Movie Review

Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget revisits Claymation classic

Of all the animation studios out there, Aardman Animations may just be the most impressive. That’s because, for almost 50 years, they have continued to produce extraordinary work using clay animation (or Claymation), a labor-intensive process that involves manually moving everything in a particular scene. In doing so, a day of filming can result in mere seconds of usable footage.

So getting a new Aardman film, like the new Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, is always a cause for celebration just because of the effort it took to bring it to the screen. The film - a sequel to Aardman’s first-ever feature film, 2000’s Chicken Run – returns to visit Ginger (Thandiwe Newton), Rocky (Zachary Levi), and all of the other chickens who escaped from Mrs. Tweedy’s (Miranda Richardson) farm at the end of the first film.

Molly (Bella Ramsey), Rocky (Zachary Levi), and Ginger (Thandiwe Newton) in Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget

Photo courtesy of Netflix

Molly, Rocky, and Ginger in Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget.

Now living on a protected island, most of the chickens are content with their new life, except for Ginger and Rocky’s daughter, Molly (Bella Ramsey), who’s never been able to explore the world. Seeing ads for seemingly happy chickens at Fun-Land Farms, Molly secretly journeys to the mainland, only to discover a devious scheme to turn chickens into nuggets. Ginger, Rocky, and the rest of the flock must band together to save Molly, and maybe more.

First, the good news: The animation technique remains as astonishing as ever. There are truly no seams showing in any second of the film, and some of the best moments are also the simplest ones. At one point, a chicken eats a cookie, and knowing that everything we’re seeing is clay, the crumbs falling from her mouth feel like they’re defying the laws of physics.

The story has some of Aardman’s usual charms, but there seems to be something missing. The plot has flipped the script – instead of breaking out of a chicken farm, they’re breaking into one – but the sense of adventure is not as consistent this time around. The group is separated for much of the film, so even though they’re all moving toward the same goal, the one-for-all, all-for-one spirit is diminished.

Fans who have been watching the original film for almost 25 years may or may not enjoy that the various characters have barely changed. It’s one thing to remind viewers of the personality traits of the members of the group, but if you don’t evolve them in some way, they’re just doing the same thing over and over again. Consequently, instead of big laughs, jokes only elicit knowing chuckles.

There’s also the fact that many of the voice actors have inexplicably been changed. One – changing Rocky from Mel Gibson to Levi – is understandable, but Levi doesn’t give the character the same depth. There seems to be no reason to change Ginger from character actor Julia Sawalha to Newton other than to add a little more star power to the project. Other changes are less noticeable, but they make the acting less interesting in general.

Such is the standard of Aardman that even though Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget might be considered heads and tail feathers above some other animated films, it doesn’t compare favorably to the studio’s best work. The animation they’re able to produce is still wondrous, but everything surrounding it is not nearly as enthralling.

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Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget is now streaming on Netflix.

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Vinyl Record News

Dallas record store chain Josey Records spins new location in Garland

Josey Records

Vinyl at Josey Records

Dallas music maker Josey Records has extended its reach east: The record store chain, whose empire includes one of the largest single independent record stores in the U.S., has opened a location in Garland, at 1005 Northwest Hwy., at the intersection of Centerville Road, where it's selling its trademark assortment of vinyl records, CDs, cassettes, turntables, music posters, new releases, and music accessories.

This is the sixth location and the third in the Dallas area, joining the original in Farmers Branch which owners Waric Cameron and Luke Sardello opened in November 2014. They've since opened locations in Plano, Tulsa, Kansas City, and Vidalia, Missouri.

The original location is a giant place with 16,000 square feet devoted to vinyl, 45s, CDs, turntables, and T-shirts. They do a good job showcasing new releases and collector vinyl — they made CultureMap's list of 5 best places in Dallas to buy vinyl records — and are known to host album release and listening parties such as a recent blockbuster celebrating Linkin Park.

They made headlines in June 2020 when they acquired the vast musical inventory of Bill’s Records following the death of owner Bill Wisener; Cameron and Sardello both worked at Bill’s, and knew the sprawling collection first-hand.

"It has taken us years to even start going through it, but in last two years, we've made some headway," Cameron says. "Bill's has its own audience, so we created a specific Instagram account, just for Bill's Records merchandise called @billsrecordsvault."

They chose Garland because they saw it as an area that was under-served.

"There are very few record stores in that area of northeast Dallas, Casa View, Garland, Rockwall, Mesquite," Cameron says. "We have customers who live over there, so it seemed like a good place for a store."

The storefront they're in was most recently The Music Store, which sold and rented musical instruments and accessories; but coincidentally, it's next to an address that was once RPM Records, a hip record store from the '90s.

The Garland store follows the same model as their others: selling new and used records and merchandise, and buying used goods, as well.

"One thing that's cool is that each location takes on its own identity," he says. "We buy used CDs, vinyl records, cassettes — we're a used resale business — and what we buy from our customers dictates what that store becomes. For example, our Plano store has a lot of classic rock. So we're looking forward to seeing what Garland gravitates to."

Garland does have one thing that the other locations do not.

"Right now, Garland has this incredible collection of jazz," Cameron says. "We bought a great collection of jazz records — someone called and wanted to sell it. We get that a lot, we buy major collections from all over the U.S., we even make house calls. So we saved it for the Garland store."