Leafie, A Hen into the Wild

Leafie, A Hen into the Wild (Korean: 마당을 나온 암탉; RR: Madangeul naon amtak), also called Daisy, A Hen into the Wild in English-speaking countries, is a 2011 South Korean animated drama film based on the book of the same name. It depicts the freedom, will and instinctive motherly love of a hen as she raises an adopted duckling. The film made box office history by drawing over 2.2 million viewers, the largest audience for a home-grown animated film in South Korea. It also received widespread critical acclaim upon release.

Leafie lives on a chicken farm with many other egg-laying hens in battery cages. She dreams of being a mother, despite her inability to incubate her own eggs. Dreaming of having her own young, she escapes from the farm feigning death, but is confronted and threatened by a one-eyed weasel. She is saved by mallard duck Wanderer who traps One-Eye in the farmer's wheelbarrow. Leafie tries to join the group of animals residing outside the farm, but their resident rooster refuses to allow her into his flock, insisting that she would only spend her life laying eggs. Leafie leaves the farm and into the wild, meeting Mr. Otter, who helps her find a home on Wanderer's behalf. Leafie meets Wanderer again, and discovers he has a mate, whom One-Eye kills later that night.

At Wanderer's nest, Leafie finds a single egg. Wanderer decides to let Leafie take care of the egg as he leaves to confront One-Eye. He pleads Leafie to take his unborn child to the Everglades, believing she will understand its purpose there. That night, One-Eye returns, and Wanderer engages her in a fight to the death, in which One-Eye prevails. The egg then hatches into a duckling that imprints on Leafie. She adopts the duckling, naming him Greenie, before heading to the Everglades. As Leafie raises Greenie, Mr. Otter teaches him to swim, with help from a bat and owl to teach him to fly. Meanwhile, Mr. Otter accidentally confesses that the local waterfowl are unaccepting of Leafie in their community. She then meets up with Greenie, who has been bullied by the other ducks and blames Leafie for him being an outcast before running away.

Mr. Otter attempts to comfort Leafie by telling her about Wanderer, who was a flock guard that once lost his wing fighting One-Eye and also permanently blinded one of her eyes, before being previously captured by the farmer. Meanwhile, Greenie is lured by four white ducks before the farmer captures him, intending on clipping his wings. To rescue Greenie, Leafie and Mr. Otter release all of the hens from their cages after Mr. Otter scares off the farmer and frees Greenie. However, the rooster stops them, calling Leafie a disgrace to the chickens. The animals notice that his comb is fake, so one of the white ducks decide to replace him as the farm leader, helping Leafie, Greenie, the rooster and Mr. Otter escape. Later, One-Eye plans to devour Greenie. The two plummet over a cliff, but Greenie escapes by successfully flying as One-Eye climbs back up.

A flock of ducks soon arrive in autumn, from whom an adult Greenie learns of an upcoming contest to nominate the new flock guard. The ducks flee from Greenie, seeing the twine around his leg from his encounter with the farmer, but Leafie reassures Greenie's participation removing the twine in time. Greenie returns to the flock and announced his wishes to compete, quickly forming a rivalry with another duck named Red Head. Greenie recalls the words of his mentors, winning the contest and becoming the new guard.

Leafie finds a litter of baby weasels while the rooster begins finding a home with Mr. Otter after escaping. Greenie tries to find Leafie but comes across One-Eye again, saving a female duck from her. As One-Eye prepares to kill Greenie, she reveals that the weasel babies are her own children, making Leafie realize that she only killed for food to nourish them. After agreeing to not harm One-Eye's children in exchange for Greenie's life, Leafie discovers that One-Eye is unable to produce milk for them.

The ducks prepare to leave the Everglades, so Leafie and Greenie bid each other farewell. As One-Eye corners Leafie at the cliff, Leafie lets herself be eaten by a tearful One-Eye, so that One-Eye's children will not starve. The film ends as Greenie flies with his flock.

Leafie/Yipsak/Sprout/Daisy Voiced by: Moon So-ri (Korean), Stacey DePass (English)

The leading character, Leafie, exhibits strength. Free-spirited and courageous, she doesn't settle for the fate she is given but accepts challenges and welcomes adventure. It is shown that Leafie tends to speak loudly, a trait that Greenie inherits. She was originally stuck in an egg farm, but she escapes by playing dead. While in a pit filled with dead chickens, the One-eyed Weasel appears and attacks Leafie to eat her, when Wanderer shows up, and saves her. Leafie immediately falls in love with him, but this quickly changes when she finds out he already has a mate. Before Wanderer died, he told her to take his unborn child to the everglades. When she asks why, he says "you will find out in time." She then raises Greenie despite numerous difficulties. It's been shown throughout the film that Leafie developed a cold and would not have likely survived the winter month.

Greenie/Chorok Head/Green-Top/Willie Voiced by: Han Shin-jeong & Yoo Seung-ho (Korean), Bryn McAuley & Toby Proctor (English)

Greenie is a male wild mallard duck, and is the son of Wanderer, but is adopted by Leafie after Wanderer and his mate (Greenie's biological mother) dies. As a teenager, Greenie had a difficult time making friends with the other ducks, because his mother is a chicken. Because of this, he considered leaving Leafie, but after the scuffle at the chicken farm, Greenie accepts Leafie as his mother. Thanks to Mr. Otter, a bat, and an owl, Greenie grows up to be a strong duck and a good flier, and, thanks to this, he wins a contest held by the ducks to become a "guard duck". Greenie noticeably inherits Leafie's trait of being loud.

Wanderer/Nagnae/Straggler/Wilson Voiced by: Choi Min-sik (Korean), Ryan Hollyman (English)

Wanderer is a mallard and a former guard duck. Guard ducks help defend their flocks from predators. He helped protect Leafie from the Weasel at the beginning of the film, which leads to Leafie falling in love with him, but this quickly changes when she finds out he already has a mate. He lived with his wife in a brier patch until the one-eyed weasel killed them both. They left behind one egg, which Leafie hatched, and later named the duckling Greenie. Before Wanderer died, he told Leafie to go to the everglades with his unborn child. When she asks him why, he says "you will find out in time." Mr. Otter tells Leafie that, when Wanderer was a guard duck, he got into a fight with the weasel, One-Eye. In the end, he couldn't use his right wing to fly anymore, but, in return, the weasel loses sight in one of her eyes.

Rooster Voiced by: Um Sang-hyun (Korean), Juan Chioran (English)

Rooster is the leader of the chicken flock and a pompous and egotistical rooster that lives freely in the yard. Even though Leafie admires him greatly, Rooster views her admiration as disrespect and refuses to allow Leafie to join his flock and tells her to go back to laying eggs. Near the middle of the film, it is discovered that his comb is a fake, which then leads the animals of the barn to make him work for them. He then leaves, after seeing Greenie racing Red Head, and goes to find a home with Mr. Otter.

Mayor or Mr. Otter Voiced by: Park Chul-min (Korean), Christian Potenza (English)

Mr. Otter is the local real estate agent who runs the wildlife community. He helps Leafie survive in the wild by helping her find a place to live and introducing her son to mentors, such as a bat and an owl who teach Greenie how to fly. Before Greenie leaves with the flock, he tells Mr. Otter to watch over his mother.

One-eyed Weasel Voiced by: Kim Sang-hyeon (Korean), Stacey DePass (English)

One-Eye is portrayed as the antagonist in the story, as she persists in hunting Leafie and the ducks for food. She is a predator feared by those who live in the brier patch and everglades, and only eats live prey and those that catches her interest. During her first fight with Wanderer, she lost an eye during the struggle, but managed very well without it afterwards. However, at the end of the story, it is revealed that she is not actually evil, just trying to provide food for her family as she became a mother too.

Red Head/Ace Voiced by: Sa Seong-ung (Korean), L. Dean Ifill (English)

Red Head is a rival wild duck that competed with Greenie to be a guard duck. However, after the competition, he good-naturedly becomes friends with Greenie.

Chirpie Voiced by: Jeon Suk-kyeong (Korean), Bryn McAuley (English)

A high-pitched talking sparrow who is friends with Leafie and Greenie. He always visits Leafie at the farm sometimes, When he saw Greenie being attacked by the farmer he and his fellow sparrow friends distracted the farmer. He possess a dislike towards Rooster who always chases his flock off.

Owl Voiced by: Seo Seung-won (Korean), L. Dean Ifill (English)

Owl helped Greenie how to fly.

Bat Voiced by: Hong Beom-gi (Korean), Ryan Hollyman (English)

Bat helped Greenie to do some flying tricks, but required the duck to hang upside down to begin his training, to which Greenie found impossible. He also possess a dislike towards Mr. Otter, who suggested the bat to live in a cave, but it drips constantly with water.

Wanderer's Mate Voiced by: Kim Ji-hye (Korean)

A female white duck who lived with Wanderer and was Greenie`s mother until the One-eyed Weasel killed her.

Bully Voiced by: Ron Basch (English)

A tough strong duck who competed in the race against Greenie.

Blade Voiced by: Drew Nelson (English)

A duck who participated in the guard duck race and tried to blind Greenie with sand but crashed into a tree during the race.

Flock Leader Voiced by: Ryan Hollyman (English)

A wise mallard who acts as the leader of the flock.

The Farmer Voiced by: Walker Boone (English)

An elderly man who owns the chicken farm, He often does his job picking up the dead chickens from their cages, putting them in his wheelbarrow and dumping them in a pit of dead chickens. He often captures wild ducks and keeps them in his farm just like he did to Wanderer after crippling his wing in the aftermath of his battle against One-Eye (but managed to escape). Later in the film he caught Greenie after he entered the farm and tied a string on him and attaching it to his wheelbarrow, grabbed scissors and attempted to clip his wings, Luckily Leafie came to the rescue and attacked the farmer, but only to throw her in the chicken house. Chirpie and his fellow flock distracted the farmer and after his chickens went free, He was confused and couldn't get to Greenie and never harmed his wings, After that he is never seen again for the rest of the film. He is the only human character in the film.

Dol, Mee, Rae and Toe Voiced by: Shoshana Sperling (English; Dol), Angela Besharah (English; Rae), Drew Nelson (English; Mee), Catherine Disher (English; Toe)

Four small white ducks who are clumsy and weird. Dol and Toe are twins and Mee and Rae are twins. They all like singing songs about themselves due to their names as a pun on do-re-mi and like following the leader. After discovering Rooster's comb was a fake, Mee took it and played around with it.

The Dog Voiced by: Ron Basch (English)

A guard dog that barks and growls at strangers and acts ferocious and aggressive, but becomes docile once he's petted and scratched, revealing to be a softy.

The Hens Voiced by: Shoshana Sperling (English; Barn hen), Catherine Disher (English; Mother hen)

Two hens who live freely in the yard. One of the hens has children of their own while the other one is still incubating their eggs. They have a strong dislike of Leafie and the other hen hates her children being near her. The two hens were later shocked when they discover Rooster's comb was a fake.

Director Oh Sung-yoon struggled for more than twenty years as an animator under adverse economic circumstances before finally debuting with this feature film.^[2] Originally titled YIPSAK - A Chicken Wild, the movie took Myung Films six years (three years for pre-production including scriptwriting, and one and a half year for storyboard) and ₩3 billion (US$2.8 million) to produce.^[3][4][5]

Shim Jae-myung (also known as Jaime Shim), the head of Myung Films, which co-produced Leafie in conjunction with the local animation studio Odolttogi, said that it was her experience with major motion pictures that made her want to produce animated films that could compete with those from Hollywood and Japan. "And as a woman and mother, the plot touched my heart," she said. "Many people were doubtful about whether the film would be a success, but I believed in the power of the novel."^[6][7]

When asked what they did to distinguish their film from films by the world's major studios, director Oh said he and the crew focused on making the visual effects as beautiful as possible. "Most of my staff and I majored in painting, and we chose to make the film two-dimensional, so that the entire product looks like a beautiful picture," Oh said. Though the sharply drawn foreground characters have an international look, the gentler backgrounds seem typically Korean in their use of landscape and flora (with the Upo wetlands in the south of the country inspiring the everglades in which much of the action takes place). "In addition to that, we have many quality animators on staff who draw for Pixar and Disney in Korea." Disney, Pixar and DreamWorks often hire small- and medium-sized Korean animation studios to work on their illustrations.^[6][8]

The South Korean and English versions each contain a different soundtrack. The South Korean soundtrack is composed by Lee Ji-soo while the English soundtrack is composed by Patrick Cannell. The former was released in on CD in 2011, consisting of 22 tracks.

Historically South Korean animated features have struggled to draw viewers. This prolonged slump is evidenced by My Beautiful Girl, Mari (2001), Wonderful Days (2003), Oseam (2003), Aachi & Ssipak (2005), and Yobi, the Five Tailed Fox (2006) which all performed dismally at the box office. No domestic animated film had ever achieved 1 million viewers.^[5][9][10]

Undaunted by the knowingly discouraging prognoses from industry insiders, Leafie went on to rake in more than 2.2 million tickets, while recouping its production budget in just four weeks.^[2][11][12] It has become South Korea's most successful animated film since the country's first feature-length cartoon, A Story of Hong Gildong (1967).^[8]

Leafie won Best Sitges Family Film Diploma at the 2011 Sitges Film Festival in Spain^[13][14] as well as the award for Best Animated Feature Film at the 2011 Asia Pacific Screen Awards held in Australia.^[15]

For her contribution to the popularization of Korean animation, producer Shim Jae-myung (a.k.a. Jaime Shim) CEO of Myung Films won a Special Mention at the 2011 Korean Association of Film Critics Awards.^[16][17]

Racking up numerous sales at the American Film Market, the film was picked up by Toronto-based 108 Media Group for distribution in English-speaking countries including Canada, U.S., Australia, Ireland, U.K. and New Zealand and was retitled Daisy: A Hen Into the Wild. It was released direct-to-DVD in the United States by Olive Films and in the United Kingdom by Signature Entertainment in 2014, and had also been broadcast on television on Starz Kids and Family.^[18] The English version was partly re-edited from the original version, with six minutes (such as a bit with the hens laying their eggs and One-Eye tearing up as she lunges at Leafie) being removed, the character names being changed (Leafie's name was changed to Daisy, Greenie was changed to Willie, Wanderer was changed to Wilson and Red Head was changed to Ace), and a new score composed by Patrick Cannell replacing the original score.

Leafie also sold to German-speaking territories via Ascot Elit and Brazil's Conquest Filmes. It has so far secured deals for 46 countries around Asia, Europe and the Middle East after going on sale at Busan's Asian Film Market, Cannes's MIPCOM and Rome's Business Street.^[19]

It became the first Korean animated film to play at Chinese theaters, opening at 3,000 screens, which is over one-third of the country's total. Clearly elated at the film's warm reception by the Chinese media, director Oh said he hoped this breaks new ground as investors traditionally judge projects based on their appeal to viewers in English-speaking countries. "It's time to change the standard," he said. "In the future, I'll focus more on the cultural values of the animation rather than giving too much emphasis to the business aspect."^[20]

A stage play based on the book and film ran from June 22 to September 2, 2012 at the COEX Art Hall in Seoul.^[21]

• Leafie, A Hen into the Wild at IMDb
• Leafie, A Hen into the Wild at HanCinema