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Ginger (voiced by Julia Sawalha) leads a group of chickens as they try to escape from Tweedy's farm. After failure upon failure, life takes a nasty turn as the Tweedys decide to go into making chicken pies. Yet help appears to come in the shape of Rocky (Mel Gibson). Rocky, a rooster, flies into the farm giving hope to Ginger that she and her team can learn how to fly out.

It's "The Great Escape" as performed by chickens and is every bit as good as you could imagine. No pun is left unused but it's all done with such immense charm that you are completely won over by this clay world. More, you come to care greatly for these chickens and become nothing short of proud of Ginger and her efforts.

There was a fear that this US-backed movie by the makers of Wallace and Gromit would bow to American audiences and you may be suspicious of its use of Mel Gibson as Rocky. But, not to give anything anyway, it is Ginger who is the hero and the star and there are as many anti-American gags as could be done without losing the film's glorious good humour.

Perhaps because this is the first time we've seen these characters and maybe because the story is so rooted in "The Great Escape", the film isn't quite as arresting or involving as, say, "Toy Story 2". But it's a hair's difference, or at least a feather's, and there won't be a single person coming out of the cinema disappointed with this one.