Some time after the escape from Tweedy's Farm, Ginger (Thandiwe Newton) is now living with her husband Rocky (Zachary Levi) along with the others who escaped on their secluded island hideaway. As Ginger and Rocky welcome their daughter Molly (Bella Ramsey) into their family, Molly grows up brave, adventurous, and curious often to the worry of Ginger as Molly shows interest in the other side of the water where Ginger and company escaped from and tries to dissuade Molly's interest without success. When Molly runs away from the island she meets up with another young runaway chicken named Frizzle (Josie Segwick-Davies) with the two soon coming across a delivery truck to Fun-Land Farms that Molly and Frizzle believe is a Chicken's paradise but is in fact something far more sinister. As Ginger, Rocky and several others follow Molly in order to rescue her from Fun-Land Farms, they soon cross paths with an old enemy.
Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget is the latest animated feature from Aarman Productions and the sequel to the studio's top grossing film, Chicken Run from 2000, which has the distinction of being the highest grossing stop-motion feature of all time earning over $200 million worldwide which has yet to be topped in the years since. Beginning development in 2018 with Netflix acquiring the distribution rights in 2020 with Aardman and the streamer having developed a relationship with the Christmas special Robin Robin as well as a forthcoming Wallace and Gromit feature. Now after 5 years of development and production, I'm happy to report that Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget has all the right ingredient for not just a strong Aardman production, but a great feature in its own right.
Needless to say Aardman's features are always rich in details and life and that's no less the case here with the opening scenes on Chicken Island creatively realized with how they've established this village with all manner of structures and mechanisms that carry with them a warm and tangible quality in how lovingly every facet of this world is crafted. The character models are nicely distinct with the main cast given distinct visual identities to compliment the voice acting and even if the movie were put on mute you'd be able to tell their personalities apart with no issue. While the producer's treatment of Ginger's former voice actress Julia Sawalha is certainly a shame, Thanidwe Newton does well stepping in for the character and brings the same level of determined energy to the character with this follow-up doing a good job of setting up Ginger being at odds with her daughter Molly who is ably played by Bella Ramsey. Imelda Staunton, Lynn Ferguson, and Jane Horrocks are all welcome returns as Bunty, Mac, and Babs respectively with Horrocks in particular scoring more than a few laughs from her charming ditziness, though I will admit their return here does feel like an indictment against Aardman's decision to recast Sawalha.
In terms of story, Dawn of the Nugget includes a nice analysis of Ginger's character in how she's protecting Molly from the real world and her attempts to leave the past behind end up driving a wedge between her and Molly that serves as the inciting incident for what happens. While to a degree there is a "here we go again" element to the story especially with the line where Ginger says "last time we broke out of a chicken farm, this time we're breaking in" it never feels like a rehash especially since Aarman have more resources on hand this time around and get creative with the Fun-Land Farms setting. If the original Chicken Run was very much modeled after World War II POW films like Stalag 17 and The Great Escape, Dawn of the Nugget takes itself to a more over the top retro sci-fi place. Fun-Land Farms is gloriously designed as it's very much a mixture of a Bond villain's lair and a 1970s dystopian sci-fi film (with the "selection scene" almost reminiscent of Carousel from Logan's Run) and the contrast of the overly warm and friendly insides of the farm with the colder and exaggeratedly brutalist exteriors make for a really fun environment. I do wish the marketing hadn't spoiled the return of a prominent character (if you've seen the trailer you know what I'm talking about), but there's definitely some good work regardless and we get a very amusing pair of villains that we love to hate.
I really enjoyed Dawn of the Nugget. While I was initially skeptical in a Chicken Run sequel 25 years after the fact, I'm pleased to say that it's probably as good if not better than its predecessor in both a technical level and a story and character level. Definitely recommended.
Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget is the latest animated feature from Aarman Productions and the sequel to the studio's top grossing film, Chicken Run from 2000, which has the distinction of being the highest grossing stop-motion feature of all time earning over $200 million worldwide which has yet to be topped in the years since. Beginning development in 2018 with Netflix acquiring the distribution rights in 2020 with Aardman and the streamer having developed a relationship with the Christmas special Robin Robin as well as a forthcoming Wallace and Gromit feature. Now after 5 years of development and production, I'm happy to report that Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget has all the right ingredient for not just a strong Aardman production, but a great feature in its own right.
Needless to say Aardman's features are always rich in details and life and that's no less the case here with the opening scenes on Chicken Island creatively realized with how they've established this village with all manner of structures and mechanisms that carry with them a warm and tangible quality in how lovingly every facet of this world is crafted. The character models are nicely distinct with the main cast given distinct visual identities to compliment the voice acting and even if the movie were put on mute you'd be able to tell their personalities apart with no issue. While the producer's treatment of Ginger's former voice actress Julia Sawalha is certainly a shame, Thanidwe Newton does well stepping in for the character and brings the same level of determined energy to the character with this follow-up doing a good job of setting up Ginger being at odds with her daughter Molly who is ably played by Bella Ramsey. Imelda Staunton, Lynn Ferguson, and Jane Horrocks are all welcome returns as Bunty, Mac, and Babs respectively with Horrocks in particular scoring more than a few laughs from her charming ditziness, though I will admit their return here does feel like an indictment against Aardman's decision to recast Sawalha.
In terms of story, Dawn of the Nugget includes a nice analysis of Ginger's character in how she's protecting Molly from the real world and her attempts to leave the past behind end up driving a wedge between her and Molly that serves as the inciting incident for what happens. While to a degree there is a "here we go again" element to the story especially with the line where Ginger says "last time we broke out of a chicken farm, this time we're breaking in" it never feels like a rehash especially since Aarman have more resources on hand this time around and get creative with the Fun-Land Farms setting. If the original Chicken Run was very much modeled after World War II POW films like Stalag 17 and The Great Escape, Dawn of the Nugget takes itself to a more over the top retro sci-fi place. Fun-Land Farms is gloriously designed as it's very much a mixture of a Bond villain's lair and a 1970s dystopian sci-fi film (with the "selection scene" almost reminiscent of Carousel from Logan's Run) and the contrast of the overly warm and friendly insides of the farm with the colder and exaggeratedly brutalist exteriors make for a really fun environment. I do wish the marketing hadn't spoiled the return of a prominent character (if you've seen the trailer you know what I'm talking about), but there's definitely some good work regardless and we get a very amusing pair of villains that we love to hate.
I really enjoyed Dawn of the Nugget. While I was initially skeptical in a Chicken Run sequel 25 years after the fact, I'm pleased to say that it's probably as good if not better than its predecessor in both a technical level and a story and character level. Definitely recommended.