"CHICKEN LITTLE"
DVD Review
by Kevin Carr
| MOVIE: ***1/2 (out of 5 stars)
DVD EXPERIENCE: **1/2 (out of 5 stars) STARRING Zach Braff as CHICKEN LITTLE Garry Marshall as BUCK CLUCK Don Knotts as MAYOR TURKEY LURKEY Patrick Stewart as MR. WOLLENSWORTH Amy Sedaris as FOXY LOXY Steve Zahn as RUNT OF THE LITTER Joan Cusack as ABBY MALLARD Rated G Studio: Disney Directed by: Mark Dindal Back to DVD Review Home |  |
I have to admit that the film “Chicken Little” has grown on me a bit. I doubt that it will go down in time as a classic Disney film (rather it will probably be forgotten as a false start of Disney trying to put together its own CGI arm before it purchased Pixar). However, there will always be a soft spot in my heart for this movie.
In some ways, “Chicken Little” is the red-headed step-child of Disney films. On one hand, it borrows squarely out of the Disney playbook by taking an existing children’s story and updating it for modern movie audiences. However, it makes some decisive moves against standard Disney formula by its use of humor, dark comedy, alien abductions and violence.
The film tells the story of the littlest chicken in the town of Oakley Oaks who causes a panic by telling everyone that the sky is falling. However, when the townspeople get their heads screwed on straight, they discover that he was just hit in the head with an acorn.
It is in these first five minutes that the traditional children’s tale ends and the creative madness begins. Chicken Little is shunned by the town, and he is practically disowned by his father. His only way to redeem his father’s love is to become a star on the little league team. However, almost a year to the day that he had his first incident, another piece of the sky falls into his life.
If you thought the story was taking some strange turns here, it gets worse – or better, depending on your point of view. In steps an invading army of starships with tripod-style aliens, tipping a hat to last summer’s “War of the Worlds.” While everyone in Oakley Oaks is running around like a chicken with its head cut off, it’s up to Chicken Little and his band of misfit friends to make peace with the aliens.
There’s an energy and humor in this film that I don’t normally see in movies. At times, the film tries to be much bigger than it really is. This tends to work against it, but the heart is still there. I have to admit that “Chicken Little” is a really cute film. Of course, my favorite character is Fish Out Of Water, the Fonzie of the bunch who is cool and hip at everything he does.
The voice cast is superb, leading up with Zach Braff, but being held together with Steve Zahn and Joan Cusack. Other excellent shows come from Garry Marshall as Chicken Little’s dad and Fred Willard as one of the aliens.
Alas, “Chicken Little” won’t go down in history, but it is one heck of a fun film.
The DVD comes with a small assortment of special features. There are several deleted scenes as well as some alternate openings. Unlike many animated films, these deleted segments are presented often with partial or full animation, so it’s more appealing than watching moving storyboards.
There’s also a making-of featurette as well as music videos for the original songs. My favorite of these is the Barenaked Ladies new song for the film, but that’s just because I like the group.
Finally, the kids should enjoy the “Where’s Fish?” set-top game in the activities section. This provides some easy-to-hard trivia questions from the film.
Specifications: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. Widescreen (1.78:1), enhanced for 16x9 televisions. French and Spanish language tracks. English language subtitles for the hearing impaired.
