2 of 3

Chicken Little has a fun, hyper-realized cartoonish look—more Roger Rabbit than Nemo—and director Mark Dindal (The Emperor's New Groove) manages to throw in some neat new tricks. Unfortunately, the story is not nearly as innovative as the animation. To get back to the original question—is Chicken Little a good movie?—the most accurate answer might be to say it's a pastiche of several good (and not so good) movies. Runt of the Litter's karaoke loving pig gives us the surprise of a sensitive, even effeminate soul in a big, tough package, but it was funnier the first time with Shark Tale's Lenny. Chicken Little's aliens are oddly reminiscent of the invaders Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius faced more than four years ago. And the "let's be candid about school politics" dialogue that pops up now and again (a baseball play-by-play commentator reminds the crowd that it's not just about the victory, it's about the gloating) is genuinely funny, but it's not substantially different from anything a particularly good episode of Recess can offer.

Strange things are happening to Chicken Little and his friends

Granted, in this media-saturated culture, finding anything new under the sun must be a nearly impossible challenge. But, failing innovation, a little story cohesion would be good. Chicken Little moves at a frantic, scattershot pace, and, rather than creating and then trusting in the power of a narrative arc, the screenwriters act like the party loudmouth who vainly tries to cover his insecurity with a flurry of jokes. The film is a hodgepodge of available devices—pop-culture references, lowbrow humor, a whole assortment of underdog cliché s, and, whenever it gets really stuck, music. Happy songs. Sad songs. New stuff for the kids (Barenaked Ladies and Five for Fighting). Old stuff for the grown-ups (Bee Gees and Diana Ross). It's all diverting and amusing, but there's nothing enduring here.

Chicken Little is, of course, a cartoon, and as such, it should be silly and slapstick and scattershot. But it seems also to have ambitions to be something more than a cartoon—something more like what Pixar would do. There are some flashes of greatness in the film (especially toward the end) that hint at what Chicken Little could have been if there had just been a bit more thought behind all the mayhem. If my own son's reaction is any indication, Chicken Little should be entertaining enough to bring in the kind of box office that will give Disney some of its old swagger back. Let's hope they take some of that confidence and place it in a good, old-fashioned story—the fourth dimension every 3-D feature needs to be a classic.

Talk About It

1. Chicken Little's dad had a hard time letting his son know that his love was unconditional. If you're a parent, do you think your own kids feel they have to earn your love? Do you feel you have to earn your parents' love?
   
   
2. What is one thing you've never expressed to your own mother or father that you wish you could? Is there an opportunity to do so now?
   
   
3. In Chicken Little the planet is almost annihilated over a misunderstanding. Have you been in a situation where people misunderstood each other's intentions? What did it take (or would it take) to resolve the situation?
   
   

The Family Corner

For a G-rated movie that seems to tout the importance of unconditional love and acceptance, Chicken Little uses bullying and cruelty for laughs surprisingly often, with kids routinely calling each other "losers." There is some tame bodily-function humor. Some children 8 and under may find the alien invasion scenes frightening, and kids under 5 or 6 almost certainly will. There is a nice storyline involving father/son reconciliation that does affirm the importance of familial love.

Photos © Copyright Walt Disney Pictures

next page... |  2 of 3