“Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget” stars Thandiwe Newton, Zachary Levi, Bella Ramsey, Imelda Staunton, Lynn Ferguson, David Bradley, Jane Horrocks, Romesh Ranganathan, Daniel Mays, Josie Sedgwick-Davies, Nick Mohammed, and Miranda Richardson. Released on Netflix on December 15, 2023, the film has Ginger and her flock encountering a new threat determined to destroy their sanctuary. The film was directed by Sam Fell, who also directed “Flushed Away,” “The Tale of Despereaux,” and “ParaNorman.” It is a sequel to the 2000 film, “Chicken Run”. Before Laika came around, Aardman Animations changed the stop-motion animation game with their iconic shorts, mainly the ones involving “Wallace & Gromit”. It wasn’t until 2000 that the studio imploded with success thanks to its first feature-length film involving “The Great Escape” but with chickens. Since then, Aardman has been delivering back-to-back stop-motion hits full of charm, wit, and heart, even though they’re not as financially successful as “Chicken Run”. All it took was a lot of effort, creativity, and clay. For its next feature, Aardman decided to revisit the classic that started its theatrical and booming trend by showing what happens to the brave chickens after escaping their farm-sized prison. Not everyone would like to know since the movie doesn’t need a sequel, but hey, someone’s got to distract the kids with something during the winter season. Does it offer the same charm, humor, and heart as its classic predecessor, or is this chicken better off cooked? Let’s find out. The story centers on Ginger (Newton), a chicken living in a peaceful bird sanctuary with the other chickens after successfully escaping from their prison farm. She is happily married to the former circus rooster Rocky (Levi) and is raising their young and adventurous daughter Molly (Ramsey). However, the chickens’ harmonious lives come crashing down when they discover a new and heavily-improved farm by their island village. This tightly-secured farm is set on turning its captured chickens into nuggets. Even worse, Ginger’s former owner, Mrs. Tweedy (Richardson), is now part of the operation as she seeks revenge against the chickens that escaped her grasp. To protect their freedom from becoming food, Ginger and her crew must do the impossible by breaking into the farm and shutting its business down for good. “Chicken Run” was one of the first movies that introduced me to stop-motion animation, along with “Nightmare Before Christmas”, let alone one made of clay. I may not have returned to it that much recently, but I remember liking it for its clever story and humor when I was young. It’s also why I grew fond of Aardman for providing charisma and charm to its simplistic stories and old-school stop-motion animation, especially “Wallace & Gromit”. So, this long-awaited sequel on Netflix was like a family reunion for my childhood nostalgia. However, it’s also another Netflix film I couldn’t find the time to watch and review due to my holiday plans getting in the way. As much as I wanted to, I couldn’t deny the importance of spending quality time with my family. With that now behind me, I found the time to reunite with the talking, strategic chickens I grew up with. Was it worth the wait? Well, it’ll heavily depend on how you like your nuggets. “Dawn of the Nugget” is another animated sequel that doesn’t need to exist but offers enough enjoyable moments in its plot and charming antics to provide a delightful, family-friendly diversion. If you didn’t mind “Chicken Run” getting a sequel, then there’s a good chance you’ll have an easy time digesting this piece of fast food. However, if you’re intensely passionate about the first film regarding its clever and fun premise, you probably won’t find anything special in this long-awaited follow-up. Personally, I’m on both sides of this chicken coop. While “Dawn of the Nugget” has its fair share of charm and heart we’ve come to expect from Aardman, its story lacked a special kind of seasoning that made its predecessor a delectable classic. We all knew that “Chicken Run” is a family-friendly version of the Steven McQueen classic, “The Great Escape,” but with chickens. For “Dawn of the Nugget,” the concept flips into a heist-like adventure involving Ginger and the others breaking into the farm to rescue the chickens instead of escaping. Additionally, the movie provides a family-friendly message involving bravery and freedom, mainly from Molly's willingness to save her kind regardless of the danger. Ginger also learns that freedom isn’t just about escaping from the fear corrupting her but facing it head-on to protect her family. It isn’t without a few instances of Aardman-esque charm and British wit that’ll delight several fans and newcomers. Unfortunately, its narrative didn’t have the same flavor as its predecessor to match Aardman’s previous works. With the story shifting gears into heist action territory, the sequel resorts to several familiar cliches to carry its charismatic plot. That includes its characters, with Ginger being the overprotective mother attempting to leave her past behind, Molly as the brave yet curious pre-teen, and Rocky has the looks and heart that compensate for his stupidity. It’s the usual narrative we’ve seen in other family-friendly movies, making it seem like another unnecessary piece of animated direct-to-video mediocrity, or in this case, direct-to-streaming. However, it’s another example of making a straightforward plot watchable and mildly fun regardless of its derivativeness. Aardman usually provides these ingredients to craft clay-filled art that entertains young kids and their parents, and “Dawn of the Nugget” is no different. Sure, its narrative may not live up to some of the other quality-filled animated features, but that doesn’t make it less entertaining, at least in my eyes. Regarding its voice cast, “Dawn of the Nugget” saw a pretty big overhaul in its lineup. Most of the first film’s main cast, including Julia Sawalha (Ginger) and Mel Gibson (Rocky), have been replaced with different actors, including Thandiwe Newton and Zachary Levi. However, some of the supporting actors from its predecessor managed to reprise their roles, including Jane Horrocks as Babs and Miranda Richardson as Mrs. Tweedy. As expected, the new-ish cast made a decent effort to maintain the characters’ likability and humorous charm despite them being formulaic, especially Newton as Ginger. Zachary Levi is pretty much an actor who’s just here to provide a bigger draw for his audience, even though his performance as Rocky was fine. Nothing too special other than Zachary Levi being himself. Bella Ramsey, who recently had a successful run with “The Last of Us”, was also decent as Molly, and Jane Horrocks as Babs always makes me smile with her dimwitted but kindhearted personality. Finally, we have the film’s stop-motion animation. It bears repeating that Aardman can do no wrong with its presentation and production designs. The studio delivered another engaging piece of stop-motion craftsmanship that emphasizes its locations, slapstick, and often intense action. The Chicken Island is a lovely chicken-filled paradise, and “Fun-Land Farms” is a bright and colorful sanctuary that hides a dark secret. Everything you expected from the iconic animation studio remains present in “Dawn of the Nugget”, which is more than enough to overcome its less-than-stellar narrative. I’m not sure how else I should explain it. The animation is just that good. Overall, “Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget” offers the usual Aardman ingredients to provide a mildly tasty nugget that lacks the strong flavor of its predecessor. It’s not without a few fun moments involving its cast, hit-and-miss humor, and animation that’ll delight specific viewers who have fond memories of the first film. They also might be enough to entertain families looking for content to watch with their kids. Unfortunately, regarding its formulaic storytelling, the film doesn’t add much else to this juicy chicken to savor everyone’s taste, especially those who don’t need a follow-up to the already-perfect animated classic. It’s unnecessary but delectable enough for me not to mind its existence. C+
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