Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget – LFF Film Review
Chicken Run came out in 2000 when I was 10 years old and my family and I watched it – and quoted it – repeatedly. I checked it out for the first time as an adult this week and it is still brilliant. Does the long-awaited sequel, Dawn of the Nugget, do the Chicken Run legacy justice? Read on to find out.
Following their successful escape from Mrs. Tweedy’s farm, Ginger (voiced by Thandiwe Newton) and Rocky (Zachary Levi) and their fellow chicken escapees Babs (Jane Horrocks), Bunty (Imelda Staunton) and Mac (Lynn Ferguson) now live in an idyllic island community away from humans. Ginger and Rocky’s daughter Molly (Bella Ramsey) is bored of island life and wants to explore the mainland. After she ends up in a chicken nugget-making factory, Ginger, Rocky and co. must break in to rescue Molly and the others.
It is very hard to make a decent sequel to a film after 23 years, and even harder to make one that lives up to the standard of a beloved childhood favourite. So it gives me great pleasure to share that Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, Aardman’s latest stop-motion animation, is good. It’s not as brilliant as the original – it was never going to be – but I didn’t leave disappointed like I usually do with most delayed sequels.
Despite the 20-year gap and a new director (Sam Fell), this sequel has the same tone and sense of humour and made me laugh constantly. The script is hilarious! It was lovely to be reunited with my favourites too – the ditzy Babs is as delightful as ever and the RAF rooster Fowler (David Bradley) is just excellent. Plus, there is a wonderful new addition, the Scouse chicken Frizzle (Josie Sedgwick-Davies).
While the original was basically The Great Escape, this one takes inspiration from Mission: Impossible, as the chicken nugget factory is a maximum security fortress. I enjoyed the storyline, even though it isn’t as tight or focused as the 2000 one.
The biggest issue is the voice cast. While Horrocks, Staunton and Ferguson were rightly brought back to voice Babs, Bunty and Mac, the rest were recast. It felt jarring hearing Newton and Levi voice Ginger and Rocky instead of Julia Sawalha and Mel Gibson. I can understand why Gibson wasn’t asked back (he’s somewhat of a controversial figure), but there is no reason why Sawalha wasn’t, except that Newton is a bigger name. Plus, bizarrely, Newton and Levi didn’t sound like themselves; it was like they were trying to emulate what Sawalha and Gibson did as Ginger and Rocky. It took me out of the film trying to unpack the voice cast situation.
It is very hard to make a good sequel to a nostalgic favourite after 23 years so the fact Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget is good makes me very, very happy.
Seen at the London Film Festival. Streaming on Netflix on 15 December