"I don't want to be a pie, I don't like gravy!"
This is just one of many of the quotable lines from Chicken Run: a film that turns 22 this month – yes, you're that old – but that still remains as iconic as ever.
The animated movie was brought to life with the help of Aardman Animations, which most people will know for its work on Wallace and Gromit.
It's not hard to recognise the similarities between the clay animation films like A Close Shave and The Wrong Trousers and Chicken Run, from the punchy humour to the characters' wide smiles, but it was the latter that actually has been credited with helping to inspire an entirely new category at the Oscars.
Following the release of Chicken Run in 2000, members of the Academy are said to have been disappointed the film didn't make the cut for Best Film in the 2001 awards ceremony.
Nominees instead included Chocolat, Traffic, Erin Brockovich, Gladiator and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; undoubtedly a solid collection, but one significantly lacking in talking chickens.
The film raked in an impressive $224 million following its release, so in a bid to make sure animated films like Chicken Run get the attention they deserve, the Academy Awards created the Best Animated Film category, which officially became part of the event in 2002.
Thanks to the addition, Shrek was able to take home the first-ever award for Best Animated Film, beating out Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius and Monsters, Inc. in the process.
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Though Sully and Mike did produce some legendary work, I'm sure we can all agree Shrek was a worthy winner of the award. It would still be a worthy in a ceremony today, if I'm honest.
Over the years, other films to have won the Best Animated Film award include Spirited Away, Finding Nemo and The Incredibles.
Aardman Animations may have lost out on its chance to take home an Oscar with Chicken Run, but the studio did eventually get the recognition it deserved in 2006 when it took home the Oscar for Wallace and Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.
Plus, there may still be hope yet as a sequel for Chicken Run is currently in the works at Netflix.
Titled Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, the film is set to detail what happens after Ginger successfully pulls off an escape from Tweedy's farm and finds a peaceful island sanctuary for the whole flock. However, things take a turn when a new threat comes up against the whole of chicken-kind.
With Chicken Run as good today as it was back in 2000, the new film certainly has big boots to fill!
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Featured Image Credit: DreamworksTopics: Netflix, Film and TV, Oscars, Entertainment
Emily Brown