The Scarecrow

The Scarecrow is a 2013 animated short film and advertisement by the American restaurant chain Chipotle Mexican Grill. The film features Fiona Apple singing a cover version of "Pure Imagination", originally performed by Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka in the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. Description In a dystopian world named the City of Plenty, the main character, Scarecrow, starts work at the "smoke-spewing" Crow Foods Factory. He sees a tube extracting a substance labeled "100% Beef-ish", but being marketed to consumers as "all natural". He then witnesses a robotic crow named Crowbot, injecting a chicken with green fluid to promote expansion, followed by cows being held captive in small metal boxes while machines continuously milk the cows forcefully at Downtown Plenty. Scarecrow returns to his small farm, seemingly upset by what he witnessed during the workday. He picks a red pepper, which inspires him to harvest other vegetables and open a burrito stand in the city. Above his stand is a banner that reads "Cultivate a Better World". The computer-animated film features a cover version of "Pure Imagination" (Leslie Bricusse, Anthony Newley) by Fiona Apple, a song originally performed by Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka in the film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971), itself an adaptation of Roald Dahl's book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964). According to the Los Angeles Times, Apple's performance "scores scenes of dark devastation" and offers "stark contrast between the world of pure imagination of the lyrics" and the animals being processed. In the film, when Scarecrow returns home from work and picks a red pepper, the song transitions from "mournful" and "menacing" to a "happier" tone. Apple released the recording on iTunes, with proceeds benefiting the nonprofit organization, Chipotle Cultivation Foundation.