Skip to content
Chicken Run: Dawn Of The Nugget comes 23 years after the original movie from 2000, which was good fun, but didn’t reach the heights of the Wallace and Gromit output.
Sadly, for whatever reason, Zachary Levi (Thor: Ragnarok) replaces Mel Gibson as the lead character, Rocky, and Julia Sawalha’s Ginger has been replaced by Thandiwe Newton (All The Old Knives). Well, if you believe the internet, director Sam Fell has said he wanted to make his own creative decisions. I’m sorry, but Mel Gibson is a legend – with recent films such as Dragged Across Concrete proving he’s still got it, and if you choose to pass up the chance to work with him, you are a grade-A moron.
Checking the cast list, Fetcher is now played by Daniel Mays (not Phil Daniels), plus, Fowler is now David Bradley (Allelujah!), not Benjamin Whitrow, but at least the latter has the excuse of not turning up for voice-casting, due to the unfortunate situation of having passed away in 2017 – and, incidentally, this film has been in the making for all that time.
Oh, and instead of Timothy Spall, Nick is now played by Romesh Ranganathan, because he’s so short of work these days, following taking over from Claudia Winkleman on Radio 2, The Weakest Link on BBC1, his self-titled chat show with his Mum on BBC2, and his regular arsing about on various Sky shows with Rob Beckett.
This time round, Ginger and Rocky have become parents to baby Molly, who grows into Bella Ramsey (Time Series 2, The Last Of Us). For a plot, last time, they had to break out of Mrs Tweedy’s (Miranda Richardson – The Magician’s Elephant) farm, and this time… they’ll have to break in, and the shock of such a prospect causes one of Ginger’s friends to immediately lay an egg!
Fast-forward to when Molly is a petulant teenager, and she wants to head over there and sort it out, despite her parents’ protestations.
What’s happening round her way, is that chickens are being forced over there, including Molly and new friend Frizzle (Josie Sedgwick-Davies), to a place which, initially, looks like the underground lair in the N64 game, Goldeneye 007. Yet, it soon turns into quite the utopia. Alas, instead, They’re all indroctrinated into enjoying what’s on view, and when chickens get called for slaughter, they all think they’ve won a prize. It’s like Logan’s Run, with “Renew! Renew!”, yet, they’re turned into nuggets, hence the title.
Chicken Run: Dawn Of The Nugget has the occasional joke, albeit ones we’ve heard in the trailer, such as:
- Ginger: “Okay, everyone. It’s “go” time!”
Babs: “It’s okay. I went before we left.”
But these are few and far between. On the plus side, obviously, a lot of work has gone into the hand-made animation – given that one successful day’s work garnishes just two seconds of footage, but the end result, is a film that just feels like a retread, and falls quite flat. It also rather goes on for its 88 minutes before the end credits begin, and I don’t think that anyone will be clamouring for Part III in 2046.
There’s no mid- or post-credit scenes in this film, but you do get a potential teaser for a third movie just before the credits start, even if it just mirrors the plot we’ve already seen.
It doesn’t help that former hands-on individuals like Peter Lord, David Sproxton and Nick Park, relegate themselves to “executive producer”, which can just mean that they own the studio, so sat home and let everyone else get on with it, rather than writing the script and/or directing. So, you’re left with that feeling as if you’re heading for a grand day out, and then find your car has a flat tyre and no cheese, Gromit.
Chicken Run: Dawn Of The Nugget is on Netflix from Friday December 15th, but isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD.
However, you can buy the paperback books: The Official Book of the Film, Sticker Activity Book and Im-peck-able Crochet: 10 EGGS-traordinary characters to make.
Check out the trailer below:
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 97 minutes
Release date: December 15th 2023
Studio: Netflix
Aspect Ratio: 2.00:1
Score: 4.5/10
Director: Sam Fell
Producers: Leyla Hobart, Steve Pegram
Screenplay: Karey Kirkpatrick, John O’Farrell, Rachel Tunnard
Music: Harry Gregson-Williams
Voice Cast:
Ginger: Thandiwe Newton
Rocky: Zachary Levi
Molly: Bella Ramsey
Bunty: Imelda Staunton
Mac: Lynn Ferguson
Fowler: David Bradley
Babs: Jane Horrocks
Nick: Romesh Ranganathan
Fetcher: Daniel Mays
Frizzle: Josie Sedgwick-Davies
Reginald Smith: Peter Serafinowicz
Dr Fry: Nick Mohammed
Mrs. Tweedy: Miranda Richardson
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.