‘Chicken Run: Dawn Of The Nugget’: London Review

Dir: Sam Fell. UK. 2023. 97mins

Some 23 years after its release, Aardman Animations’ Chicken Run — the first of the studio’s full-length features — remains the highest-grossing stop-motion film of all time, with $224m worldwide. While this sequel will only enjoy a limited theatrical run from December 8 before heading to Netflix on December 15, Chicken Run: Dawn Of The Nugget is still likely to draw an impressive audience. By sticking with the successful little-chickens-on-a-big-adventure formula (even if, this time, the plucky group are breaking into, rather than out of, a poultry farm in order to rescue fellow fowl) and trading heavily on family-friendly humour, the film is positioning itself as a festive season must-see.

 Positions itself as a festive season must-see

Sam Fell, who has co-directed animations Flushed Away, The Tale Of Desperaux and Paranormal, takes over directing duties from Peter Lord and Nick Park, who remain as executive producers. Screenwriters Karey Kirkpatrick and John O’Farrell return from the first film, joined by Rachel Tunnard, and this sequel is essentially, a retread of the first, updated for a modern audience (including a shake-up of some of the voice cast) and, visually, somewhat slicker — although the overall handmade aesthetic remains the same. 

A short opening flashback sequence reminds us of the events of Chicken Run, in which intrepid chick Ginger (then voiced by Julia Sawalha, now by Thandiwe Newton) and American cockerel Rocky (Zachary Levi replacing Mel Gibson) broke out of the farm owned by the sadistic Mrs Tweedy (a returning Miranda Richardson). They have since established a more relaxed, free-range community on an island in the middle of a lake, a bucolic paradise that looks like a cross between The Shire and Swiss Family Robinson, and have feathered their own nest with a daughter, Molly (Bella Ramsey). As Molly grows, she proves to have an adventurous spirit.

As with all Aardman films, there is immediately a great deal of pleasure to be found in the details. The chickens’ glorious island home is rendered in pastel colours and dappled sunlight, homes and tools made of wood, crops growing and nature proving utterly resplendent. The score, by returning composer Harry Gregson-Williams, is relaxed and lilting, the chickens having nothing to fear — as long as they keep themselves hidden. 

Molly, however, has no intention of clipping her wings — as expressively voiced by Ramsey (a former Screen Star Of Tomorrow who has achieved international acclaim for her role as the similarly independent Ellie in The Last Of Us), she is a spunky, inquisitive character who refuses to let trepidation get in the way of exploration. Disobeying her parent’s strict orders, she heads for the mainland, teaming up with feisty Liverpudlian chicken Frizzle (Josie Sedgwick-Davies) who is, like all the characters, gloriously styled to represent her personality, all curly ‘hair’ and statement necklace. 

The pair head to ‘Fun-Land Farm’ which promise a utopian party land for chickens. The looming grey building, however, looks more like a Bond villain lair, a locked-down mechanical fortress at total odds with Molly’s home, a fact underscored by Gregson-Williams’ sinsister, discordant tones. Surprisingly, however, she and Frizzle discover that owner Dr Fry (Nick Mohammed) has created a neon-coloured chicken-friendly wonderland complete with blue skies, green fields, fairground rides and endless food. It all feels a little too good to be true. When Ginger and Rocky mount a rescue mission alongside pals Fowler (David Bradley, replacing Benjamin Whitrow), Babs (Jane Horrocks), Bunty (Imelda Staunton) and Mac (Lynn Ferguson), together with scene-stealing rat pair Nick and Fletcher (Romesh Ranganathan and Daniel Mays replacing Timothy Spall and Phil Daniels), the stage is set for a Mission: Impossible-style madcap adventure which will bring them face-to-face with old nemesis Tweedy.

Aardman animations are always impressive creations, both in terms of the incredible, painstaking craft on display — this film has taken four years to make — and the endless attention to detail. Beneath all of the visual razzle-dazzle and quick-firing gags, though, Chicken Run: Dawn Of The Nugget is, fundamentally, a familiar, well-executed coming-of-age narrative, in which a youngster is compelled to spread their wings, and parents must learn to let them fly.