Chicken Little - Middletown Journal movie review

'Chicken Little' can still stand proudly alongside the classics

By ERIC ROBINETTE
The Middletown Journal

Chicken Little lays a bronze egg.

Disney's new movie is certainly not up to the gold standard of Beauty and the Beast, or even the silver standard of Lilo & Stitch, but it's a great deal of fun. I'd put it on a par with the last film by director Mark Dindal, The Emperor's New Groove. Both movies are flawed yet often hilarious.

Buena Vista Pictures

'Chicken Little'

B+

The verdict: Can't measure up to the very best of Disney, but can still stand proudly alongside the classics.

Director: Mark Dindal
Starring: Zach Braff, Garry Marshall, Joan Cusack, Steve Zahn, Don Knotts
Run time: 81 minutes
Release date: Nov. 4, 2005
Rating: G
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On the web
Official movie site
View the trailer
Trailers require Quicktime

Once upon a time, our titular hero (Zach Braff) warned his town that the sky was falling, but no one believed him. Even his father, Buck Cluck (Garry Marshall), was embarrassed, much to Chicken Little's dismay. Then, one day, another strange object falls from the sky. It turns out to be a spaceship filled with alien invaders. Once again, Chicken Little must warn the citizens, but will they listen to him?

Since Chicken Little is Disney's first all-CGI feature (2000's Dinosaur was a hybrid of computer animation and live action backgrounds), expectations are sky high, so to speak. People are bound to say "it's not as good as (insert Pixar movie here)," but the question is not whether Disney has matched Pixar.

The studio behind the Toy Story movies and The Incredibles is so far out front, there is no second place — not for Disney, DreamWorks or Blue Sky, which made Ice Age and Robots. The proper question to ask is, does Chicken Little prove that Disney can get back in the game after a few lackluster years?

The answer is a qualified yes.

If Disney thought that switching from hand-drawn to computer animation would restore their glory, they thought wrong. Like most of Disney's recent hand-drawn movies, Chicken Little has story problems.

The movie starts out very well, but once it shifts from being a comedy about a lovable misfit to a sci-fi alien invasion, the transition is jarring. It feels like Disney made two different movies and mashed them together, making an uneasy fit.

Disney also continues to struggle with its musical selections, which have been lacking lately. John Debney's score is decent, but the use of songs like the Spice Girls' "Wannabe" and C+C Music Factory's "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" makes me wonder if the writers have been watching too many episodes of VH-1's I Love the 90s.

What do work very well are the characters. I loved an early sequence that shows how Chicken Little gets to school, ingeniously beating obstacle after obstacle. This allows for some great gags, like our hero using shook-up pop bottles to get to a high place, and reveals his never-say-die attitude.

His buddies, including the encouraging Abby Mallard (Joan Cusack) and the terrified Runt (Steve Zahn) are well animated in every sense of the word, and the voice performances are outstanding across the board.

Disney's computer animation cannot match the finesse of Pixar, but the Mouse House still has some tricks up its sleeve. The cartoon-like design style is great fun to watch, with a heavy egg motif. And there's a marvelous scene involving a spaceship tile that mimics everything it touches.

Although Chicken Little can't measure up to the very best of Disney, it can still stand proudly alongside the classics. And that isn't chicken feed.