The Wallace and Gromit style of animation, pioneered by Aardman Animations, is renowned for its endearing characters, intricate stop-motion clay animation, and subtle humor. Created by Nick Park, the series follows the quirky inventor Wallace and his clever canine companion Gromit through whimsical adventures. Notably, Aardman’s feature film “Chicken Run” also embodies this style, showcasing their mastery of animation techniques and storytelling, further cementing their reputation as one of the foremost studios in the genre.

Chicken Run: Dawn of Nugget

After escaping from Mr. and Mrs. Tweedy’s Farm, the chickens find refuge on a peaceful island. Ginger and Rocky start a family with their daughter Molly. As Molly grows, Ginger becomes wary of construction on the mainland, fearing another farm. When Molly disobeys her parents, she and her new friend Frizzle investigate; they quickly find themselves in the middle of a dark plan in the heart of a sinister poultry processing plant.

Upon learning of Molly’s capture, Ginger and her husband Rocket attempt a daring rescue.

PARENTAL NOTES

I Have Become Death

• Chicken Run: Dawn of Nugget earns its PG rating with some intense situations. However, most of its violence is akin to Road Runner cartoons. That said, unlike Wile E. Coyote and his archnemesis, Chicken Run: Dawn of Nugget spends most of its runtime with the specter of a very horrible and very real death awaiting its heroes.

ROLE MODELS (men and women)

Good And Involved Parents?

• Both the mother and father chicken are devoted and loving parents willing to sacrifice their lives without hesitation to save their child.
• Both parents are kind, loving, and devoted to one another.

BASED ELEMENTS

We Are Family

• The importance of being loving spouses and raising children is an integral part of long-term happiness.

He’s Our Goober

• The dad is a bit of a fool, but he gets his moments to shine and is a man of action.

WOKE REPORT

Take It Easy

• Only one or two of the women are particularly together, and almost every character is silly to some degree or another. Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget is meant to be silly in virtually all respects; therefore, taking it too seriously might not be the best choice. For this reason and because of the strong familial core, we took it pretty easy on the Woke-O-Meter.

Second Class Citizens

• The leaders and most competent characters are all the ladies, while the men are goofy, lazy, and/or emotional.
  • Rocket The Rooster is a bit of a goof and a layabout
  • The old rooster is missing a few screws
  • The rats are goofs.
  • The evil scientist is a goof who is dominated by his wife.
  • The first film was about a fierce woman leading everyone to victory. Why exactly couldn’t this sequel have given us a son?

Would You Like To Super-Size It?

• They sneak in a line about how bad fast food is for you. While I’m not arguing the contrary, clearly, it isn’t the healthiest of choices; the line is awkward and forced and feels like a commentary instead of an organic line.

People and Big Business Are Evil

• Any time you do a story in which food animals are sentient beings, the humans who want to eat them can’t help but look like monsters. So, of course, increasing the scale and scope of the consumption only serves to increase the sense of evil. You’ll have to decide for yourself if this makes the film woke. Chicken Run is a silly and relatively light movie, so we gave them the benefit of the doubt.