The unpluckable poultry heroes of Aardman Animations are back this holiday season for a freshly-hatched adventure on Netflix! Following its premiere at the BFI London Film Festival earlier this month, reviews are in for the long-awaited sequel. The pic is directed by Oscar nominee Sam Fell (ParaNorman, The Tale of Despereaux, Flushed Away) and slated to hit streaming on December 15.
Following up on the events of 2000’s Chicken Run — the highest-grossing stop-motion movie ever made — Dawn of the Nugget finds Ginger (voiced by Thandiwe Newton) and the flock enjoying life on a peaceful island sanctuary. When she and Rocky (Zachary Levi) hatch a little girl called Molly (Bella Ramsey), Ginger’s happy ending seems complete. But back on the human-inhabited mainland, the whole of chicken-kind faces a new threat at the hands of a familiar nemesis.
The pedigreed voice cast also features Jane Horrocks as Babs, David Bradley as Fowler, Lynn Ferguson as Mac, Imelda Staunton as Bunty, Daniel Mays as Fetcher, Josie Sedgwick-Davies as Frizzle, Romesh Ranganathan as Nick and Nick Mohammed Dr. Fry
The upcoming film has made an overall positive impression, earning a Certified Fresh ranking of 78% on Rotten Tomatoes (from 18 critics’ reviews) and a MetaScore of 64 (seven critics’ reviews). Reviewers hail its charming humor, ranging from cozy dad-jokiness to uproarious showstopper gags, and hand-crafted animation aesthetic. While some quibble that the sequel fails to surpass the 20-plus-year-old Aardman classic, with a predictable story and unsubtle references, most agree that it is a worthy successor that carries the spirit of the original on for a new generation.
Here’s what some of the critics are saying:
“The folks at Aardman can hardly resist a good pun, and they load Nugget with a level of detail that will reward repeat viewings. Speaking of detail, the crew is now working with digital cameras so sharp, they had to go in and virtually scrub the dust and lint from their maquettes. But they’ve left a few fingerprints, which has long been the signature of a studio that embraces a certain degree of imperfection — just enough to reveal the artists’ hands behind the scenes.”
— Peter Debruge, Variety
“No one watches an Aardman film for gritty character drama or commentary on modern life, that stuff is only ever window-dressing. The true artful allure is in the physical world-building and this is where Dawn of the Nugget (could it not have been named something less distracting?) comes into its own. Set-pieces that show the chomping metal teeth threatening to transform our heroes into a steaming box of delicious breadcrumb-clad nibbles reveal what [the Wallace & Gromit] animation studio has always done best … seeing these home-made systems in actions has been a source of genuine wonder that earned these films the tag ‘family;’ as opposed to ‘children’s.’”
— Sophie Monks Kaufman, IndieWire
“…This reboot stays true to the original’s retro, handmade spirit, literally palpable in the odd visible thumbprint. At the same time, Nugget subtly takes advantage of some of the industry’s technological advances in the past 23 years, such as CGI, used here to fill out the thousand-bird flock needed in some shots. Nevertheless, this sticks so closely to the Aardman [mid-20th-century] look … that it’s not so much a film that little kids and parents alike might enjoy as it is one better suited to little kids and grandparents.
“That skew toward older viewers is felt in the 1960s visual references … It’s also there in the gag-light script (credited to Karey Kirkpatrick, John O’Farrell and Rachel Tunnard, working from a story by Kirkpatrick and John O’Farrell). [Compared] to the first Chicken Run, there are far fewer avian-themed puns here and none of the smart-ass edgy backchat you might find in so many other contemporary cartoons.”
— Leslie Felperin, The Hollywood Reporter
“…With some cheeky nods to The Lion King, The Truman Show and Toy Story 3; it’s sweet and likable, with one or two showstopper gags … But some of the time I found the proceedings a little bit generic, like something you might put on an iPad to keep kids quiet, even if that is a noble enough aim.”
— Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
