Chicken Run: Dawn Of The Nugget (Netflix Film) Talkback Thread (Spoilers)

[Fone Bone]

Surprised this hasn't been made a discussion thread. Good ol' Anime Superhero reported the news:

Netflix Announces Chicken Run Sequel - Anime Superhero News

Twenty years ago today, a movie called Chicken Run was released to US theaters via Dreamworks. It was created by UK-based Aardman Animation...

animesuperhero.com

If Rocky is recast, I'm all in.

 

[Daikun]

Julia Sawalha will not be reprising her role. She's not happy about it.

 

[StellaMagic]

I wonder what Chicken Run 2 will be about? Hope Rocky and Ginger had kids.

 

[Frontier]

Julia Sawalha will not be reprising her role. She's not happy about it.

And I can understand why .

 

[Fone Bone]

That sucks. I agree with getting rid of Mel Gibson but firing Julia Sawalha is out of line.

 

[Pooky]

It sucks, but I'll have to see what they're doing with the film before making a judgement (e.g. is it a whole new set of characters).

I understand Aardman has had issues in recentish years with their US partners pushing for more famous voice casts, e.g. Martin Clunes (British TV actor) being replaced with Hugh Grant for The Pirates, so this could be another of these incidents. At least no one made Shaun or Timmy speak!

 

[cheril59]

More news about the Chicken Run sequel and something else...:

Netflix Sets ‘Chicken Run’ Sequel, Wallace & Gromit Film With Aardman, BBC

A new Wallace & Gromit film and a sequel to 2000 hit 'Chicken Run' are in the works at Aardman and Netflix.

variety.com

Tough break for Sawalha 'cuz they wouldn't buy her comparison! And on top of that, they thought her too old!

 

[RoyalRubble]

09/04:
Looks like a trailer will be released tomorrow.

09/05:


Animation Magazine article.

 

[Frontier]

Definitely showing how far animation has come since the first movie came out .

 

[RoyalRubble]

A new trailer is out-

 

[prpis]

I mean it looks fun. I loved the original chicken run. Hope this lives up to the hype.

 

[Rick Jones]

I can't remember the last time I actually watched a new Aardman movie but I still hold them in the highest regard. I loved the original Chicken Run and I will for sure be checking this out. It might be time for a rewatch of the first movie as well. It's been several lifetimes since I last saw it.

 

[prpis]

Informational video that came out today.

 

[Frontier]

Informational video that came out today.

It's always cool to see them at work and how they put everything together .

 

[prpis]

Inspirational video on how one animator made it to Aardman, and his time working on the film. There might be some spoilers ahead.

 

[Eurbane]

when The chickens come to the stairs, the song from bob the builder built to be wild played.

 

[cheril59]

I watched it myself last night, and I must say, it was a knockout!

Ginger and Rocky must be very proud to have hatched a go-getter kinda kid like Molly. Amazing how Aardman splits the difference in personality of her own folks.

No chicken is an island, because the team is always trying to save more and more chickens from getting eaten!

Still, for those of us who feel bad Thandiwe Newton replaced Julia Sawalha because they thought her too old, the flashbacks to footage of the first movie still had Sawalha's voice clips. (Even the end credits acknowledged Sawalha, too!)

 

[Fone Bone]

Chicken Run: Dawn Of The Nugget

I have to be honest. Based on the closed ending of the first movie, this was NOT a franchise that lent itself to sequels. It's kind of nice how the end of this movie makes them chicken freedom fighters saving any chickens in need of help. But it's also not necessary.

Speaking of which, the entire problem of the movie would have been avoided if Ginger had simply explained to Molly why she didn't want her leaving the island. I would accuse this of being a problem of all badly written kids stuff, but the truth is this stuff infects projects supposedly aimed at grown-ups too. I think it's stupid and annoying, but I'm not going to get on some high horse and pretend it only occurred because the project is for kids. Bad writing on that level is constant in supposed adult projects as well.

Nobody was happy Ginger needed to be recast, and I think everyone was relieved that Rocky was. But going in, I wasn't aware that they had gotten back most of the rest of the original cast. You'd figure while people were freaking out about Ginger, Netflix would have promoted that fact and smoothed over any ruffled feathers. I can't believe I just said that.

This wasn't needed. If it were great I could forgive that fact, but it isn't remotely. It's kind of cute in places and there is SOME of the charm from the original. But it's definitely not something that needed to be made, and probably only got greenlit because Netflix believed a known IP was less of a financial risk. Financial risk assessment is not what I'd call the stellar baseline for great movies, which might be why Hollywood is so hard up for fresh ideas. The movie itself isn't terrible, but it never once made me feel like the original film needed that story continued. And for a sequel, especially for a long-dormant franchise, that's a problem.

Just to give you some context about my feelings of "Leave well enough alone", "The Matrix Resurrections" was widely hated. But not by me, because I felt it dealt with some unfinished business, and undid some things I disliked about the third Matrix movie (namely Neo and Trinity's underwhelming deaths). Here, the ending to the original Chicken Run was happy and fine and it didn't really need anything else added. Nobody NEEDED a fourth Matrix. But I get the logic of returning just to give Neo and Trinity a happy ending. The happy ending of the first Chicken Run however left few of that movie's fans unsatisfied. We didn't NEED anything past that. There was nothing to fix in hindsight.

Sigh. I guess this is how movies simply operate now. But I don't have to like that fact. And I think the movie, while cute, is pretty bland and mediocre when all is said and done. ***.

 

[Spacething7474]

I wonder what Chicken Run 2 will be about? Hope Rocky and Ginger had kids.

Well I got some good news for you!


Fun film, the double twist at the factory was pretty clever, would love a cut from Fowler and the snail's point of view, justice for hen #413

 

[AngusTinMan16]

I watched it myself last night, and I must say, it was a knockout!

Ginger and Rocky must be very proud to have hatched a go-getter kinda kid like Molly. Amazing how Aardman splits the difference in personality of her own folks.

No chicken is an island, because the team is always trying to save more and more chickens from getting eaten!

Still, for those of us who feel bad Thandiwe Newton replaced Julia Sawalha because they thought her too old, the flashbacks to footage of the first movie still had Sawalha's voice clips. (Even the end credits acknowledged Sawalha, too!)

Yeah, I'm glad the movie did that also.

I also found the move to be pretty good, but nothing can top the original.