Chicken Little - Palm Beach Post movie review

'Chicken Little': No masterpiece, but shows some pluck

Disney's new Chicken Little, its first computer-animated flick since parting ways with the geniuses at Pixar, is neither the big honking failure that naysayers predicted it would be nor the majestic groundbreaking triumph that the Mighty Mouse's spin-meisters will likely proclaim it. (Because nobody does the spin like the Mouse.)

It's a sweet, genuinely funny little movie about finding your voice and sticking to the things that make you special, even if the whole world thinks you're weird. And maybe crazy. Or in the case of Chicken Little (Scrubs' Zach Braff) — who believes the sky has fallen on his head — it's about being weird, crazy, and lying your weird, crazy little butt off.

Buena Vista Pictures

'Chicken Little'

The verdict: Not quite a classic, but more than a Little sweet.

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
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Trailers require Quicktime

Of course, that's what almost every Disney movie's about, so director Mark Dindal and writers Ron Friedman and Steve Bencich can be forgiven for borrowing several plot points from studio favorites: father/son relationships (Finding Nemo, The Lion King), the journey from zero to hero (Dumbo, The Lion King), the strength in banding together with all your weird, little outcast friends and saving the day (Cinderella, Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs, The Lion King).

Even if it's not that original, and even if Dindal and friends apparently owe somebody involved in The Lion King some money, Chicken Little worked for me, the chattering kiddies in my screening audience and their parents, because it's something for everyone.

The rugrats get a bright, colorful, fast and fun adventure that also drops some knowledge (be true to yourself, love your parents, don't punk out like a little sissy) and the parents get some pop culture references aimed squarely at their Gen-X sensibilities (REM, Beverly Hills, 90210, that still-maddeningly catchy Make You Sweat song).

When we meet Chicken Little, he's freaking out the citizens of his small town by screaming that the sky is falling. After inciting a riot, the demolition of a movie theater and the ruin of a statue of Mayor Turkey Lurkey (Don Knotts), Chicken is unable to corroborate his story, incurring the scorn and snickering derision of his citizens, and the silent embarrassment of his father, former local sports hero Buck Cluck (Garry Marshall).

Determined to earn his father's respect, the plucky little Chicken bands together with his close group of fellow school losers — beauty-challenged but sweet Abby Mallard (Joan Cusack), odd genius geek Fish Out Of Water (Dan Molina) and overgrown, Streisand-loving porker Runt of the Litter (Steve Zahn). While they're trying to help Chicken get closer to his dad, it seems something weird's going on in the sky... perhaps it's falling?

There's nothing truly emotionally transcendent here, like Buzz Lightyear's crushing realization that he's actually a non-flying toy in Toy Story, or Marlin's anguished cry when he loses his boy in Finding Nemo. But there are some moments where the voice actors really connect with their little animal characters, or with each other, Braff and Marshall particularly.

But I'm particularly fascinated by Zahn, a very talented actor who somehow makes the most of his characters, be they a loser con (Out of Sight), a moochy alley cat (Stuart Little), a lovelorn rock drummer (That Thing You Do!) or in this case, a pig with a nervous eating problem, and makes them sound like they're either in the middle of or coming down from one whopper of a buzz.

And that's not an insult — Zahn's not doing the same character; in fact, they're completely different people (or different pigs or cats, as the case may be). That's the beauty of the stoned voice: It's not really about being a pothead, it's about an unflappable vulnerability that comes from being so on your own wavelength that you've stopped expecting the rest of the world to get you.

It's a gift, and even as a disembodied voice, Zahn can make you laugh at and with a disco-loving cartoon pig. That's some weird talent, and even if Chicken Little's not one for the ages, its embrace of the sweetly weird makes it stand out.

The Flick Chick's Bottom Line: Not quite a classic, but more than a Little sweet.