The team behind legendary UK franchise Wallace and Gromit has returned with Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget. This is not a prequel or origin story as the name might imply, but a sequel to the beloved Chicken Run that came out in 2000 — which still holds the title as the most commercially successful stop-motion animated movie of all time. It's an extremely tall order to match the charm and wit of the original, but this new chapter is easy on the eyes and a welcome return of the henhouse heroes. Ginger is back. Rocky is back. The voice of Mel Gibson is not.
Directed by Sam Fell, the fowl fable begins with a flashback to the first movie, where the flock escapes a farm that resembles a prison camp. (For the uninitiated, Chicken Run was immersed in socially conscious allegory, and that tradition remains intact with this sequel.) Having flown the coop, we catch up with the chickens as they nest on an isolated island, where they could all live happily ever after in this poultry paradise.
The visuals never disappoint and their new home looks neat and imaginative, like a cross between the Ewok village and Hobbiton. In their new digs, we're introduced to the fledgling Molly (Bella Ramsey), daughter of Ginger (Thandiwe Newton) and Rocky (Zachary Levi). Through a Pixar-esque montage, we see the family grow through the years. We rejoin them when teenage Molly isn't satisfied with her free-range existence, and, against all better judgment, seeks the human world.
Molly and rest of the chickens are faced with the task of infiltrating a creepy factory farm, and, in a pivotal scene, a subversive Ginger proclaims, "The last time, we broke out of a chicken farm… Well, this time we're breaking in." The plot moves along at a breezy pace and is peppered with dry British humour and absorbing animated action. Much of the movie is set within Funland Farms, an Orwellian compound where these plucky birds will have to hatch a plan and perform heroic acts in order to win the day.
Dawn of the Nugget is wholesome fun, and the secret recipe to success is how they discreetly bake some morals into the parables. Aardman Animations, the production company behind Chicken Run, Wallace and Gromit, Shaun the Sheep and many others films, is from Bristol, a city that boasts a rich tradition of insurgent art (Banksy, IDLES, Tricky, etc.), and they deserve a lot of credit for the effective virtuous message.
The biggest obstacle Dawn of the Nugget contends with is following up a milestone film. Where Chicken Run was a literal and figurative breakout, Dawn of the Nugget is more Netflix and chill.
(Netflix)Directed by Sam Fell, the fowl fable begins with a flashback to the first movie, where the flock escapes a farm that resembles a prison camp. (For the uninitiated, Chicken Run was immersed in socially conscious allegory, and that tradition remains intact with this sequel.) Having flown the coop, we catch up with the chickens as they nest on an isolated island, where they could all live happily ever after in this poultry paradise.
The visuals never disappoint and their new home looks neat and imaginative, like a cross between the Ewok village and Hobbiton. In their new digs, we're introduced to the fledgling Molly (Bella Ramsey), daughter of Ginger (Thandiwe Newton) and Rocky (Zachary Levi). Through a Pixar-esque montage, we see the family grow through the years. We rejoin them when teenage Molly isn't satisfied with her free-range existence, and, against all better judgment, seeks the human world.
Molly and rest of the chickens are faced with the task of infiltrating a creepy factory farm, and, in a pivotal scene, a subversive Ginger proclaims, "The last time, we broke out of a chicken farm… Well, this time we're breaking in." The plot moves along at a breezy pace and is peppered with dry British humour and absorbing animated action. Much of the movie is set within Funland Farms, an Orwellian compound where these plucky birds will have to hatch a plan and perform heroic acts in order to win the day.
Dawn of the Nugget is wholesome fun, and the secret recipe to success is how they discreetly bake some morals into the parables. Aardman Animations, the production company behind Chicken Run, Wallace and Gromit, Shaun the Sheep and many others films, is from Bristol, a city that boasts a rich tradition of insurgent art (Banksy, IDLES, Tricky, etc.), and they deserve a lot of credit for the effective virtuous message.
The biggest obstacle Dawn of the Nugget contends with is following up a milestone film. Where Chicken Run was a literal and figurative breakout, Dawn of the Nugget is more Netflix and chill.