Chicken Little

MPAA Rated – G
It’s 1:17 Long
A Review by:
The Dude on the Right

Chicken Little
Movie Stats & Links
Starring: The voices of: Zach Braff, Joan Cusack, Don Knotts, Garry Marshall, Steve Zahn
MPAA Rated: G
Released By: Disney Pictures
Release Date: 2005
Kiddie Movie: They’re the only ones this movie is geared for.
Date Movie: Only if she’s your kid’s mom or stepmom.
Gratuitous Sex: Um, no.
Gratuitous Violence: Various animals do get obliterated by the aliens, but don’t worry, all will be well in the end.
Action: Some chasing and stuff.
Laughs: Only the fact that the filmmaker folks can’t decide if Runt is supposed to be gay or not.
Memorable Scene: The animation is pretty good.
Memorable Quote: Nothing.
Directed By: Mark Dindal

So Disney is now trying to enter the 3D animation universe since it appears its relationship with Pixar will be coming to an end. And what do they give us to anticipate if they can dominate? They give us “Chicken Little.” Animation-wise, Disney is on par with the Pixar folks, but story-wise, well, let’s start with the story.

Most of us know the story of Chicken Little. He’s a chicken who scares the crap out of people by saying the sky is falling, only it isn’t. But that’s not enough for a major motion picture, is it? So the Disney folks expand the story to this. Chicken Little starts the movie, ringing a bell at the school and causing a ruckus, announcing the end of the world, because, well, the sky is falling. As everyone calms down, Chicken explains he was under the oak tree when this blue thing shaped like a stop sign hit him on the head. No one believes him, least of all his dad, and Chicken is now the laughing-stock of the town. Fast forward a year later, and Chicken still can’t get his dad’s respect, thinking he needs to do something big to impress his dad and get the town to forget the whole sky is falling thing, much to his friend’s dismay, Abby Mallard, known better as the Ugly Duckling. She thinks Chicken should just have a sit-down with dad so they can get some closure.

With things still not going well, Chicken joins the baseball team. Dad was a hero on the baseball team, so, of course, Chicken thinks he can be a hero, too, and get Dad to like him. Sure enough, Chicken becomes a baseball hero, dad loves him again, and all is well until, go figure, Chicken gets hit on the head, again, by a blue thing that looks like a stop sign. Enter the alien invasion. It seems Chicken has stumbled upon a piece of a spaceship, his friends help him, track down the mothership, they think an invasion is coming, Chicken rings the bell again, the townsfolk run with Chicken to the ball field to see the ship, but, of course, the ship is gone, and Chicken still looks like a dork.

Ah, but the story can’t end there. So, alas, the aliens come back to retrieve something left behind, and of course Chicken’s dad realizes his son isn’t a liar, they make up, and they save the day. Blah, blah, blah…

Look, I know I gave you a lot of the story, but it really doesn’t matter because the Disney folks just don’t have the story magic in this one to make a great 3-D animated flick, and I think they are missing one other thing the Pixar folks do brilliantly – Pixar’s animated characters are easily identified, actually look like what we expect them to look like, and are generally likable. For “Chicken Little” we get a chick that doesn’t look like a chicken, hell, even dad the adult chicken doesn’t look like a chicken. Runt, whom I’m assuming is supposed to be a pig, doesn’t really look like one, and the cutest character in the movie simply called Fish, and it’s a goldfish that has a helmet on (it holds the water to the fish can breathe).

In the end, the little boy sitting next to me in the theater, I’m guessing about three or four, totally expressed my sentiment about the movie as he kept telling his mom, “I don’t like this movie,” and asking “Can we go home soon?” Little Skippy, I felt the same way. Maybe your kid will like this movie, but little Skippy didn’t, and neither did I. For me, it’s 1 ½ star out of 5. The animation looked fine, but the thing the Pixar folks, and for that matter the Dreamworks folks are also doing better, is developing stories both enjoyable for the kids, and the adults can like, too.

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!