The chickens at the Tweedy's Chicken Farm in England are plotting their escape. Ginger is the ring leader and has some great plans, but it's not until Rocky arrives that a plausible plan comes together. Why not just fly out of the farm? Rocky works on training the hens to fly so they can escape before the Tweedy's new chicken pie machine is ready for production.
Mel Gibson voices Rocky, the only American character in the movie. Some great British actors lend their voices to the project - Jane Harrocks, Julia Salawha and Miranda Richardson.
I always wanted to like this movie a lot more than I do. It almost feels like somethings missing. Ginger is great, as is Mr Tweedy. The Rats though do give standout performances and almost steal the show from the hens.
After watching this you may be inclined to become vegeterian. The coops and farming of the chickens really make you question the treatment of chickens and animals. And then there's the chicken pie machine which paints a grim picture of food. Of course it's not nearly as dramatic in real life as it makes out in the movie, but you do start to think about it.
The chickens are funny, the story is both romantic and a real hero story all at the same time. In my opinion it's good for kiddies and probably enough for a one-time movie for adults. Good luck to those adults that have children that want to watch it over and over again.
It's 2027 and the worlds youngest person is 18 years old. The human race is no longer able to have children. Theo is a former activist recruited by his ex-wife to smuggle a young woman out of the country and to a special group that will help her raise her unborn child and possibly save the human race. They face revolt from the group that's supposed to be helping them and the need to break in to a prison in order to reach their destination.
Clive Owen plays Theo. He's a good actor that plays well against Julianne Moore, Michael Caine and the unkown Clare-Hope Ashitey. Julianne Moore and Michael Caine are seasoned actors and do very well at making their supporting charaters stand out on their own. A realtively unknown (at the time) Clive Owen does very well at portraying a cynical, hardened by life, man, tasked with ferrying the hope for the future to safety. Clare-Hope Ashitey plays the young pregnant woman and does a good job at showing her characters different sides. While she's a hardened and experienced woman, she's also very naive about her situation (with no babies being born it isn't deemed relevant to teach woman about pregnancy and what to expect).
"Children of Men" is based on the book "The Children of Men" by P.D. James. The premise of the movie and the main characters are the only similarities. In the book it's men that are infirtile and there is no pregnant woman to escort to safety, and yet this is the whole movie. I really enjoyed the movie, so I'm glad I haven't read the book. If I had read the book I'm sure I would be disappointed by the movie, as I usually am.
Film students would be fascinated by the styles used to film it - the single shot action scenes create a hightened sense of drama. The movie lends itself to great discussion about the possibility of infertility of the human race. Could this possibly happen? What would happen if it did? The movie makes it seem even more plausible by not actually attempting to explain why the woman are infertile or why this one young woman has been able to become pregnant after so many years.
I think you should watch it. Make sure you have you are concentrating - it's not one you can just put on in the background while you do the ironing. You may need to watch it more than once to understand it, but you'll be pleased you did. I am, it's a goodie.
Next? : I still need to review "City of Ember", "The City of Lost Children", "Click" and "Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs". Next to watch is "Clueless" - a classic 90's teenage chick flick.
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