By By Delia Paunescu
“The sky is falling! The sky is falling!” These are the famous words that come to mind when thinking of the story of Chicken Little. However, in Disney’s first computer-animated feature, this is just the beginning.
Having split from Pixar and finding great disappointment with their recent hand-drawn animation films, this is the company’s first attempt to make a solo computer-animated film. Disney’s future reputation in animated films hangs in Chicken Little’s success. Unfortunately, this latest film does not even begin to compare to the caliber of such giants as Shrek and The Incredibles.
The story begins with an embarrassing incident in Oakey Oaks. Chicken Little (voiced by Zack Braff) scares the whole town into thinking the sky is falling after being hit on the head by a famous Oakey Oaks acorn. The town still ridicules him a year later, so Chicken Little becomes determined to win back the approval of his father, his father. Aside from the fact that Chicken Little has embarrassed Buck Cluck, his small size hinders him in many ways. It also makes him entirely loveable. To impress his father, Chicken Little settles on joining his school’s baseball team, which Buck Cluck had been the star player of years earlier.
The film contains a supporting cast made up of several other animal characters. Abby Malard (aka Ugly Duckling-voiced very appropriately by Joan Cusack), the Runt of the Litter and Fish Out of Water are Chicken Little’s closest friends. The film also includes such characters as Mayor Turkey Lurkey, Foxy Loxy and Mr. Woolensworth, who is voiced by an unadvertised Patrick Stewart.
After several games in which Chicken Little never even gets up to bat, Foxy Loxy, the team’s star player, becomes injured during the finals. It is naturally up to Chicken Little to save the day. The movie gets a bit cliché as, after two strikes, the little chicken hits a home run. All of the expected events take place following Chicken Little’s homerun, and the clichés roll on as he is hoisted on his teammates’ shoulders.
Just when his life is going perfectly and Chicken Little cannot believe his good luck, another piece of sky falls, but this time goes through his bedroom window. This is the point where the real story begins.
Afraid to tell his father in fear that he will once again be shunned and ridiculed, Chicken Little calls his three friends. In the attempt to discover what the problem is, the four of them find themselves on a space ship surrounded by octopus-like robot aliens and a cute and furry orange creature.
The film becomes utterly ridiculous, as a reference is made to every alien-invasion movie made within the last decade. This might work if it was a spoof of films in the genre, but when included in Chicken Little they are just out of place.
The second half of the film is filled with crop circles, shots of the sky opening to reveal spaceships invading and even a point where Buck Cluck and Chicken Little are swinging from the town’s bell tower, a la King Kong.
The sound effects are too loud to the point of causing the small children (which make up the majority of the target audience) to cry and their parents to grunt in frustration. This is by far the least enjoyable part of the movie.
The film ends happily, as would be expected of any Disney picture, as the aliens leave Oakey Oaks and Chicken Little gains his father’s respect after saving the day.
On the bright side, the film is full of good music, but every song only lasts around 30 seconds, not nearly enough to be enjoyed. While the film does include many pop-culture clichés, it does not have the same charm of other animated films.
Over the last few years, it has become well-known that Hollywood has run out of story ideas. However, Chicken Little cannot even be considered a valiant effort. It is a cheap attempt to get into computer-animation by the company that once monopolized the animated film world. But mashing well-known movie scenes together under the pretext of an even more well-known children’s story is entirely deplorable.
The film’s end even includes a scene in which the characters all sing Elton John’s “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”-which seems to be stolen from Shrek’s famous karaoke scene.
Overall, Disney certainly did not hit this one out of the park, and should have spent more time in production. It will be interesting to see how a company that has been an animated film giant for so long will cope with the loss of its formerly stellar status.
Final Grade: C+