Animated Antics.

• Position: Review

The past year has been a remarkable one for animated films, breaking the virtual stranglehold the Disney Studio has had on the genre and demonstrating how innovative techniques are changing the way such films are made without in the least destroying their charm.

Chicken Run (DreamWorks Home Entertainment, 84 minutes, $19.95), a devastating send-up of classic prison breakout movies like "The Great Escape" and "Stalag 17," presents a barnyard full of chickens desperate to find freedom before they are turned into potpies by the evil Mrs. Tweedy and her lunkhead husband. The various plans by Ginger, the rebellious leader, are constantly thwarted until the arrival of Rocky, a purportedly flying rooster with the voice of Mel Gibson who is reluctantly dragged into the escape schemes. The picture is hysterical, quite obviously aimed more at adults than the kid audience animated features usually are designed for.

The animation technique comes from the creative team that turned out the Oscar-winning shorts "The Wrong Trousers" and "A Close Shave"--stop-motion photography using Plasticine (clay) sculptures with metal armatures, all covered with latex skins. The method requires moving each figure 24 times to achieve a single second of film, explaining why shooting three minutes a day was a major accomplishment. As entertaining as the film is--which is plenty--the extra features easily match it in viewer interest, from the director's commentary to the "Making of ..." portion that shows how the creatures were built and operated. Throw in bloopers, interactive games, trivia questions, and a panic button that triggers a bunch of chickens hysterically screaming, "We mustn't panic," and you've got more fun than a day at an amusement park.

Toy Story 2 (Walt Disney Home Entertainment, 92 minutes, $39.99) follows in the footsteps of the blockbuster "Toy Story," the first time Disney went to an outside source and veered away from its prototypical animation techniques. Both films are the product of Pixar Animation Studios, utilizing cutting-edge computer animation to achieve effects traditional cel animation never could. TS2 is quite a bit darker than the original, possibly too intense for very young children, but it's one of those rare kids' pictures that adults can enjoy to the hilt.

TS2 brings back the original characters and, most important, the voices behind them, especially Tom Hanks as Woody, the cowboy puppet, and Tim Allen as the dim-witted space toy...