Hard to believe it has been nearly 25 years since a bunch of hens made their great escape in Aardman Animation’s treasured cracker. Now, after avoiding becoming pies all those years ago, Ginger, Rocky and the gang are back and facing the Dawn of the Nugget.
In their idyllic island paradise, Ginger (Thandiwe Newton) and Rocky (Zachary Levi) are happier than ever, even more so when they welcome their chick Molly (Bella Ramsey) to the world. However like mother like daughter, as Molly becomes curious of what exactly lies beyond their island as she grows up, and when some trucks for ‘Fun-Land Farms’ keep driving past the island on the other side of the lake, Molly heads over to investigate, leading to an all-out rescue mission from Ginger and co. who find that all is far from happy at this ridiculously high tech “farm”.
Ahead of release, there was some degree of controversy towards this sequel’s questionable (and even more bafflingly age-related) select vocal recasts, and certainly it dawns on you early on that you are not listening to Julia Sawalha here. Although some of the original cast are thankfully back in the henhouse!
However, luckily for the film, not only do the likes of Newton, Levi and other new additions like Romesh Ranganathan, Daniel Mays and David Bradley do a great job in some of these vocal roles, but Karey Kirkpatrick, John O’Farrell and Rachel Tunnard’s screenplay hits the ground running and never really pauses for breath! It is a story that really zips along.
Blending that lovable Aardman British eccentricity with Mission: Impossible break-in espionage thrills, with a shockingly dark ‘70s sci-fi edge that admirably pushes this fast paced story to some moral extremes. In fact there is one particular scene that goes to a place you really are caught off guard by (think back to Edwina’s death in the original) and which feels old school in its embrace of cold hard reality. Good luck getting the family a KFC after this.
Dawn of the Nugget may not be quite as tightly wound or all rounded as the original film and concept, and does repeat some old hits, but it is a wacky, wild and ever so slightly scary follow-up, that has laughs and tail feather shaking delights over a rather pro-vegan story of trauma, freedom and family. Plus the triumphant return of one of animation’s nastiest baddies, who certainly has not lost their touch!
Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget is unmistakably Aardman and thus quintessentially madly British fun, and is a golden egg in Netflix’s recent film output.
Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget is showing now on Netflix.
