On paper, the original Chicken Run sounded more like the sort of film a character in a comedy movie might pitch: “It’s The Great Escape ... starring chickens!” For better or worse, Chicken Run committed to the bit, and as a result felt more hamstrung at times than more original Aardman Studios animated films. Where a Wallace And Gromit adventure would usually feel imaginative and made up on the fly, in the best way possible, Chicken Run had a template to stick to. The company’s love of elaborate contraptions, sight gags, and rural English accents kept things reasonably entertaining, but a prison break movie as a kiddie adventure felt at odds tonally with the whimsical performances.
Chicken Run: Dawn Of The Nugget instead uses Mission: Impossible as its template, and manages to be more fun than both the original Chicken Run and most of the Mission: Impossible movies. Some significant recasting has taken place in the 23 years—yes, it has been that long—between films. Mel Gibson is completely unhireable for a family film nowadays, Julia Sawalha was told she sounded too old now, and most of the remaining cast have switched out, save for Miranda Richardson, Jane Horrocks, Imelda Staunton, and Lynn Ferguson. It’s not likely to be a jarring switch for kids too young to identify voice actors: Zachary Levi, for one, specifically imitates Gibson’s Aussie-American accent to great effect, while Thandiwe Newton, David Bradley, and the other replacements sound enough like their predecessors to make the transition smooth enough.
As the sequel begins, the escaped chickens have made a life for themselves on a sanctuary island, creating all manner of Rube Goldberg-ish machines powered by water and pulleys to do their chores. Rocky the rooster (Levi) and Ginger the chicken (Newton) now have a daughter, Molly (Bella Ramsey), from whom they have hidden the truth about how the outside world is full of larger creatures who mass-slaughter poultry for food. There’s no sense in giving the kid nightmares, after all. The only problem is that without knowing the danger, Molly insists on trying to see what else the world has to offer, and makes her own great escape off the island. One thing leads to another, and she ends up in a new high-tech fast-food nugget factory. At first, its faux theme park holding area makes the place look like a nonstop party. But like Pleasure Island in Pinocchio, its true agenda is quickly sussed by Molly, as she starts to notice just how surprisingly stupid all her fellow inmates have suddenly become.
Rocky and Ginger, of course, know what’s up immediately, and assemble the old team to break into the new factory to get Molly out. Everyone’s got a specialty, and with a handful of gadgets made of found objects, they just might have a chance. The stakes feel less ominous this time, but that’s all to the good—it ruins the comedy to think too long about the notion that any of our heroes could be deep-fried and eaten. This movie features more teamwork than any one Tom Cruise-like figure, but Aardman protects its characters every bit as much as Christopher McQuarrie protects Cruise from looking his age.
It’s rare to see family animated films as purely focused on fun as this one. Though there’s an obligatory message moment about how parents should listen more to their kids and recognize their shared similarities, the explicit lecturing lasts for just one scene. The rest of the time, it’s just good chickens against evil human food barons, in a contest as fanciful and pre-determined as Wile E. Coyote’s struggle to eat the Roadrunner. Despicable Me also got this notion before Gru became overly sentimentalized: cartoon supervillains with over-the-top technology are animation stalwarts for good reason, especially when their own hubris and unjustified faith in themselves brings them down. If only the same were true for their real-world counterparts (cough ... Elon ... cough).
Sam Fell makes his solo feature directorial debut here, following co-director roles on Flushed Away, ParaNorman, and The Tale Of Despereaux. His experience in both CG and stop-motion suggests that some of the sets herein may be digitally enlarged; if not, they’re some of the hugest, most intricate clay sets ever. If Dawn Of The Nugget holds any disappointment, it’s that the most elaborate contraptions show up upfront, and there’s no grand, Indiana Jones-style setpiece for a finale. Fortunately, the emotional hook is stronger: a return grudge match with a surviving Mrs. Tweedy (Richardson). When villain and hero finally face off, better that there aren’t more sight gags getting in between them. As far as having faith in his characters to carry the scene goes, Fell’s no chicken.
Chicken Run: Dawn Of The Nugget arrives on Netflix December 15