Having escaped Tweedy’s (Miranda Richardson) farm, Ginger (Thandiwe Newton) and Rocky (Zachary Levi) have settled down on an island with the rest of the their escapee flock. Safe from humans trying to turn them into pies they raise a chick named Molly (Bella Ramsey) who turns out to be far more inquisitive about what is across the water. The result is that Ginger and her brood will have to break into a farm rather than out of one to save chicken kind. 

Stop motion animation can be a time consuming task but taking twenty-three years for a sequel takes the biscuit! Of course I jest, the film went into pre-production in 2019 so it clearly took some percolation and persuasion to come up with an idea that Aardman animation was happy with before committing to this sequel to the 2000 classic Chicken Run. But there is one part of the making of process that I am a little baffled by and that is the retention of four key members of the voice cast and the replacement of five of them. So before I talk about the actually rather decent film I want to talk about the jarring sense of displacement I felt in the opening twenty minutes and recommend that if you are as old as I am that you brace yourself. 

Rocky the Rooster is no longer voiced by Mel Gibson and has been replaced by Zachary Levi and it is a terrible step down. Now I understand Gibson not being asked to return due to his morally reprehensible outbursts and behaviours. However Levi (who has not had a perfect public persona either) is absolutely no match for this character. 

Whilst Julia Sawalha’s voice being considered too old to play Ginger feels like an ageist overreaction, Thandiwe Newton does do a very good job at replacing her. 

Whilst Daniel Mays and Ramesh Ranganathan are good they are no match for the original rat duo of Phil Daniel’s and Timothy Spall. And of course with the passing of Benjamin Whitrow in 2017 it passed to David Bradley to play Fowler. 

So the voice cast change has very mixed outcomes it seems peculiar that they retained Jane Horrocks, Miranda Richardson, Imelda Staunton and Lyn Ferguson. But at least there is some continuity for a film that is a direct continuation from the first one. 

Anyway. Aside from my massive hang ups over voice cast continuity and how it messed with my mind. (And just how awful Levi is!) Dawn of the Nugget is actually pretty good! 

The setting is much more expansive. A Dr. No like evil villain lair (chicken farm), a Mission Impossible style heist break in, a growing up montage and plenty of gadgets, pratfalls and gags are on offer. As with all Aardman animations there are many sight gags and absolutely stunning sets and modelling. 

Kids will love it and will not be phased by voice cast changes (should I seek help here?) and frankly if I can quell my own misgivings I found it a lot of fun with some laugh out loud moments. Could it ever beat the classic original? Probably not. But its artistry and joke count is commendable.