By Sara Clements | Film | December 18, 2023 |
By Sara Clements | Film | December 18, 2023 |
It’s been 23 years since a group of plucky chickens made a death-defying escape from their coop, putting the UK’s stop-motion studio, Aardman, on the map. Chicken Run was the studio’s first feature and it remains the highest-grossing stop-motion film of all time. Both crowd-pleasing in its comedy and hard-hitting in its feminist and anti-fascist themes, its success is no surprise. Coined “The Great Escape but with chickens,” it brilliantly navigates the line between light fun and dark drama, and according to Aardman co-found, Peter Lord, the film may have inspired the Academy to introduce the Best Animated Feature category. Whether or not that’s really true, it’s easy to see why Chicken Run was so loved by film lovers back then and why it remains so regarded by them now. The film could have been stand-lone but a sequel also seemed inevitable. So, does Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget hold a candle to the original?
The last time we saw the brash American rooster Rocky (Zachary Levi) and courageous hen Ginger (Thandiwe Newton), they had just escaped the prison of Tweedy’s Farm. Now the pair and the rest of the hens have all settled down on an island paradise, hidden away from the dangers and appetites of the human world. Rocky and Ginger are ready to let go of the past and take on a new mission: parenting. This won’t be an easy feat with such an adventurous and stubborn chick. The new parents have a difficult battle ahead in keeping their daughter, Molly (Bella Ramsey), safe from her growing curiosity about what’s beyond their home.
When Molly spots a truck carrying chickens to a place called Fun-Land Farms, she’s struck by the image of a chicken giving the thumbs up while sitting happily on a bucket. She starts to feel cooped up, questioning why she can’t leave. The world can’t be that bad for chickens, can it? Just like her parents once did, Molly is chasing freedom. So, she flies the coop to naively engage with the dangers of the outside world on her own, inevitably finding herself in the same predicament as her parents in the first film. Knowing that they can no longer run from what’s going on outside, Rocky, Ginger, and the gang hatch a plan to save Molly and poultry-kind from Fun-Land Farms. This time, they’re breaking in.
Directed by Sam Fell, Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget is much bigger in scale than its predecessor, with three locations in the story instead of one. The film’s production design is quite remarkable, especially when you consider that Aardman still isn’t that big of a studio. Building sets by hand, the story takes place first in the chicken’s island home that’s surrounded by greenery and full of cozy wooden houses and flowers. Then, the action moves to Fun-Land Farms, whose cheery messaging contradicts its imposing, supervillain compound exterior. Inside the factory is a utopic, colorful dreamland with theme park rides, endless corn, and hundreds of brainwashed chickens unaware of their fate as a bucket full of nuggets. Aardman’s vision was so large that they had to incorporate CGI for certain elements, like background chickens and environments, but you can’t even tell because it preserves the feel of the original so well.
What also captures the feel of the original is the voice cast. Many of the original cast members have returned: Imelda Staunton as the muscle Bunty, Lynn Ferguson as the brainy Mac, and Jane Horrocks as the knitting-obsessed Babs. New voices like Newton as Ginger, Levi as Rocky, and David Bradley as the elderly RAF mascot Fowler, are excellent voice replacements that are natural fits to the characters. New welcomed additions include Bella Ramsey as Molly, Ted Lasso’s Nick Mohammed as Fun-Land Farms scientist, Dr. Fry, and the rodent double act of Fetcher and Nick are given new voices by Romesh Ranganathan and Daniel Mays.
Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget is a spirited action adventure with plenty of comical spy hijinks inspired by James Bond and Mission: Impossible. It feels fresh using those different influences, but thankfully still retains a strong female-driven narrative like the first film. The introduction of Molly keeps the stakes high and its story compelling with the relationship between Ginger and Molly and their growth together and as individuals. However, other aspects of the story, like breaking into the film’s new farm, may have seemed like a full circle moment on the page but it comes off as too derivative in execution. The balance between dark and light themes is still present, perhaps thanks to Karey Kirkpatrick returning as a writer, but speaking to the dawn of the fast food industry doesn’t carry the same impact as watching Chicken Run as an adult and realizing it’s an allegory for the Holocaust. Despite a few gripes, Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget is still full of charm and plenty of humor, resulting in an enjoyable return for this freedom-fighting flock.