Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget: Satisfying, Yet Not Filling

Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget: Satisfying, Yet Not Filling – They are not made to establish new elements, deepen the world or present new facets of the characters, but to revive the viewer’s nostalgia for something known that they like and with which they want to remember better times.

By Megan Sauer

Nobody watches them because they offer a new story, but because of the experience and familiarity they already have with the original, and since the producers are aware of this, they try to disguise their profit motives with as many references and winks as possible.

The dilemma that there will always be with these films is: “Why are they making this sequel now? Why didn’t they make it immediately after the original?

The answer is usually the same: because there was no need to do it.

There are some that are legitimately good and fun (“Toy Story 3”, “Mad Max: Fury Road“, “Blade Runner 2049”) or that at least make an attempt to match the original (“The Godfather Part III”, “Men in Black 3”, “Trainspotting 2”).

But they tend to be more of an exception because their intention will always be to sell us our nostalgia back.

In this context, we get the sequel to “Chicks on the Run” from Aardman and produced by Netflix.

On the one hand, it is appreciated that almost all the virtues of the original are preserved, from the type of humor to the personality of the characters, so that the story is accompanied by many jokes that ensure a lighter pace and increasing tension as the story advances.

This time, the proposal is more focused on a tone similar to that of a light action thriller, more in line with Roger Moore’s Bond films or the Mission Impossible saga, which can be fun, but also a little shocking because it gives the feeling that the treatment is more oriented towards children.

It is not bad, but the recreation of the Second World War has been forgotten, and taking this aspect into account, it is not strange to perceive the infantilization of the product over the interest of telling something new.

There are fewer sight gags and the dialogue isn’t as witty.

That adult audience that enjoyed the Holocaust metaphor may feel relegated from the beginning by something as basic as the choice of the color palette: pastel tones so colorful and bright that they contrast with the gray and black that abounded in the original.

However, this dissuasion is understandable, since the new “Brave New World” provides a stylistic counterpoint to the new social allegory about the beginning of fast food during the 1950s.

Furthermore, the concept of chickens wanting to confront the food chain because being food for humans is an act of oppression against them.

Only there is no longer the context and dark atmosphere that the original had, and as a consequence, a lot will depend on how familiar the parents are with the characters and the story.

Fortunately, the characters retain their personality and it is a pleasure to see them again.

It is true that it has several overused clichés such as the overprotective parents and the rebellious son. But it also considers the passage of time for Ginger and Rocky, and therefore, the concern for the well-being of their daughter and her community.

As for Mollie, she mixes a little of her parents’ personality, but she doesn’t possess enough charisma to have complete scenes because of the aforementioned clichés.

However, there is a detail that is worth highlighting, and that is that she does not behave like many current youth characters, she does not have the typical attitude of “I am perfect just the way I am and the world doesn’t care.”

On the contrary, she recognizes her faults and seeks support from her parents when the situation worsens. There is not much to say about the secondary characters, they continue with the same characterization as before, especially Babs and her witty and short jokes.

What may disappoint many is the absence of Julia Sawalha and Mel Gibson in the cast. It’s not that Thandie Newton and Zachary Levi do it wrong, but there is simply no point of comparison (especially when only 4 of the original actors returned to their characters).

In the case of the dubbed version, it’s nice to see that most of the original cast are back, so it will be a matter of preference as to who they want to listen to.