Will Chicken Run 2 spark a roast chicken revolt? Aardman co-founder Peter Lord says new film set in Bond villain-style nugget factory ISN’T a statement against eating meat amid claims it will spark a rise in children turning vegan
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For millions of people across the world, they’re a crispy, meaty treat that pair well with ketchup.
But for vegetarians and vegans, chicken nuggets are the epitome of mass-produced hell.
However, when one of the key figures behind the well-received sequel to 2000 mega hit Chicken Run was asked if his film is a statement against eating meat and factory farming, he had bad news for campaigners.
Speaking following the release of Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, Peter Lord, the co-founder of Aardman Animations, told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme: ‘It’s not. It’s absolutely an entertainment, that’s why we have made it.’
But in a boon to animal lovers, he did add: ‘It is true that we engage the audience with the heroes, who are chickens, and we make them care about those chickens very much.
‘And then they encounter people who want to eat them. So it’s quite clear where your sympathies lie. I.e. on the chickens’ side.’
His comments came after activists hailed the ‘morality’ tale in the sequel, which is set in a James Bond villain-style chicken nugget factory run by the evil Mrs Tweedy, who the heroes were seen escaping from in the first film.
Peter Lord, the co-founder of Aardman Animations, has said new film Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget – which he had a key role in making as executive producer – is not a statement against eating meat or factory farming
Matthew Glover, founder of Veganaury and meal-alternative range Chick’n said last week that he feels the tale is ‘pushing the needle’ in the right direction and added: ‘I’ve never seen a cartoon like this.’
And Richard McIlwain, CEO of the UK Vegetarian Society, was a fan of the film’s approach.
He told the Guardian: ‘Whether or not they’ve set out to make a vegan morality tale, the reality is that this is what happens in poultry farms. They’re not making it up.’
The Vegetarian Society had asked on its Facebook page if people think the new film has a ‘morality tale’.
One mother replied: ‘My daughter has refused to eat chicken ever since watching the first chicken run movie.’
In the sequel, Mrs Tweedy’s husband, scientist Dr Fry, has concocted a brainwashing regime that sees the chicken inmates spend their final days in a theme park decked out with an all-you-can-eat buffet, before they are slaughtered.
Mr Lord said: ‘It is true that we engage the audience with the heroes, who are chickens, and we make them care about those chickens very much’. Above: At the French premiere of Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget earlier this month
The film is set in a James Bond villain-style chicken nugget factory run by the evil Mrs Tweedy, who the heroes were seen escaping from in the first film
Mrs Tweedy, voiced by Miranda Richardson, returns as the villain in the new film
Mrs Tweedy then plans to turn them into nuggets, which, in the film’s setting of the 1950s, are a new creation.
It takes the might of familiar heroes including Ginger, Rocky, Babs and Bunty to rescue Molly, who is trapped in the factory.
Sam Fell, the director of the new film, admitted that he became vegetarian while making it.
He said Chicken Run 2 isn’t ‘here to preach’ but did joke it could help promote fast-food chain’s vegetarian options.
‘People love eating nuggets it seems, so I don’t think everyone’s going to suddenly stop – and we want the film to be engaging and entertaining and a great ride, mostly,’ he told The Metro.
‘But yes, if you come away and you think a little bit more like a chicken by the end of it, then that’s not a bad thing.’
The new film is available on Netflix from Friday.
It takes the might of familiar heroes including Ginger, Rocky (pictured with rats Nick and Fletcher), Babs and Bunty to rescue Molly, who is trapped in the factory
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