How long does a chicken live, anyway? According to Google, five to ten years. Yet here we are more than two decades since Aardman Animations released Chicken Run to theaters in 2000 and along comes a belated direct-to-Netflix sequel featuring almost all the original characters, if not all the original cast. Does this old bird still have any meat on its bones?
In addition to arriving so late in the game and being relegated to a streaming service rather than a full theatrical release, the Chicken Run sequel also faces a challenge in that the original film, successful though it may have been back in the day, hasn’t really lasted in the popular consciousness in the meantime. The generation of kids who enjoyed it originally have grown up and mostly forgotten it. If Dawn of the Nugget is to carry any weight, it must do so mainly as a self-contained film, more so than on a specific connection to Chicken Run. Is that even possible for something so clearly billed and branded as a sequel?
| Title: | Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget |
| Year of Release: | 2023 |
| Director: | Sam Fell |
| Watched On: | Netflix |
Unsurprisingly, Mel Gibson was not asked to return to voice his character from the first film, the rooster named Rocky. Nobody wants the baggage associated with Gibson starring in a kids’ movie today. Rather than simply write out that character (which seems like it would have been simple enough), he’s been replaced by Zachary Levi. This is an odd and frankly unequivalent casting choice, but at the same time, the role has been decidedly reduced in the sequel in the hopes that it won’t prove too distracting.
Also new is Thandiwe Newton taking over the role of Ginger from Julia Sawalha. In this case, Newton is the bigger star, but she doesn’t have quite the same adorable nervous energy that Sawalha brought the first time around.
After a quick recap incorporating clips from the earlier film, the new story picks up several years later. Ginger and Rocky are married and have a daughter named Molly (voiced by Bella Ramsey from The Last of Us). They, along with many familiar supporting characters, live a happy, free range existence on bucolic island in the English countryside. However, young Molly, who has never known the horrors of farm life, yearns to leave their tiny home and seek adventure in the world. This terrifies the overprotective Ginger, who wants to keep her close.
After sneaking out one night and making her way to the mainland, Molly quickly meets a weird new friend named Frizzle but, just as Molly’s mom feared, the two of them are snatched up and hauled away to Happy-Land Farms, the new corporation that has taken over the area. Worse yet, the place is run by a face that Ginger remembers all too well. The evil Mrs. Tweedy (Miranda Richardson) is back with an even more elaborate and sadistic plot to dominate the poultry industry. If they’re to rescue their daughter, Ginger and Rocky (mostly Ginger, to be honest about it) will need to use all the skills they learned breaking out of Tweedy’s last farm in reverse to break into her new one.
Like any Aardman production, Dawn of the Nugget features beautiful stop-motion animation loaded with both detail and charm. The characters are adorable, and the humor is agreeably amusing. For a sequel, the new story functions well enough on its own that new viewers should be able to follow it without too much trouble. Wisely, rather than simply recycle the prison camp escape plot of the first film, the follow-up instead plays as a heist or caper, with elements of James Bond, Mission: Impossible, and other influences.
At the same time, the movie seems to lack the spark of wit or inspiration that infused the best of Aardman’s work during the studio’s peak years. Aside from one particularly clever gag involving a “Staff Eye Pad,” most of the laughs are pretty mild. The first half or so of the film is a bit dull. It takes a very long time to warm up, and doesn’t really hit its stride until after the action moves inside the farm complex.
By the end of its brisk 101-minute runtime, Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget proves enjoyable enough, but it’s not a classic. Although I may not be entirely convinced that the original Chicken Run was either, it felt fresher at the time than this pleasant but unnecessary second serving.
Video Streaming
The Netflix user menus list Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget as streaming in HD resolution with HDR. I can confirm the HDR, but both of my streaming devices automatically upscale everything to 4K, so I’m not entirely sure if that’s a mistake in the Netflix menu or if this movie is indeed natively only 1080p. In any case, the picture looks plenty sharp and detailed (aside from flashback clips from the first movie, which are pretty heavily DNR’ed, unfortunately). Photographed digitally, the 2.00:1 image is also very bright and colorful, with a subtle but nice application of HDR.
The Dolby Atmos soundtrack has what I would describe as average fidelity and negligible dynamic range or bass. It’s not awful, but nor is anything about it especially notable. Only a few overhead effects buzz through the height speakers.
The Video File Blog 