The Sky Is Falling - Chicken Little

46 – Chicken Little

The very first fully 3D computer animated movie from Disney is 2005's Chicken Little. The story is about a young, tiny, Chicken named Chicken Little who sends his town into a panic when he thinks that the sky is falling. They quickly find that he doesn't have any proof and, basically, mock him for a year. This even ostracizes Chicken Little and disappoints his father. He really wants to make his father proud after his screw up so he tries to by joining the baseball team. This is against the advice of his friend, Abby Mallard, who tells him he should simply talk to his father. After finally making his father proud of him, the “sky” falls on him again, but it turns out to be a piece of an alien spaceship. Chicken Little and his friends, Abby, Runt, and Fish, go to investigate and find that the aliens are apparently planning an invasion of Earth. Chicken Little has to save the Earth and prove to his father that he isn't crazy and repair their relationship.

Chicken Little is a very small chicken who embarrasses himself when he announces that the sky is falling and can't prove it. He really wants to make his father proud but his father isn't exactly supportive. He is very clever and I liked his inventiveness that he uses to get over his short size. Overall, he isn't the best character in the world but he is at least likeable. He is so desperate to impress his father that he, unfortunately, doesn't really listen to his friends very much. His father seems like just a jerk at first. He is ashamed of Chicken Little and doesn't know how to support him at all.. You see, later on, that he really does care about him and wishes that he could be a better father. Their relationship is actually fairly well done and you can see how they care about each other.

Abby is Chicken Little's best friend. She's an “ugly ducking” who gives Chicken Little the advice of talking to his father instead of trying to live up to his expectations. Runt is a pig that likes to sing and is very jumpy and cowardly. He's comic relief and, while I didn't hate him, I think he was ultimately unnecessary. Fish out of water is also comic relief but he was a surprisingly funny character. He never really talks but he's shown to basically be fearless and very curious about the world. They use him for some stupid gags but he gets some great moments. Foxy Loxy is one of their schoolmates who is the standard bully type character. Finally, Kirby is a young alien they meet who got left behind by his parents and Chicken Little has to return him to save the Earth.

Being the first CGI movie, I wasn't expecting too much but it looks really good. The result is, unfortunately, a bit less stylized than previous movies so it loses a bit of that quality. I also don't really see why this movie was the one they chose to be computer generated when it would have worked just as well traditionally animated. A lot of the scenes felt too much like they were just put in to capitalize on the new technology. There's just a bunch of weird humor and stupid jokes that are unnecessary. That really screws up the pacing of the movie. The music, on the other hand, works better here than Home on the Range or Brother Bear.

The father and son theme actually worked pretty well but they were definitely not as subtle about it as they could have been. This movie still talks down to it's audience. I feel like the characters are always vocalizing about the feeling they're feeling so there's no confusion for the audience. The characters themselves are also really one dimensional and the story just isn't that interesting. They, once again, stuffed in another needless romance between Chicken Little and Abby. If they really wanted to do that they should have actually given them some more time together but I don't know if that would have taken away from the movie, ultimately. The final result of all of this is a movie that just feels a bi soulless.

So this movie is definitely not great. It's really shallow and just a vehicle to show off their new techniques. The relationship better Chicken Little and his father was good, but not a very deep insight into a father and son relationship. Disney really needs to realize that their audience isn't stupid and you can make movies that kids enjoy that are still nuanced and intelligent. The beginning of the movie really promises that it's going to be different than usual Disney fare but if this is their idea of different and better, I'm really worried.

46 down. 7 to go.