VIDEO MUTANTS, FOWL COME TO DVD.

Byline: Rob Lowman Entertainment Editor

If you aren't convinced that DVDs are big business, think about these two stats:

DreamWorks' ``Gladiator,'' which was released the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, sold 1.8 million copies during its first week to become the fastest-selling DVD of all time. Meanwhile, Fox's ``X-Men,'' released the same day, generated $60 million in business on DVD and VHS during its first week, surpassing the $57.5 million it took in at the box office the the first week of its theatrical run.

We talked about ``Gladiator'' last week, but along with ``X-Men'' there is another release that deserves mention.

``Chicken Run,'' also from DreamWorks, is simply delightful, especially for parents forced to sit through marginal children's fare. From England's Aardman Animations, the same people behind the whimsical Wallace & Grommit, ``Chicken Run'' was created the same way - with claylike figures and miniature sets. The look is entirely different than animation - even Disney's best. There's a weird live-action feel to this film that doesn't come across in animation - this despite the fact that the principals are modeled of clay.

Considering the inventive, offbeat humor of the filmmakers - Nick Park and Peter Lord - the Claymation media suits them well. Some of the gags - particularly with the roly-poly chickens - might seem a bit like traditional animation. Nevertheless, most kids and adults will be having too much fun to notice the technical wizardry.

It's a relatively simple story - ``The Great Escape'' but with chickens trying to fly the coop before they end up as Mrs. Tweedy's pot pies. Led by Ginger (voiced by Julie Sawalha), the hens plot escape attempt after escape attempt, until an American rooster - Rocky (Mel Gibson) - ``flies'' into the compound and the gals think he can teach them to wing it. The brash Rocky is a bit of a fraud, and although everything works out in the end, it's the getting there that's the fun. While ``Chicken Run'' is easy enough for even younger kids to follow, film buffs will enjoy references to other films, especially ``The Great Escape.'' When Ginger is given solitary confinement, you hear her bouncing the ball as Steve McQueen did. Later, Rocky on a tricycle echoes McQueen's motorcycle tricks.

When you see a ``kids' '' movie done as well as ``Chicken Run,'' you wonder why there aren't more. Maybe, it's because few filmmakers are in touch with their inner child - Park and Lord are.

Bryan Singer's ``X-Men,'' based on the Marvel comics, has a curious, eerie tone to it. But Singer (``Usual Suspects'' and ``Apt Pupil'') was a curious choice to direct a big-budget summer action picture. Not a comic book fan, I can't tell you how well the band of mutant superheroes on the screen compare to their ink and paper counterparts. Singer's vision seems a little sketchy, however. What he gave us, though, is tantalizing - making a sequel, which is in the works, inevitable.

But that sense of incompleteness is perhaps why Fox included six deleted scenes with the DVD. Unlike most DVDs when they include deleted material, the scenes can be incorporated in the movie rather than viewed separately. The scenes do help explain things or give us better insights into the characters, but sometimes it makes the viewing disjointed, and some scenes are partially repeated.

While this may not answer all the questions, it does help - until a planned expanded DVD is released next year. Still, ``X-Men'' - thanks to Singer - is a lot more interesting than most action films. It's kind of like Singer hit a lead-off double and we're waiting for the clean-up hitter.

``Chicken Run'' is $26.99 on DVD. It includes commentary by Park and Lord, NBC's ``Making of Chicken Run'' and HBO's ``Hatching of Chicken Run.'' ``X-Men'' is $29.98 on DVD and includes six deleted scenes and an interview of Singer by Charlie Rose.

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DreamWork's ``Chicken Run,'' now on DVD, is the delightful tale of plucky poultry trying mightily to escape certain death as the filling in chicken pies.