“Chicken Little” is all in the eye of the beholder. If we view the film through the lens of Dreamworks or one of Don Bluth’s ventures, it doesn’t look too bad. The quality of the animation is very good, the main character is likeable, and there is a large appeal for kids. However, if we hold this film to Disney standards, it is easily one of their weaker releases. My main issue with this film is the story. Unlike the sweeping epic of “The Lion King” or the tender love story of “Lady and the Tramp,” this story offers... a baseball-playing chicken that encounters aliens. How can these films even come from the same company? I found that the film lacked a strong moral or theme to tie the events of the story together. The half-hearted theme of family sticking together (which typically makes me cry without much effort) was completely underused in favor of a pig fighting a vending machine and a brief, awkward romance between two friends. I didn’t feel anything at the end of this film except for sensing that the film focused on 3D animation and not a cohesive, meaningful story. This may not be fair, but compare “Chicken Little” to Disney’s Oscar-winning “Zootopia” that would premiere 11 years later. This film, also featuring a society of anthropomorphic animals, creates an amazing allegory of racism and privilege while developing a poignant story of friendship. Its humor is clever, it will remain relevant forever because it doesn’t rely on pop culture references, its characters are relatable, and its heavy themes cause you to walk away as a changed person. “Chicken Little” is the opposite with an overuse of slapstick humor, pop culture references to The Spice Girls that are already irrelevant, goofball characters that we don’t connect with, and a silly story whose moral doesn’t really stick. I’m not trying to hate on the film – I honestly laughed a lot at the puns and one-liner jokes. But when I hold it to the standards of Disney, it isn’t worthy of being listed alongside the majority of Disney’s animated catalogue. It is a shame because the film has a great cast of voice actors who really shine. Joan Cusack’s voice is perfect for a teenage ugly duckling, Don Knotts is hilarious as an unintelligent turkey, they paired together Fred Willard and Catherine O’Hara in an homage to Christopher Guest‘s mockumentaries, Patrick Warburton gets a cameo, and Adam West is the reason that the ending situation works so well. They had all of the right puzzle pieces but the screenwriters assembled them in the wrong order. “Chicken Little” is an interesting modern take on a fable but Disney should stick to what it does best: classics and original modern tales that feel like classics. It is doable for family movie night and is better than what a lot of other animation studios create; still, share the rest of the Disney canon with your children before settling for this one.
[Pictured: "Chicken Little" does a lot right when it comes to character design but it does a lot wrong when it comes to storytelling and oversaturation of pop culture references]
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