Summary
A squawker of a sequel, Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget manages to keep most of what made the original great, though it doesn’t surpass it. It’s the feathery and witty take on Mission: Impossible that only Aardman could do.
Back in 2000, Aardman Animations and Universal took the world by surprise with the stop-motion film Chicken Run, a chicken-filled take on The Great Escape, a film that became (and still is) the highest-grossing stop-motion film at the worldwide box office. Not only did it have box office success, it’s a film beloved by many, and put Aardman on the map for stop-motion. Surprisingly, it took over 20 years for a sequel to the film, Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, to come out, but thanks to a partnership with Netflix, Aardman has returned to the coop for a sequel that while doesn’t reach the heights of the original is still a squawking success.
Dawn of the Nugget has everything that a Chicken Run sequel should have. A clever spin on pop culture that pushes the characters forward and raises the stakes. A hilarious British sense of humor. And perhaps most importantly, the constantly impressive stop-motion, which takes inanimate models of clay and convincingly contorts them into all manner of positions, just like Aardman has been doing since their first feature film.
Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget review and plot summary
Dawn of the Nugget picks up after the events of the first film, which sees Rocky (Zachary Levi) and Ginger (Thandiwe Newton) hatch an egg, their daughter Mollie (Bella Ramsey), and attempt to keep her safe by keeping her on Chicken Island, away from the nasty humans. But this backfires when Ginger’s strong and controlling nature over where Ginger can and can’t go (mirroring Mrs. Tweedy’s controlling behavior) results in Mollie running away in search of freedom and meeting newcomer Frizzles (Josie Sedgwick-Davies). There, they get trapped in the heavily fortified Fun-Land Farms, a seeming chicken paradise hiding its true and much more sinister purpose.
Ginger and the gang must take it upon themselves to face their fears of the past and stage a daring coup to rescue Mollie, resulting in a film that hilariously parodies Mission: Impossible until their cover is inevitably blown and eggs are cracked. It takes all the traps and gadgets normally found and applies them to the world where Chicken Run takes place to great effect, especially the laser-guided ducks. This is also felt in the music, riffing on Mission: Impossible’s iconic theme.
While the film is a hilarious romp, how Fowler (David Bradley) is handled is a disappointment. The old RAF cockrel is reduced to a few gags in the film, and while they are funny, Fowler himself isn’t impactful to the overall story. He’s pivotal to the escape of the chickens in the original and has to overcome his dislike for Rocky, yet in Dawn of the Nugget, he has no real importance. David Bradley does an OK job replacing original voice actor Benjamin Whitrow, but the voice for Fowler now sounds noticeably rougher and harsher.
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The other voice cast doesn’t fair as bad, with Levi and Newton both settled into their roles, with performances that skew more closely to the original cast. The rats, Nick (Romesh Ranganathan) and Fetcher (Daniel Mays) remain the comedic beat of the film, offering commentary on what’s happening without their presence being overbearing or forced. Ramsey and Sedgwick-Davies are welcome additions, injecting a sense of energy and innocence into their voices.
The plot raises the stakes even higher, with both Ginger’s daughter and the chickens’ peaceful way of life at risk from Mrs Tweedy. It evolves in a way that is organic to the last film, with the themes of control, freedom, and fear, even more present than before. Throughout the film, it imparts the idea that it’s important to stand your ground and not be a bystander, a key lesson for those watching.
Dawn of the Nugget’s plot avoids the legacy sequel disease that’s afflicted many beloved franchises lately, by not filling it with cheap callbacks to the original to induce a nostalgic and zombie-like audience response, but by telling a funny and compelling story. While it doesn’t have the novelty of the premise that made the original an instant classic, Dawn of the Nugget is still a success.
Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget is a fantastic showcase of claymation
Special praise should be given to the commitment to stop-motion, and the painstaking effort that went into every part of the film. It would have taken a lot of time and love to get those clay figures to move in the way that they do, and it’s something that Aardman has continued to hone with each of their films.
An overall squawking success, Dawn of the Nugget sees Aardman return to the franchise that put them on the map over 20 years ago. With the claymation skills Aardman has honed, the tongue-in-cheek British sense of humor and the satirical take on the big blockbusters of today, Dawn of the Nugget is worth checking out on Netflix.
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