Sometimes telling the truth can bring ridicule and torment. Just ask Chicken Little.
In Disney’s first computer-animated movie without the help of Pixar, “Chicken Little,” the title character (voiced by Zach Braff) learns that one misunderstanding can drive a society into turmoil and turn an individual’s life into a joke – sort of.
“Chicken Little” takes a look at the life of the young fowl after he made his tragic “The sky is falling,” rant (this time there is truth to it) that sent his community into upheaval and his father into a state of shame and disappointment. Little’s life has turned into a joke. He has been ridiculed by the media and the incident is being turned into a movie – a movie more about Chicken Little’s stupidity then the incident itself.
Little and his father Buck Cluck (voiced by Garry Marshall) live in the small town of Oakey Oaks, home of the universe’s best acorns. Oakey Oaks works as a microcosm of small town America – everyone knows everyone else and all the citizens are busy worrying about each other’s business.
Little goes to the town’s school – whether this is high school, grade school, or middle school is left a mystery to the audience – where he is a member of the unpopular clique of students. Little’s best friends include Abby Mallard, a.k.a. The Ugly Duckling, a young girl who puts all of her time and energy into reading teen magazines; Runt of the Litter, a morbidly obese pig; and Fish Out of Water, a land-bound fish with attention deficit disorder who survives by wearing a scuba helmet filled with water. Little and his friends are picked on by the popular clique led by the extremely athletic and braced-faced Foxy Loxy. Loxy (voiced by Amy Sedaris) is the type of girl who, in a real world small town, would most likely be ridiculed for being too butch.
Little has a hard time connecting with his father Cluck, and Cluck has a hard time talking to his son. Little believes that if he is able to do well on the school’s baseball team he can earn his father’s respect. Cluck just wants his son to lay low and not draw attention to himself. This is the core of the film and everything and anything that happens around this theme is only secondary. The problem is that this theme has been done numerous times before and in many better ways and the film puts too much emphasis on secondary elements, such as sight gags, one liners and satirizing American culture. This movie seems lost, and the fact that it is less than 90 minutes only proves its creators really had no idea where to take it.
“Chicken Little” wants to create a story about human bonding and the love between a parent and a child; unfortunately it does not explore any of the characters and leaves the audience emotionless. Many movies that use animation rely on the characters and the film’s writing to bring those characters to life. In the case of “Chicken Little,” there is nothing for the viewer to admire in the characters and thus nothing to really care about in the film. Disney has created a film that is preoccupied with making cute references and goofy sight gags. What it leaves out are interesting characters and a worthwhile story.
It is safe to say that this movie will entertain small children, somewhere between the ages of two and five, but anyone over that age may get bored or annoyed. Films like “Toy Story,” “Shrek” and their sequels are good because they were smart enough to entertain both adults and children, not only with cultural references but also with great stories. The problem is that Disney put too much emphasis on the former and not enough on the latter.
