Get ready to flip, flop, and fly – the chickens of Chicken Run are back in a long-long-long-awaited sequel. And after spending the whole of the first film trying to escape Tweedy’s Farm, this time they have a whole new mission: breaking in. Chicken Run: Dawn Of The Nugget brings British animation legends Aardman back to the characters of Rocky and Ginger for the first time since 2000 (albeit with new voices – Zachary Levi and Thandiwe Newton), and as the title suggests, they have a new foodstuff to be fearful of being made into. Check out the teaser trailer:
Admit it: that just put the hugest smile on your face, didn’t it? For a certain generation, Chicken Run was a defining childhood favourite – plus, it remains the highest-grossing stop-motion animated film of all time – and while this is clearly a tad slicker, with an almost sci-fi-ish visual tone, it looks just as charming as you’d hope or expect. If the first film was an extended Great Escape riff, this one seems to be Chicken: Impossible – with our heroes having to break into a highly-secure facility on a special mission. Cue catapults, gun-toting moles, and laser-guided exploding ducks. Plus, as this trailer reveals, there’s a familiar foe that the flock will be facing: Mrs. Tweedy is back, seemingly with more sinister designs on our feathered friends.
Here’s the official synopsis: “Having pulled off a death-defying escape from Tweedy’s farm, Ginger has finally found her dream – a peaceful island sanctuary for the whole flock, far from the dangers of the human world. When she and Rocky hatch a little girl called Molly, Ginger’s happy ending seems complete. But back on the mainland the whole of chicken-kind faces a new and terrible threat. For Ginger and her team, even if it means putting their own hard-won freedom at risk – this time, they’re breaking in!” Also in the cast for this one are Bella Ramsey, Romesh Ranganathan, Daniel Mays, David Bradley, Jane Horrocks, Imelda Staunton, Lynn Ferguson, Nick Mohammed, and Josie Sedgwick-Davies – with Miranda Richardson as Mrs. Tweedy, and Peter Serafinowicz as businessman Reginald Smith.
Can Dawn Of The Nugget live up to the original Chicken Run? Will it overtake the first film at the box office? And will Team Empire succeed in our own mission to nab seats for the film’s world premiere at the BFI London Film Festival this October? Stay tuned. Either way, we’ll get to see it on Netflix from 15 December.