If you saw The Great Escape, you may recall that Steve McQueen took on the role of red herring to distract his German captors while the real escape attempt was developing. He kept trying to escape, kept getting caught and kept getting thrown into solitary. Our heroine in this movie, Ginger, keeps hatching escape attempts (NO PUN INTENDED!) and has the bad luck to always be the one getting caught in the act and thrown into solitary. It is one of the best references in the movie, and there are many.

This is a cute movie, and the love story is fairly believable. I am a Mel Gibson fan and I kept trying to get that "Mel" feeling. I had a hard time, it didn't even quite sound like Mel to me. But, I believe what I'm told (sometimes).

My favorite characters in this movie were the owners of the chicken farm, especially the wife. Comparisons have already been made between her and Cruella DeVille from 101 Dalmations. I would like to carry it even one step further and say that her and her husband are like Cruella and her two bumbling assistants all rolled into two. The interaction between them is a hoot to watch. Talk about hen pecked!(PUN INTENDED!)

I am a fan of the Grommet shorts and I have never been distracted by the animation technique used when I've seen them. Here however, for some reason I was distracted when they spoke, it looked like they have a mouth full of marbles. But it was no big deal. Maybe it was because they had to be made to speak English with beaks.

There was one other thing that bothered me a little and I'm not sure if it would bother children. It was the cavalier way that the hens treated their eggs - their children. They knew they were valuable to the farmers, but they didn't have any maternal feelings toward them. At one point they actually use them to barter with some rats, who it is clear want to eat them. These very same eggs end up being used as ammo (splat!) in the big chase scene near the end.

I do recommend this movie for families, despite the above. If you are a fan of this type of animation, check it out. But don't check it out just because you are a Mel Gibson fan. You'll probably be disappointed.



Recommended: Yes