cracked up to be.
It's a simple story, but well-executed. Lord & Park do an excellent job setting the stakes early on - not shying away from a hen's slaughter - but also are great at establishing great heart among the chickens. Ginger's flock is hapless and kind of stupid, but they're kind and have a strong sense of community. For her part, Ginger could probably easily escape at any time, but she refuses to leave without her flock. Even Mel Gibson was still reasonably uncontroversial at the time (though today it's a bit weird having his voice there).
But what makes Chicken Run special is the warmth and cleverness of the animation. Aardman's greatest strength has always been the expressiveness of its characters' faces. Lord & Park are able to achieve a wide range of emotions by virtue of the studio's characteristic exaggerated facial features - big eyes and bigger mouths make it easier to achieve both finer subtlety and greater effect.
Beyond that the characters are exquisitely designed. The Tweedys (Tony Haygarth and Miranda Richardson) are bumbling and cruel respectively, perfectly caricatured representations of their respective archetypes. And the hens all seem to have something unique and distinctive about them; Ginger has her beanie, Babs (Jane Horrocks) has the scarf and glasses, Fowler (Benjamin Whitrow) has his who delightful blue-blooded war vet thing going on; one hen is even knitting through the entire film. It gives all of the characters personality and depth that is lacking in the background characters in a lot of more cookie-cutter kids films.
Despite Chicken Run's box office success, it's rare to see a stop-motion film these days. Stop-motion used to be the only way you could achieve a certain reality - a weight to impossible creatures - but the maturation of CGI has largely replaced it. It's a shame, because stop-motion has a character to it that CGI just can't achieve yet - in some shots you can literally see the creators' fingerprints on the models. Hopefully it will never disappear entirely; it's too warm, too personal, and too much a part of film history to be allowed to vanish.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 2/11: Arsenic and Old Lace
1940s WEEK!
This Frank Capra classic about a man who discovers murdering runs in the family is our next pick for Movie of the Week! Join us next week for our discussion. Arsenic and Old Lace is available for rent from Vudu, Google Play, YouTube, and apparently pretty much anywhere that's not Amazon.
NEXT PICTURE SHOW PODCAST for 2/5: American Movie
The next edition of the Next Picture Show podcast takes a look at two Chris Smith documentaries about questionable enterprises. First up is American Movie, a chronicle of Mark Borchardt's struggle to complete his dream project - his own independent film. We'll have a thread for discussion on Wednesday. American Movie is available for rent on Amazon Video, though it is not free for Prime members.
KIDS' MOVIES WEEK!
One time when I was a kid I was sleeping over at my best friend's place and he had something to show me. He put the tape in, and I was greeted by a rarity - stop-motion animation of a befuddled inventor and his clever dog. Wallace & Grommit was my introduction to Aardman Animations, and really my only significant exposure to them before Chicken Run.
Chicken Run was Aardman's first full-length feature film. Directed by Peter Lord and Nick Park, it tells a tale of a bunch of chickens trying to escape the farm before they're turned into pies. It stars a young hen named Ginger (Julia Sawalha) trying and failing to save her hapless flock when a young rooster named Rocky (Mel Gibson) lands in their pen. Ginger, sensing opportunity, tries to get Rocky to teach them to fly, but Rocky isn't all he's cracked up to be.
It's a simple story, but well-executed. Lord & Park do an excellent job setting the stakes early on - not shying away from a hen's slaughter - but also are great at establishing great heart among the chickens. Ginger's flock is hapless and kind of stupid, but they're kind and have a strong sense of community. For her part, Ginger could probably easily escape at any time, but she refuses to leave without her flock. Even Mel Gibson was still reasonably uncontroversial at the time (though today it's a bit weird having his voice there).
But what makes Chicken Run special is the warmth and cleverness of the animation. Aardman's greatest strength has always been the expressiveness of its characters' faces. Lord & Park are able to achieve a wide range of emotions by virtue of the studio's characteristic exaggerated facial features - big eyes and bigger mouths make it easier to achieve both finer subtlety and greater effect.
Beyond that the characters are exquisitely designed. The Tweedys (Tony Haygarth and Miranda Richardson) are bumbling and cruel respectively, perfectly caricatured representations of their respective archetypes. And the hens all seem to have something unique and distinctive about them; Ginger has her beanie, Babs (Jane Horrocks) has the scarf and glasses, Fowler (Benjamin Whitrow) has his who delightful blue-blooded war vet thing going on; one hen is even knitting through the entire film. It gives all of the characters personality and depth that is lacking in the background characters in a lot of more cookie-cutter kids films.
Despite Chicken Run's box office success, it's rare to see a stop-motion film these days. Stop-motion used to be the only way you could achieve a certain reality - a weight to impossible creatures - but the maturation of CGI has largely replaced it. It's a shame, because stop-motion has a character to it that CGI just can't achieve yet - in some shots you can literally see the creators' fingerprints on the models. Hopefully it will never disappear entirely; it's too warm, too personal, and too much a part of film history to be allowed to vanish.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 2/11: Arsenic and Old Lace
1940s WEEK!
This Frank Capra classic about a man who discovers murdering runs in the family is our next pick for Movie of the Week! Join us next week for our discussion. Arsenic and Old Lace is available for rent from Vudu, Google Play, YouTube, and apparently pretty much anywhere that's not Amazon.
NEXT PICTURE SHOW PODCAST for 2/5: American Movie
The next edition of the Next Picture Show podcast takes a look at two Chris Smith documentaries about questionable enterprises. First up is American Movie, a chronicle of Mark Borchardt's struggle to complete his dream project - his own independent film. We'll have a thread for discussion on Wednesday. American Movie is available for rent on Amazon Video, though it is not free for Prime members.