The original Chicken Run is a bit of an odd egg. It's an holocaust analogy that is barely veiled at all in its message critiquing genocide. I remember it being likened to The Great Escape, a movie about British prisoners escaping Nazi POW camps, but Chicken Run's analogy was darker as the movie made it clear the end game for the evil farmer Mrs. Tweedy was to kill all the chickens. The farm was modelled clearly after a concentration camp and the escape was to a sanctuary where chickens could live free far away from those who want to kill them. The Republic of Iran even accused the film of being Zionist. Yes many films aimed at children are allegories for real world situations but few address such horrific themes so head on. All of this and the fact that it's hard to argue the film isn't making a vegan argument and its strong feminist themes make 2000's Chicken Run a uniquely bold mainstream animated movie.
23 years later the sequel doesn't shy away from any of this either. Dawn of the Nugget explores how fascism evolves from locking up the unwanted and exterminating them, to socializing individuals into happily destroying themselves. Like the first film it does this through a truly entertaining and inspiring story and doesn't sugar coat its messages to do so. Is eating happy chickens more ethical than eating tortured ones? Nugget tells a liberation story and doesn't pretend not to.
One of the strengths of genre fiction is how it gets us to think about real world issues at arms length allowing us to process it a bit more readily. However Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget puts it right in our faces. We watch characters eat the chicken made from a hen we just saw slaughtered. And the ending... well it has to be seen to be believed. But it does so in a way that is (for lack of a better word) palatable for any audience including young viewers. It is quite remarkable actually just how well it walks the difficult line. Nugget is a wildly entertaining film while never compromising on the moral to its story.
Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget
Starring: Thandiewe Newton, Zachary Levi, Bella Ramsey, Imelda Staunton, Lynn Ferguson, David Bradley, Jane Horrocks, Romesh Ranganathan, Daniel Mays, Josie Sedgwick-Davies, Peter Serafinowicz, Nick Mohammed, Miranda Richardson
Director: Sam Fell
Writers: Karey Kirkpatrick, John O'Farrell
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