Four years in the making and at the time the most ambitious project undertaken by the award-laden Aardman Animations unit, this feathered pastiche of PoW classics such as The Great Escape and Stalag 17 is an awesome achievement by consummate film-makers. Rocky, a "lone free-ranger" rooster, promises to help the hens in Mr and Mrs Tweedy's high-security egg farm find a way to freedom. The nods to classic film moments are funny and plentiful, the largely British voice cast (Julia Sawalha, Jane Horrocks, Miranda Richardson, Timothy Spall) lends moments of humour and pathos, and the set pieces are exhilarating in their ingenuity and comic élan. The need to justify Mel Gibson's vocal presence as Rocky slows the pace occasionally, but this is still a soaring flight of fancy.

The creators of Wallace & Gromit bring you an exciting and original story about a group of chickens determined to fly the coop–even if they can’t fly! It’s hardly poultry in motion when Rocky attempts to teach Ginger and her feathered friends to fly…but, with teamwork, determination and a little bit o’ cluck, the fearless flock plots one last attempt in a spectacular bid for freedom.