[.ca] Chicken Little [Blu-ray]

Funny enough to leave young viewers clucking in the aisles:
We all know the story. Chicken Little got hit on the head by an acorn, got the whole town into a panic by proclaiming "The sky is falling," and then suffered humiliation for his mistake. Clearly, the little guy is in need of some redemption - and, thanks to the folks at Disney - he finally has it. He really did get hit on the head by a piece of the sky - actually, a cloaking panel from an alien spaceship. Redemption doesn't come quickly, however. A full year after the original embarrassing incident (which never faded into the background, thanks to billboards, a book, and a forthcoming movie about the whole fiasco), it happens to Chicken Little again. Even with friends to verify the event, no one believes him yet again, not even his father. It's a terrible thing for a child to tell the truth and have one of his parents not believe him. The trauma of that feeling, even more than the continuing public embarrassment, has haunted Chicken Little ever since the original incident. Buck Cluck loves his son, and he tries to be a good single father to him, but he's really not there for Chicken Little in the bad times. That gulf between an otherwise loving father and son is really the emotional crux of this story, carrying with it a meaningful message to both children and parents alike. Michael Eisner did at least one good thing during his time at Disney - he saw the original image of Chicken Little as a female and changed the minds of the filmmakers on that score. From that point on, it was smooth sailing - due largely to some wonderful casting for the voice actors. I think Zach Braff is great as the voice of the little hero, but Joan Cusack and Steve Zahn are pretty much perfect as the voices of Abby "Ugly Duckling" Mallard and Runt of the Litter, respectively. With all of their comedic antics, these two characters (along with the amazing Fish Out of Water), really make this a movie that kids are sure to love. Garry Marshall brings Chicken Little's dad to life, while a whole cadre of talented stars, including Patrick Stewart, Amy Sedaris, and Don Knotts, make even the minor characters delightful. The only little issue I might have with this film is the music, and I only say that because a good bit of it goes back two or three decades. When Runt starts doing Bee Gees and Gloria Gaynor songs to keep up his courage, few kids are going to recognize the music - maybe the filmmakers just threw this stuff in as a little extra for adult viewers. As usual, Disney proves quite generous with the extra features on the DVD. You get the obligatory behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film, three alternate openings and a deleted scene, the music video of Shake Your Tail Feathers by The Cheetah Girls (featuring Chicken Little, Ugly Duckling, and Runt getting down with their bad selves), a music video (not to mention karaoke and sing-a-long versions) of One Little Slip by the Barenaked Ladies, a trivia-related game of "Where's Fish?" and sneak peeks at gobs of upcoming Disney releases. The alternate openings are interesting, reflecting the fact that the filmmakers were unsure at first how to introduce the film to the audience, and one of them is quite special indeed, as it features the late Don Knotts narrating the classic tale of the unfortunate little chicken. I'll never be too old to enjoy a good animated film, and the sort of 3D animation that brings Chicken Little's world to life is still quite an amazing thing to see. At the same time, the animators attempt to retain the essence of the classic Disney style, which ensures that the look of this movie won't be anything less than impressive. Ye olde squish and stretch never gets old, while the move and zoom point of view technique really goes to show how far animation has come over the decades. It's that mix of the past and the present that makes this film a real winner in my book. Chicken Little certainly isn't Disney's most magical film, but it is cute and entertaining enough to delight children as well as a fair share of adults.

Pretty good, Fish was awesome!:
Quickly: not bad, pretty good animation but very cartoony, Fish was awesome. Summary: Disney's bizzar take on the Chicken Little story. Something falls from the sky, no one believes it, kids tramautized. He is just starting to get over it with the help of his friends when it happens again. It's not the sky it's aliens! Aliens attack, kid saves the day. That's basically it. The Good: Fish is awesome. I would love a movie just staring one character, actually I watched the movie twice in a row, one time all the way through, the second time just watching the scenes with Fish. The story wasn't as predictable as expected. The visual effects were rather cool, with some damn nice 3d art. The characters were over the top in a good way, and I especially liked the fact that they acted somewhat like their real life animal counterparts. I liked the fact that little looked like your usual cute geeky kid with glases but didn't act like it. He actually had a bit of Pro in him, and had an attitude, that was a nice change from the ubergeek character I expected. The Bad: The story was still pretty predictable, though that was to be expected. Some of the visual effects were just too cartoony. I know it was done on purpose, but watching talking animals run around and fight aliens is funny enough, they didn't have to add the cartoon physics. The Ugly: The caracters looked way too much like something out of Richard Scarry. There are a few scenes that are so cute they are ugly. The alien baby was just a bit too much for me. I could not stand the Runt character. The way he looked was just so overdone it was dumb, his lines were 99.9% groaners, and not in a good way, and his voice drove me nuts. Overall: really not bad. Better then I expected and I actually laughed out loud a few times. I also groaned quite a bit as well. It was worth seeing, if only for Fish.

A clever film that deserves to become a classic.:
This is a very entertaining film. I've watched it many times with my children, who all love it. It is loaded with wit and clever humour that give adults reason to chuckle throughout it as well. The CGI is well done and overall it's a high quality film. Pick it up, you'll enjoy it and so will your children.

"Chicken Little" is likely to be forgotten the moment the credits roll:
The kid's fined this enjoyable but not as much. I fear that there aren't many good storytellers left at Disney Feature Animation, and there didn't seem to by any present for the making of "Chicken Little". The story itself, chronicling the tales of the title character proving to his community that he is not a failure, was a good enough premise. Though it wasn't executed well at all. Instead of solid, premise-building scenes where it's main characters interact well with others (and get the viewers laughing along the way), we get a sappy, melodramatic mini-soap with voice actors who don't have a good script...followed immediately by, more times than I'd care to recall, potty humor gags. This 3D animated movie also presented itself with "Madagascar", "Robots" and "Valiant", that same year. Many companies are trying to prove their movie-making chops to us movie-goers. They can make a very beautiful looking movie, with wonderfully rendered characters that can move so fluidly and realistic...but the very vital element of sharing a good story is missing in action. It's my belief that a great story without great animation will be a much better movie than one that looks great, but has a weak story. Though, both elements are what made Pixar's "The Incredibles" an Oscar-contending, $265 million hit. Computer animation is, indeed, not the shoe-in, cure-all solution to a great movie. All in all, I believe "Chicken Little" is a failure that I define as hot having a good story to match its sweet computer animation. In Disney's quest to prove that they are still the "Best of the Best," movies like this will prove to the world that they are merely the best of the rest. And we all know that it's not the Disney we grew up on and cherished.