Written by Andreas Babiolakis

It has been twenty-three years (twenty-four since the release of this review) since the first Chicken Run film introduced children to the story of the classic film The Great Escape in the same way Pixar’s A Bug’s Life was the gateway film to Seven Samurai. Aardman Animation’s claymation, action comedy was a barrel of laughs and an exciting film that had kids everywhere believing that anything is possible; if mere chickens could escape from a farm, what couldn’t we do? As much as that film was a part of our childhoods, Chicken Run kind of stayed put in the grand scheme of things. When people discuss Aardman’s catalogue, you’ll most certainly hear about Wallace and Gromit, Shaun the Sheep, and maybe even Arthur Christmas. You don’t hear about Chicken Run all that much, because it feels exactly like what it was: a family film that opened the twenty-first century in style but was created to be an hour and a bit of fun. That’s it. This sequel, Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, somehow exists despite this disconnection; perhaps to introduce new audiences to the Chicken Run lore in the day and age of streaming (one sequel may entice kids to go back and watch the first film for context). Otherwise, it’s clearly crafted for the same reasons: a bit of fun.

The chickens who escaped the Tweedy farm now have their own poultry utopia, and all couldn’t be better. That is until Ginger (Thandiwe Newton) notices a franchised truck with chicken art all over it, leading her to believe that another chicken farm is nearby and they may be its next inhabitants. The kicker? She and Rocky (Zachary Levi) have just had a chick of their own named Molly (Bella Ramsey), and so they are even more cautious than before. Molly feels constrained (she’s clearly in her tween years and wants to not be treated like a child anymore) and sets out on her own while the rest of the sanctuary is in lockdown (not going to make a COVID parallel here, but it also feels a little obvious). Ginger and Rocky notice quickly and vow to rescue her by — you guessed it — breaking back into the farm (consider this less of a The Great Escape and more of a Prison Break, I suppose?). Outside of a major overhaul on voice actors outside of a couple of names (including Imelda Staunton, who returns as egg-layer pro Bunty), Dawn of the Nugget is reliant on easter eggs (pun intended, somewhat) and references to the first Chicken Run (and other Aardman films). It’s clearly a film made out of love — as is the case with all Aardman films — and so I have no qualms about its cute, cheerful nature.

*Dawn of the Nugget* is a fun film, despite how it feels a bit like a recycling of themes and ideas.

My main thing is that Dawn of the Nugget reminds me of another Aardman sequel: Farmageddon (the Shaun the Sheep follow-up). Neither of these sequels are bad or vapid, but they do feel like they recycle what works in their respective precursors, and recycling is bound to almost always strip the spirit of something (even if the heart — clearly from the hard work put in to replicating what has worked in the past — is there). Farmageddon is at least a different genre, putting a sci-fi twist to the Shaun the Sheep story by bringing in an alien. Dawn of the Nugget is literally another escape film, and it feels a little harder to suspend disbelief here because we know that these chickens have escaped once before, and they start the film off in a better place than they’ll be twenty minutes into it. They feel like they have the upper hand (or wing); in Chicken Run, it’s clear that they are disadvantaged and have to work together to figure out an escape.

I suppose you can say that returning to a place (or a kind of place) one successfully escaped is its own kind of danger, sure. Even so, you feel like everything’s going to be okay for the majority of Dawn of the Nugget. What helps a bit is the Molly angle; not that I ever thought that she would be in harm’s way, but I do think that a careless kid who is trying to carve her own path makes a situation like this a little more interesting. Thankfully, her parents — particularly Ginger — follow suit in this mentality, as Ginger slips a little bit during this rescue because she is now forced to wear many hats (mother, voice of reason, escape leader of sorts), so Molly can step in her own way. It’s still clear where this film is going to go from the very first second you see, but Dawn of the Nugget is at least a sweet film that is inoffensive to put on for you and the little nuggets of your own. You may not get the special something that the best Aardman films possess, but you’re guaranteed to have the joy that every single release of theirs radiates with.

Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Toronto Metropolitan University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.