Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget
Year: 2023
Directed by: Sam Fell
Starring: Zachary Levi, Thandiwe Newton, Bella Ramsay & Miranda Richardson
Runtime: 98 mins
BBFC: PG
Published: 27/12/23
Directed by: Sam Fell
Starring: Zachary Levi, Thandiwe Newton, Bella Ramsay & Miranda Richardson
Runtime: 98 mins
BBFC: PG
Published: 27/12/23
It seems that even Aardman Animations, a small claymation studio based in Bristol, isn’t safe from the Hollywood machine of legacy sequels. Whilst they do often cart out Wallace & Gromit for their adoring fans every so often, they are very much self-contained stories. Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget is a full-blown sequel and direct continuation of original 2000 film.
Does this straight to Netflix affair retain the same charm and clever wit as its predecessor? The short answer is no.
Following their escape from Tweedy’s chicken farm, the hens have settled on an island paradise. Ginger (Thandiwe Newton) and Rocky (Zachary Levi) have a young hen, Molly (Bella Ramsey), who has inherited her father’s sense of adventure and her mother’s determination. She longs to explore the world beyond the water, but her parents rightly fear the humans that won’t be far away.
When Molly escapes and is taken to Fun-Land Farms, a factory that lulls chickens into a false sense of happiness by using collars, Ginger leads a squad of hens to infiltrate the facility and save Molly. But it seems Fun-Land Farms is run by an old adversary, Mrs. Tweedy (Miranda Richardson).
Dawn of the Nugget would have made the most sense if it had followed a cast of new characters in their escape from the high-tech Fun-Land Farms. This could have easily been a generation of chicks raised by the hens from the last film, like Molly, but I think minimising the connection to the first film as much as possible would have been the best way to go. Unfortunately, Ginger is back in the driving seat as the main character, and it feels very much like a re-tread of what came before. Whilst the story is keen to point out that this time they’re breaking in to a chicken farm, rather than out of one, honestly it’s just kind of repetitive.
Molly & her friend Frizzle (Josie Sedgwick-Davies) should have been the focus of the story, but instead Frizzle is largely forgotten about (making the films climax of going back for her at the request of Molly) like an afterthought, and Molly just feels like a discount Ginger.
Does this straight to Netflix affair retain the same charm and clever wit as its predecessor? The short answer is no.
Following their escape from Tweedy’s chicken farm, the hens have settled on an island paradise. Ginger (Thandiwe Newton) and Rocky (Zachary Levi) have a young hen, Molly (Bella Ramsey), who has inherited her father’s sense of adventure and her mother’s determination. She longs to explore the world beyond the water, but her parents rightly fear the humans that won’t be far away.
When Molly escapes and is taken to Fun-Land Farms, a factory that lulls chickens into a false sense of happiness by using collars, Ginger leads a squad of hens to infiltrate the facility and save Molly. But it seems Fun-Land Farms is run by an old adversary, Mrs. Tweedy (Miranda Richardson).
Dawn of the Nugget would have made the most sense if it had followed a cast of new characters in their escape from the high-tech Fun-Land Farms. This could have easily been a generation of chicks raised by the hens from the last film, like Molly, but I think minimising the connection to the first film as much as possible would have been the best way to go. Unfortunately, Ginger is back in the driving seat as the main character, and it feels very much like a re-tread of what came before. Whilst the story is keen to point out that this time they’re breaking in to a chicken farm, rather than out of one, honestly it’s just kind of repetitive.
Molly & her friend Frizzle (Josie Sedgwick-Davies) should have been the focus of the story, but instead Frizzle is largely forgotten about (making the films climax of going back for her at the request of Molly) like an afterthought, and Molly just feels like a discount Ginger.
In fact, all of the returning cast feel like knock-off versions of themselves who have largely betrayed their archetypes from the first film. Take Ginger & Rocky; Ginger was always the hen with the plan, resourceful, and was two steps ahead at all times, but here she never thinks before she acts and often comes a cropper because of it.
Rocky meanwhile was the smartest rooster in the room because he had street smarts and charisma. Here he’s a bumbling buffoon used for the most meagre of comic relief.
Even Mrs. Tweedy isn’t scary! Richardson was one of the best parts of the first film with her incredibly sinister voice performance, but here she feels like a caricature. Mr. Tweedy has also been replaced with Dr. Fry (Nick Mohammad), and who is this fool? Mr. Tweedy was funny because he was the only person who knew the chickens were ‘up to something’ but he was so inept and scared of his wife that he was powerless to stop them. Fry meanwhile just has a silly voice and madcap schemes about making chickens more relaxed.
Overall the quality of the writing has taken a significant dip. The first film could be taken seriously in a dramatic sense because the way dialogue exchanges happened were intelligent and meaningful. Sentence structure was complex and nuanced, whilst being simple enough for a family animated film. Here, everybody just says what they think, delivers exposition in the most straightforward way, and just generally explains everything they are doing or thinking in the simplest possible way. It’s like Aardman think that kids aren’t capable of following a narrative anymore.
It sounds silly and childish, and I know that sounds a bit weird to say because I’m talking about a film about talking chickens, but just because the concept is childish doesn’t mean the execution has to be. Family friendly and childishly simple are two different things.
Rocky meanwhile was the smartest rooster in the room because he had street smarts and charisma. Here he’s a bumbling buffoon used for the most meagre of comic relief.
Even Mrs. Tweedy isn’t scary! Richardson was one of the best parts of the first film with her incredibly sinister voice performance, but here she feels like a caricature. Mr. Tweedy has also been replaced with Dr. Fry (Nick Mohammad), and who is this fool? Mr. Tweedy was funny because he was the only person who knew the chickens were ‘up to something’ but he was so inept and scared of his wife that he was powerless to stop them. Fry meanwhile just has a silly voice and madcap schemes about making chickens more relaxed.
Overall the quality of the writing has taken a significant dip. The first film could be taken seriously in a dramatic sense because the way dialogue exchanges happened were intelligent and meaningful. Sentence structure was complex and nuanced, whilst being simple enough for a family animated film. Here, everybody just says what they think, delivers exposition in the most straightforward way, and just generally explains everything they are doing or thinking in the simplest possible way. It’s like Aardman think that kids aren’t capable of following a narrative anymore.
It sounds silly and childish, and I know that sounds a bit weird to say because I’m talking about a film about talking chickens, but just because the concept is childish doesn’t mean the execution has to be. Family friendly and childishly simple are two different things.
But what about the animation? Aardman films are always so gorgeous to watch because of the painstaking amount of detail put into creating the clay models and miniature sets. But even here Dawn of the Nugget falters because it just looks too pristine. The character models look like they’ve been made by machine or computer, they’re just too perfect. There’s no odd lumps or bumps, no thumbprints, no sign of anything being physically handled by anyone. Either this doesn’t have as much practical claymation as Aardman want you yo think it does, or they’re now so good as what they do that it looks unnatural. Either way, I wasn’t a fan.
The colour palette is so sickly and bright too, I much preferred the muted grey & brown tones of the first film. It was just so garish. I love colour but preferably when it doesn’t burn my retinas with neon pastels all the time.
Dawn of the Nugget will most certainly appeal to kids, young kids at that. But like most animated films at the moment, it fails to appeal to adults at the same time. It treats its audience like they’re stupid, it has very little respect for the source material, and it just doesn’t look like a claymation film should because it’s too pristine. I love a Chicken Run and Aardman, but this is a huge disappointment.
The colour palette is so sickly and bright too, I much preferred the muted grey & brown tones of the first film. It was just so garish. I love colour but preferably when it doesn’t burn my retinas with neon pastels all the time.
Dawn of the Nugget will most certainly appeal to kids, young kids at that. But like most animated films at the moment, it fails to appeal to adults at the same time. It treats its audience like they’re stupid, it has very little respect for the source material, and it just doesn’t look like a claymation film should because it’s too pristine. I love a Chicken Run and Aardman, but this is a huge disappointment.