Screening of the Aardman Studios animated film Chicken Run at Showcase Cinema de Lux in Westquay South.
Chicken Run is screening at Showcase Cinema de Lux in Westquay South on Wednesday 29 July. It's Aardman Studios' first feature film, and it does something quite specific: it takes the WWII POW experience and rewrites it as an Orwellian satire. The battery farm stands in for the prisoner-of-war camp, the camp commandant is replaced by the domineering Mrs Tweedy, and the hen Ginger rallies her fellow captives to fly the coop. If you've seen Wallace & Gromit, you'll recognise the stop-motion style, though the tone here is a bit more focused on the escape than the gentle mishaps.
When it first came out, critics had a few things to say about it. Some felt the characters weren't as fully established as Wallace and Gromit, and that the feature length slowed the action down, leaving the result feeling 'very half baked' for Aardman. Whether that still holds up is for you to decide, but it's the film that put Aardman on the map as a feature-length studio.
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The cinema itself is Showcase Cinema de Lux, Level 4, Westquay South, Southampton, SO15 1DE. It's a ten-screen site, and there's a bit of choice in how you watch. The XPlus auditorium has a supersized screen, Dolby Atmos, and crystal-clear projection, while the Luxury Gallery experience gives you extra legroom, a welcome drink, and refillable popcorn. If you're planning to make a day of it, the cinema is right in the heart of Westquay, so you're sorted for shops and food around you. Chicken Run plays there on Wednesday 29 July.
