I think the first time I saw a preview for Chicken Little was sometime during 2004. There are very few animated movies that I don’t see since I do tend to enjoy them, so I have been wanting to see this one for a while now.
A year after Chicken Little claimed that the sky was falling, the citizen of Oakey Oaks haven’t forgotten about it. A book was written about the incident and a movie was being made. Buck Cluck, Chicken Little’s dad, was still embarrassed about it. The popular kids at school, like Foxy Loxy, always picked on him. Chicken Little wanted to do something to make his dad proud, so he decided to join the baseball team. On the night after Chicken Little finally had a good day, he was again hit on the head by a piece of the sky. He didn’t want to tell his father, so he called his friends Abby Mallard, Runt of the Litter, and Fish Out of Water, for help. They discovered that what hit Chicken Little was actually part of an alien space ship. Chicken Little and his friends tried to warn the town, but no one believed them until it was too late.
Chicken Little was based on the fable of the same name that most children hear at some point. I remember hearing the story, though it has been a very long time since I last saw it so I don’t remember everything. The character of Chicken Little was hit on the head by something - I think it was an acorn - and he panicked, believing that the sky was falling. The movie showed him in panic mode and telling everyone in town what happened. He was positive a piece of the sky had fallen, but he couldn’t find it to show anyone, so they all assumed it was an acorn. Most of the movie took place a year after that incident and took the story in a bit of a different direction from what I remember. I thought that worked fine. Characters that were mentioned in the original story were also around, like Foxy Loxy and Turkey Lurkey, though they were a bit different. Several of the characters were students in school and Turkey Lurkey was actually the mayor of the town. The movie was set in a town populated by different types of animals that seemed to be fairly modern. I don’t remember the original story having any kind of town as a setting.
I really enjoyed Chicken Little. I haven’t read too many other things about the movie yet, but I did see that some people very disappointed in the movie and said it would only appeal to children. I think some people may have forgotten that the movie was made primarily for children. I don’t think that means that adults can’t enjoy the movie as well. They just need to remember that it is an animated movie which usually don’t have more complex plots. Many times animated movies can be silly, but it usually works for me because for the most part I don’t go into them with really high expectations. My expectations do tend to be higher for Pixar movies though. I enjoyed this movie more than I have most of the other recent animated movies.
Chicken Little was a very fun, entertaining movie. I thought it was pretty funny for the most part. Some references to other movies, like Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and King Kong, were done for laughs. The references didn’t seem as over bearing and obvious as ones that were in Shark Tale or the Shrek movies. I noticed one time when burping was used for a joke. I did like that the movie was crammed full of that sort of crude humor like Dreamworks seems to do. Runt had a tendency to sing old disco songs, like I Will Survive, when he was stressed or scared. I thought that worked and found it funny. It could seem corny to other people. There were a few scenes when it got more serious, like when the trouble in the relationship between Chicken Little and Buck were dealt with. Abby gave Chicken Little advice on talking to Buck about the situation more than once, saying they needed closure. She pointed out many magazine articles as proof of how important closure was. That idea has been popular in the last few years, though younger children more than likely won’t understand the concept.
The fact that aliens ended up involved in the movie was shown in at least one trailer. I thought the way the aliens were used in the movie worked. The ultimate reason for why the aliens came to Earth was a bit different. Chicken Little and his friends met a small, fury, orange alien with three eyes and four legs that I thought was adorable. There were some robot things that did remind me of the tripods from War of the Worlds thought they had more tentacle things and didn’t look as menacing. They could be scary for younger children though. There were a few sequences that could be too intense and even scary for some children even though the movie was rated G.
Chicken Little is the first computer animated movie to be made by Disney without Pixar or the help from anyone else. Earlier this year Valiant was released by Disney, but it was made by someone else. As far as I know, Disney isn’t going to do any more movies made with traditional hand drawn animation which I think is a shame. Computer animation is great and looks wonderful, but hand drawn animation can look really good as well. The animation in this movie was great, which I did expect. There were a few scenes when blowing wind caused feathers or hairs to move that did look good. I’m not sure that it was up to the standards set by Pixar, but it was still very good.
It was never really said how old any of the characters were. I think Chicken Little and his friends were either in junior high or high school. Chicken Little was small for his age, which made him a target for teasing in addition to the incident when he said the sky was falling. He wanted to do what he thought was right even though most of the others didn’t believe in him. Zach Braff provided the voice for the character. Buck did seem to love his son, but he was very concerned with what the rest of the town thought. He was very embarrassed by what his son had done. Gary Marshall, who is more known as a director, provided the voice for Buck. Abby was one Chicken Little’s friends. She was also unpopular in school and many called her an ugly duckling. Joan Cusack was one of the only voices I actually recognized.
Runt was a very large pig. He looked a bit strange since his body was huge while his head, arms, and legs were much smaller. Runt provided a lot of the comic relief and he did make me laugh a lot, especially when he would start to sing. His voice sounded very familiar to me but I couldn’t figure out who was providing it. I found out from the credits that Steve Zahn did his voice. I thought his voice fit the character. Turkey Lurkey was the mayor and really didn’t do much of anything. His secret service type people were always around holding up cards to tell him what to say or how to act. I didn’t recognize that Don Knotts was providing his voice. Foxy Loxy was one of the popular students and tended to lead the teasing of the less popular. She didn’t have much of anything to do and was rather flat. None of the characters were very developed, but that didn’t really bother me.
Voice Talent
Zach Braff - Chicken Little
Joan Cusack - Abby Mallard
Mark Dindal - Morkubine/Coach
Don Knotts - Turkey Lurkey
Gary Marshall - Buck Cluck
Dan Molina - Fish Out of Water
Amy Sedaris - Foxy Loxy
Wallace Shawn - Principal Fetchit
Patrick Stewart - Mr. Woolensworth
Mark Walton - Goosey Loosey
Steve Zahn - Runt of the Litter
Mark Dindal - Director
I really enjoyed Chicken Little and plan to add the DVD to my collection once it is released. It is one of the better animated movies I have seen in the last year. Some people may think it is too silly, but I thought it was really entertaining. People that enjoy animated movies should give it a chance.
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