Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget Review – A Worthy Successor to a Classic

It’s been a long wait for the sequel to Chicken Run, but it’s finally here. There’s been a big buzz since the first announcement, and then the teaser came and got us hyped even more. With the original Chicken Run being one of my childhood films, not only did I have to watch Dawn of the Nugget, but I had to share my thoughts on it in a review. With so much excitement waiting for its release, was it worth the wait or a disappointing flop? Let’s find out!

You can watch Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget on Netflix.

Note that this review may contain spoilers.

Story – Another Fight for Freedom

What made the original Chicken Run so special was its story. It was basically The Great Escape with chickens. As for Dawn of the Nugget, it takes a different direction in style of story, playing out more like a spy action movie.

If you’re new to Chicken Run or have forgotten what happened (it’s been 23 years since it first came out, after all), Dawn of the Nugget begins by recapping the original movie. It fills you in plenty and gets you up to speed for Dawn of the Nugget without going on and on. After all, we want to find out what’s been going on with the chickens since – and what’s in store for them next. Fortunately, right after the recap, the movie dives right into the new story, starting with the hatching of Ginger and Rocky’s daughter Molly.

When Molly gets a bit older, she is curious about exploring the world and itches to leave the island where the chickens have made their home. Ginger is horrified, still painfully remembering events from Chicken Run. Molly feels trapped on the island and wants freedom, which is rather ironic considering that in the first movie, the chickens fled to the island in search for freedom. Molly is unable to resist temptation and runs away. She runs into another chicken, Frizzle, who wants to go to a place called Fun-Land Farms. Molly and Frizzle get caught and taken there. Ginger, Rocky and the other chickens are in hot pursuit, but they lose Molly. When they see just how big the farm – or rather factory – is, they realize this is going to be one big job getting Molly back. If you thought escaping the Tweedy’s farm was hard, the factory is on another level of challenging. And this is when the main plot of the story kicks off.

It should have been a happily ever after with Chicken Run, but Molly’s arrival sparks a new adventure.

Inside the Factory

Interestingly, Dawn of the Nugget tells the story from different characters, instead of mainly focusing on one (Ginger in the original Chicken Run). In Dawn of the Nugget, it flips between Molly, who is trapped in the factory, and Ginger and the other chickens, who work on sneaking in and rescuing her.

Once inside the factory, Molly and Frizzle discover what seems to be a bright and cheery playground. They have fun at first, but pretty soon, they discover that something isn’t quite right. The other chickens there are acting strange. They’re almost too happy, and doesn’t seem to notice – or care – when they fall over. It becomes obvious that the chickens are being brainwashed with a collar fitted, and soon, Frizzle becomes another victim. It’s quite unsettling to watch, but intriguing. All is revealed soon, and it gets worse.

Thanks to their skills and cunning, Ginger and the other chickens manage to get into the factory, where Ginger encounters her old nemesis. Yes, Mrs. Tweedy is back! She’s got a new scheme going for the poor chickens, and this one is probably more sinister than the last. The whole purpose of the brainwashing collars is to have the chickens calm when they go to their doom and are slaughtered, this time to make chicken nuggets. Apparently, chicken tastes better when they’re not killed under stress. It’s quite unnerving – and you thought the axe and pie machine was bad! Fortunately, just like the first movie, you’re not shown any goriness (this is a kids’ movie, after all). Any violence is suggested, but it’s still unsettling being left to the imagination what goes on.

Chicken Run was about breaking out. Dawn of the Nugget is about breaking in (and then out again).

All About Family

Where I feel Dawn of the Nugget is a step up from Chicken Run is the theme of family. Not just the former Tweedy’s farm chickens, but Ginger’s family, Rocky and Molly. With a child in tow, the threat feels that more personal and high at stake. Imagine if Molly had been in Chicken Run, and Ginger had to get her out of Tweedy’s farm. The story would have felt different. What I do like about Dawn of the Nugget is that the original characters – Bunty, Babs, Mac, Fowler, and Nick and Fetcher – feel like a family to Ginger and Rocky, not just because they came from the same place, but because of what they went through in the first movie. It’s given them a strengthened bond, and it’s felt throughout Dawn of the Nugget.

Falling Flat on Gags

This is something I have to address for this review. The original Chicken Run had some genuinely funny moments. Unfortunately, this is where I feel Dawn of the Nuggets fails to follow up. I saw where the gags were and what they were going for, but it just didn’t work for me. I failed to find them funny. They weren’t bad taste or anything like that, they just weren’t funny, at least not laugh-out-loud funny. It’s a shame as well because I loved the funny bits from the first Chicken Run. What happened here? I don’t know. It might just be me. Still, I liked other parts of the movie, so that compensated for the lack of humor.

Characters & Performances – Stellar (but Missing the Original Cast)

Let’s go into more detail with the characters, new and old. First up, I have to address the elephant in the room, and that’s the replacement actors. This includes Ginger, Rocky, Fowler, Nick and Fetcher. Fowler is an exception, as his original voice actor passed away, and then there’s Mel Gibson for other reasons, but Ginger? I’m not saying that Thandiwe Newton didn’t do a stellar job replacing Julia Sawalha. She sounds just like her and is a good copy for her original performance. However, knowing that Julia Sawalha was replaced did slightly overshadow the movie. I remember watching a video of Julia redoing her lines from the first movie to prove that she could still do it, and I personally think she could. I was just as puzzled as her and lots of other critics. I’m disappointed that this happened, but at least when she was replaced, Thandiwe Newton was the right choice.

Let’s talk about the other new actors, starting with Rocky. Zachary Levi takes over from Mel Gibson. I do like Zachary Levi (I loved his performance in Tangled), and he does sound similar to Mel Gibson and pulls off a similar performance, but I do feel that comparing the two, Mel Gibson was ultimately the better Rocky. David Bradley plays Fowler in Dawn of the Nugget. He had to take over from Benjamin Whitrow, as he passed away, and does a good job here. Finally, there’s the new actors for Nick and Fetcher, Romesh Ranganathan and Daniel Mays, taking the spot from Timothy Spall and Nick Daniels. Again, they do a good job.

In summary, the new actors are on the whole good replacements, but they’re not the same as the original.

Julia Sawalha shouldn’t have been replaced, but at least Thandiwe Newton does a good job.

New Faces

Now I’ve talked about the new actors for the old characters, let’s talk about the new actors for the new characters. We have to start with Molly, who I feel is the star of Dawn of the Nugget. She’s played here by Bella Ramsey, who you might know from The Last of Us TV adaption. I’ve never watched the TV show (or played the games, for that matter), so this was my first time seeing Bella Ramsey in action. I honestly thought she gave one of the best performances in the whole movie. I thought she was brilliant as Molly. She really captured her character as Ginger and Rocky’s daughter well. One standout moment for me was just after Frizzle got brainwashed, and Molly felt a huge sense of hopelessness, nearly breaking down before her determination resurfaces. That was a great scene for me.

The other character I wanted to talk about was Frizzle. I thought she was a good companion for Molly. She came off as a fun spirited character, performed well by her actress Josie Sedgwick-Davies. My only criticism is towards the utilization of her character. I feel like she didn’t get enough time to shine. She was such a promising new character to watch and I feel that she wasn’t used more.

Dawn of the Nugget has two more characters I want to talk about; Dr. Fry, Mrs. Tweedy’s new husband, played by Nick Mohammed, and Reginald Smith, a businessman played by Peter Serafinowicz. Dr. Fry compared to Mr. Tweedy felt less threatening, but still bumbling, and he was willing to go along with Mrs. Tweedy’s twisted plan. He was the one who financed the new venture and invented all the traps, machines and brainwashing collars. I would have loved it if he’d ultimately turned against his new wife and helped the chickens out – but he didn’t. Something I quite liked about Mr. Tweedy was that while he was villainous, at least he was trying to warn Mrs. Tweedy about the chickens being organized, and at times you almost felt sorry for him. I felt like I didn’t get the chance to feel that way about Dr. Fry. He just did as he was told, Mrs. Tweedy’s new henchman. Still, that’s my personal choice.

I felt the same way about Reginald Smith, the man making a big order on the chicken nuggets. He too could have seen the horrors of the factory and decided to help the chickens, but nope. It almost felt like his character was underused, and Dr. Fry, but I guess they wanted more of the focus to be on Molly and the original characters.

Molly, quite easily my favorite character in Dawn of the Nugget.

Old Faces

One of the great things about Dawn of the Nugget is that as a sequel, it follows up on what happened to the original characters of Chicken Run. This is exactly what we wanted, and we got it. You’ve got the whole gang back: Ginger, Rocky, Bunty, Babs, Mac, Fowler, and Nick and Fetcher. They all come back with a bang, and it’s so great to not only see them back in action, but better than ever. 

Of course, we can’t discuss Dawn of the Nugget without talking about her: Mrs. Tweedy! I wasn’t sure she’d be back for the sequel, but back she is, and not only is she more ruthless than ever, she’s on a quest for revenge. She’s clearly done well for herself financially since Chicken Run, mainly because she married the wealthy Dr. Fry, but it’s obvious that all she cares about is chickens and getting her revenge on them. Ginger hasn’t forgotten what happened in Chicken Run, and quite clearly, neither has Mrs. Tweedy. You can see that she’s a woman for embracing the future, with her new look and the factory. It’s a far cry from life at the chicken farm. Mrs. Tweedy was a great villain in Chicken Run, and she’s a great villain once again in Dawn of the Nugget. They definitely made the right choice bringing her back for the sequel, with unfinished business to attend to.

Cinematography & Sound – Bright, Modern, but Still Classic

One thing I did note about Dawn of the Nugget in comparison to Chicken Run was its art style. Yes, it is still classic Aardman stop-motion claymation, but it in no way feels old-fashioned. There’s a definite feel of polish to Dawn of the Nugget, made 23 years after Chicken Run. The good thing is that this doesn’t make Chicken Run look or feel dated now. The two films are beautifully matched, so if you watched them together, it doesn’t feel jarring. There’s no obvious major difference in quality. It’s just that Dawn of the Nugget feels bigger, perhaps a little sleeker. It is helped that Dawn of the Nugget has a more modern feel to it. However, it doesn’t feel over-modernized. It has that perfect timeless feel but injects some modernity to make it feel more like 2023.

There’s something else I noticed with Dawn of the Nugget with its look. It’s much brighter and has more color. It’s not sickeningly oversaturated, but it feels a bit less muted and earthy than Chicken Run. Saying that, this might have been a deliberate design choice. The original Chicken Run had the chickens trapped on a bleak muddy farm set in Britain, with rarely any grass in sight. In Dawn of the Nugget, it first shows the chickens settled in their new home on the island, which is bright and cheery. You could say this about Fun-Land Farms as well, but its bright cheery colors is deliberately misleading, and then you have the darker more metallic colors of the factory. It’s an interesting observation, but I like the style that Dawn of the Nugget went with.

Let’s talk about the soundtrack now. Chicken Run had a fantastic score, one you would probably love to listen to outside the movie. Dawn of the Nugget doesn’t disappoint with its soundtrack. It continues with the style of Chicken Run, but also has its own identity to match the sequel’s new style and setting. On an extra note, I love the use of songs in Dawn of the Nugget. Chicken Run had Flip, Flop, Fly. Dawn of the Nugget has a few songs added in as well, and they fit well with the movie.

Dawn of the Nugget has a brighter color palette than Chicken Run.

Editing & Pacing – Gets Right Into the Action

Dawn of the Nugget may be a little longer than Chicken Run, but it doesn’t feel like it. I don’t say this in a bad way at all. Sometimes, sequels longer than their predecessors can feel, well, long, and even if you enjoy them, you find yourself getting a bit restless and wondering how much longer it’s got to go. I didn’t have that problem with Dawn of the Nugget. Not once did I feel bored or want it to get a move on. 

At the beginning, there’s a recap of the first movie to remind audiences, but it doesn’t go on for too long, but neither is it rushed. Then once you start on the new movie, it gets right on with it. Molly is born, she grows up in a sweet montage that introduces her character perfectly, and then before you know it, the big rescue mission is underway. There’s no dragging it out, but there’s no rushing anything either. There’s a perfect balance of telling the story.