In theaters

CHICKEN RUN. 85 minutes, G. Directed by Peter Lord and Nick Park. Written by Karey Kirkpatrick.

So far, the best film of the summer isn’t “Gladiator,” “Mission: Impossible 2” or “Dinosaur.” It’s “Chicken Run,” a hilarious film about petrified poultry pecking their way out of a poisonous prison coop.

Directed by Peter Lord and Nick Park, this film cooks up a radical bucket of fun. It’s the original recipe, a brilliant comedy from the Academy Award-winning team of “Wallace and Gromit” and “Creature Comforts” that shakes and bakes — and does chicken right.

Smartly parodying prisoner-of-war movies such as “The Great Escape” and “Stalag 17,” this riotous, fun film follows Ginger (voice of Julia Sawalha) and a cluck of other chickens desperate to break free from the prison of their chicken coop, a dingy, fenced-in hellhole intentionally reminiscent of a Nazi prison camp that’s run by the nasty Mrs. Tweedy (Miranda Richardson), her henpecked husband, Mr. Tweedy (Tony Haygarth), and their evil band of ferocious dogs.

These chickens are in a snitch. If they don’t lay enough eggs to satisfy their loathsome owners, they face certain death at the chopping block, a gruesome event showcased early on in a scene just dark enough to punctuate the dire circumstances at hand. Indeed, one of the chickens winds up as dinner on the Tweedys’ kitchen table.

But don’t panic. These ingenious chickens have dozens of plans under wing, none of which works especially well until Rocky the Flying Rooster (Mel Gibson) storms into town and helps them hatch a plot that will finally make them free-range chickens — and not one of Mrs. Tweedy’s chicken pot pies.

Running on pure protein, “Chicken Run” soars with a sophisticated wit, an intelligent script and clay animation that’s so flawless and stunning, the film ultimately lays the golden egg you’ve always read about.

It’s the film to beat this summer, so fly — don’t walk — to theaters to see it. Grade: A

On video

HANGING UP. 92 minutes, PG-13. Directed by Diane Keaton. Written by Delia Ephron and Nora Ephron.

Diane Keaton may be the director of “Hanging Up,” but this erring bit of madness isn’t just her fault. A big part of the film’s cheap shots at women and rampant, muddled sentiment have as much to do with her own surprising streak of misogyny as it does with those harbingers of bad taste, those film hooligans of fluff, the Ephron sisters, Delia and Nora.

Certainly it was they who cajoled her into making a film about three hateful, troubled, selfish, self-involved, self-serving, rich, unlikable women who are such harried emotional wrecks, such cold climbers in their respective fields, they couldn’t possibly deal with themselves or with their dying father — and so they don’t. Not once.

And isn’t that what “Hanging Up” is supposed to be about? Meg Ryan, Lisa Kudrow and Keaton, who also stars, dealing with Walter Matthau as a difficult, dying parent? Keaton never deals with the issue. Certainly she keeps brushing up against it the way a cat brushes up against a litter box, but in so doing, she essentially leaves her characters and her audience in an emotional lurch.

This movie of hers has nothing to do with any tangible sort of human existence. It’s meant for rich, emotionally detached women who want nothing more than to have it all, but Keaton and the Ephrons are boldly saying that women can’t have it all without first being a shrill mess of jumpy nerves. And even then, they fail.

In the film, Meg Ryan’s co-dependent Eve drives a $70,000 Land Rover, lives in a great house and has a successful party planning business; Lisa Kudrow’s Maddy is a famous soap opera actress who couldn’t count to three even if somebody walked her through it; and Keaton’s own character, Georgia, the least likable of the bunch, is a super-rich, power hungry witch who has her own magazine empire (modestly named Georgia) and, apparently, no heart or conscience.

It could be argued that audiences will identify with the dying-parent angle, which some certainly might, but what good is a dying, grumpy old man, or the knowledge that he was an abusive alcoholic who put his three daughters through hell, when Keaton and the Ephrons choose to hastily resolve all their hurt and pain with a misty-eyed hug and a ridiculous, “feel-good” food fight at film’s end?

The audience deserves better. They deserve some insight. Grade: F

THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY. 135 minutes, R. Written and directed by Anthony Minghella.

Be careful who you covet.

In “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” Anthony Minghella’s provocative take on Patricia Highsmith’s 1955 crime novel, Tom Ripley (Matt Damon) is the sociopathic men’s room attendant who covets too much.

It’s not just things that Ripley wants. What he wants is a new identity, a slick new skin he can slide into in his all-out effort to leave his underwhelming self behind.

To mention too much of the plot is to reveal its secrets, so it won’t be fully explored here. What can be said is this: Ripley is given $1,000 by a rich shipping magnate to travel to Italy to persuade the man’s playboy son, Dickie (Jude Law), to return home and run the family business.

Tom accepts, travels to the Italian Riviera, devises a clever plan to meet Dickie and his fiancee, Marge (Gwyneth Paltrow) — and falls in love. Not with Marge, but with Dickie.

Since Tom is the film’s villain, the focus on his homosexuality might offend some, but those sensitive to the many undercurrents that form Tom’s character will see that his homosexuality is just one of several shadings and not any kind of main motivational factor for all that occurs.

With Cate Blanchette perfectly cast as the social butterfly who may or may not destroy Tom’s plan, Law in a breakout performance as a spoiled rich boy who collects people, Gwyneth Paltrow once again strong as a woman wronged, and Matt Damon perfect in the title role, “The Talented Mr. Ripley” is a richly realized, cinematic feast of twists and turns and psychological depth. It was one of last year’s best films.

Grade: A

Christopher Smith is the Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear Monday and Thursday in the NEWS, Tuesday and Thursday on NEWS CENTER at 5:30 and NEWS CENTER at 11, and Saturday on NEWS CENTER Morning Report.