Chicken Run is poultry in motion

A cast of plasticine hens is set to take Hollywood by storm after Chicken Run, the new animated film from the Oscar-winning British makers of Wallace And Gromit, won rave reviews from US critics.

Animator Nick Park's spoof of prisoner-of-war films like The Great Escape was given standing ovations at advanced screenings and was praised by the Los Angeles Times as "Poultry in motion".

America's biggest newspaper, USA Today, said: "Chicken Run boasts the most delicious collection of desperately funny Brits since The Full Monty."

The New York Times embraced it as an "immensely satisfying, a divinely relaxed and confident film." The New York Post trumpeted Chicken Run as "a triumph - as charming as 'Babe' and as least as smart as Toy Story". Parks and his company, Aardman, teamed up with Steven Spielberg's Dreamworks studio to create the full-length £30 million film, with the voices of Mel Gibson, Julia Sawalha and Miranda Richardson.

It is expected to top the American box office this weekend. Park's next project will be a full-length Wallace And Gromit film.