Chicken Little (2005)

"I think, 'Oh that version...' Then I'm reconnected with what I'm thinking at the time. And you're thinking how that version would have turned out. If we had stuck with that instead of this. If we had pushed Eisner and said, 'It has to be a girl,' it could have been killed. With this, I wish I could see an alternate reality, what that would have been like. That's mostly it."

- Mark Dindal

Chicken Little is a 2005 American 3D computer-animated science fiction comedy film, produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and loosely based on the original fable of the same name.

Plot
Young Chicken Little throws his small town into panic by claiming the sky is falling. Unable to find the piece of "sky" that hit him, he earns the town's scorn. A year later, outcast Little tries to redeem himself by joining the baseball team, helping to win a crucial game. Later that night he is hit on the head again and discovers that the "falling sky" is actually from a UFO. Now, Little must convince the skeptical town that an alien invasion is about to happen.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The film is very much mean-spirited; true, there can be conflict in storytelling, but the way it is executed in this movie is just ridiculous, as the townsfolk ridicule Chicken Little just for a single mistake, even going as far as making an entire movie about it.
 * 2) * On the topic of the townsfolk making an entire movie about Chicken Little just for a single mistake, the townsfolk actually making a movie out of the entire "sky is falling" incident is an incredibly ludicrous and idiotic idea which makes no sense whatsoever, since realistically, execution-wise, the concept of Chicken Little thinking that the sky is falling because he got hit by an acorn isn't complex enough to sustain a feature-length film, at least without any filler and padding.
 * 3) Executive meddling: The original storyline was to be about Chicken Little who was originally a girl (and originally voiced by Holly Hunter, who’s famous for Elastigirl from The Incredibles) suffering from paranoia who, as a result, caused several panic outbreaks in her hometown. In an attempt to reduce her anxiety, she went to a summer camp known as Camp Yes-You-Can where she met her friends who were the same as in the final product. Chicken Little and her friends then discovered that the sheep who ran the camp were wolves in disguise who were plotting to eat all of the students, Chicken must face her fears to become a hero, but also prove her dad she can make him proud. However, due to executive meddling by David Stainton and Michael Eisner, the storyline was rewritten to Chicken Little being a male to save his hometown from aliens and to cash in on the "Fractured Fairy Tale" trend popularized by mh:greatestmovies:Shrek, but failed poorly. The original storyline and concept sounded interesting, with the titular character dealing with their paranoia and anxiety (It does explain why they think the sky was falling when an acorn fell on their head.), and it would’ve worked instead of trying to cash-in said movie.
 * 4) There are several problems with the characters:
 * 5) *Chicken Little's widowed father, Buck Cluck, is unlikable as he never supports nor protects his son enough and doesn’t even act he's his father; even though he realizes his mistake in the climax, it still does not make up for how uncaring he was to his son before — in fact, he seems to be more of a tolerable and realistic father who genuinely cared about his child and wants them to be a normal kid, in the aforementioned scrapped storyline and deleted scenes.
 * 6) *Not only that Buck is unlikable, but Foxy Loxy, Goosey Loosey, and Mayor Turkey Lurkey are also unlikeable characters.
 * 7) *Fish Out Of Water, though likable, is a pointless comic relief character who exists purely to make blatantly unnecessary pop culture references, and even if he does something, any other supporting character of the film could easily hold that position and nothing would change.
 * 8) *Runt of the Litter, though likable, is also an unfunny and pointless comic relief character who exists purely just for fat jokes and frantic screaming.
 * 9) *Despite being advertised frequently, appearing on the DVD case and being one of the most likable characters, Morkubine Porcupine is a useless character who only says a few little words and is nothing more than just a marketing gimmick.
 * 10) Some of the characters are too similar to other characters from other media. For example, Chicken Little is way too similar to Dib Membrane from Invader Zim, both are hated and laughed at by the entire town, outcasts, try to warn everyone that they’re in danger but fail, have involvement in aliens, and embarrassed fathers.
 * 11) *Buck Cluck is also a little similar to Professor Membrane, both are fathers who don’t support their children (Dib/Chicken Little) enough, embarrassed by some situations, good fighters, and even don’t believe in them.
 * 12) While not bad in particular, the animation looks mediocre at best, especially by Disney standards, even if it was Disney's first fully CGI film without Pixar's involvement.
 * 13) *Since this is Disney's very first CGI-animated movie without Pixar's involvement, the movie suffers from some continuity errors including:
 * 14) **During the first alien scene, the aliens create some crop circles in the corn field. However, the field is unchanged in every other scene.
 * 15) **When Chicken Little is holding Kirby after they and his father were zapped by the large spaceship above them, they reappear inside the spaceship. Buck is now holding Kirby instead of Chicken Little.
 * 16) **Foxy dumps out a bag of acorns to trip up Chicken Little. When he falls, the acorns are all around him. However, when he gets back up, the acorns are now gone.
 * 17) **When Chicken Little sings one of the lyrics in his cover of "We Are The Champions" onto a large spoon (pretending it was a microphone), the spoon's reflection is upright instead of being upside down like in real life.
 * 18) **The background characters/citizens are noticeably reused; no other species of animals are seen such as cats, moose, wolves, lions, etc.
 * 19) *The character designs are also pretty poor, such as Runt's mother, who has the same model as him, only larger with a few minor differences.
 * 20) Extremely poor grasp of the source material: The original Disney short cartoon was a rendition of the classic fable of the same name which told about the story of a little chick who thought the sky was falling for no reason and ends up eaten by a fox who invites him and the other fowl into his lair to seek shelter (which is pretty dark). This film, however, is about Chicken Little mistaking an acorn for the sky and later finding out that the sky really is falling because of aliens. If anything, the film's story actually has more in common with The Boy Who Cried Wolf, with Chicken Little's warnings about the aliens initially being disbelieved because of the false alarm he previously caused, heck, one trailer and deleted scene pointed that out! (With one of the reporters saying "Are you any relationship with the Boy Who Cried Wolf?!".)
 * 21) Before the movie started in theaters, there is [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIVnvLuZkS8 a cringeworthy "Turn off your Phone" PSA with Chicken Little dancing.
 * 22) Poorly executed story, as it uses science fiction elements that are out of place in the original story, as mentioned above.
 * 23) The movie has some noticeable plot holes, such as the aliens not noticing Kirby running around during their invasion of Oakley Oaks or when Chicken Little gets his big hit in the baseball game, by the time he heads for home, the game is tied. If he is called out, it wouldn't be the big tragedy it's played out to be, they would still have a chance to win in later innings.\
 * 24) Despite good voicework and casting, it’s somehow questionable. Zach Braff, somehow makes Chicken Little sound a little older than John Dorian, the character who Braff was playing on Scrubs at the same time this movie was released. Though it kinda makes sense since the titular character is a teenager (13-15).
 * 25) The humor is below average, with bad fat jokes about Runt of the Litter nor Buck, along with a few gross-out and mean-spirited humor.
 * 26) Too many pop-culture references that are placed at the wrong time, which are really blatant for a fractured fairy tale, such as a cameo of Indiana Jones in the theater during the opening (it's ridiculous that despite showing a movie that has humans, the entire world is filled with animals), Runt yelling "Is Darth Vader Luke’s Father?!" when they meet Kirby, and when Abby says "It's like War of the Worlds out there!" in the climax.
 * 27) Despite having a decent score (One Little Slip, All I Know, and Shake Your Tail Feather) created by Disney (like many films that they made), they use pop culture-oriented songs (like #2, using pop-culture material for a fractured fairy tale film to cash in on Shrek) unlike most Disney films, example being R.E.M.'s "It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)", which was used in the alien invasion scene.
 * 28) The event that kicks off the film's storyline doesn't make much sense. Yes, Chicken Little's claims sound very far-fetched, but he still gives a very specific description of the "sky piece" that he saw, which sounds absolutely nothing like an acorn. Yet everyone instantly believes it was an acorn when one happens to fall near him while he's describing it.
 * 29) *Speaking of the "sky piece", Chicken Little says that the piece of the sky was shaped like a stop sign. Later, the panel appears in a hexagonal shape, and he still says it's shaped like a stop sign, which are commonly found in octagonal shapes.
 * 30) The trailers aren't even that good as one teaser parodies The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and they also spoil scenes for the movie, such as Chicken Little kissing Abby.
 * 31) The baseball tournament scene was honestly 15 minutes of pure filler that doesn’t contribute to the plot.
 * 32) The movie doesn't provide it's standard politically correct message. Of course, the best player on the baseball team is a girl (Foxy Loxy). Of course, a girl (Goosey Loosey) beats up and humiliates the boy (Chicken Little). And of course, the character with the most redeeming social value is physically unattractive (Abby Mallard).

Good Qualities

 * 1) Pretty good voice acting, such as Zach Braff as the titular character, even with the questionable casting choices.
 * 2) Despite the humor, there are a couple of funny moments here and there, such as Chicken Little accidentally drinking Fish's water during training, the long line of baby bunnies in the opening scene, the introduction of Runt of the Litter, Chicken Little screaming at the end of his "We Are The Champions", and Runt raging over a soda machine. It also has a hilarious intro which pokes fun at cliché animated film openings.
 * 3) *The "What are you talking about?" exchange is quite funny.
 * 4) Decent soundtrack for the film, such as the cover for "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" sung by the entire cast over the end credits, "One Little Slip" which plays near the beginning in the scene in which the kids harass Chicken Little when he tries to catch up with the bus, "All I Know" by Five For Fighting is a pretty sad and emotional song, "Stir It Up" by Joss Stone and Patti LaBelle that's played during Chicken Little's training montage for the baseball game, "Shake Your Tail Feather" by The Cheetah Girls that's played during the credits sounds very catchy, and John Debney's score, which is heartwarming to hear.
 * 5) Although cringeworthy, Chicken Little’s dance in the PSA was kinda funny and pretty cute.
 * 6) There are some good messages and morals about believing in yourself and trying your best.
 * 7) Chicken Little, Abby Mallard, Runt of the Litter (depending on your view), and Fish (depending on your view) are at least tolerable and likable characters. The chemistry between Chicken Little and Abby is cute and heartwarming, too.
 * 8) *Chicken Little himself is also sympathetic, relatable, and also adorable.
 * 9) Even though he's unlikable, Turkey Lurkey is pretty funny.
 * 10) Buck Cluck, even though unlikable, has a few decent moments, such as apologizing for not believing his son at the climax of the film and he is also a good fighter and baseball player.
 * 11) The animation (while mediocre for Disney standards) is still nice to look at and it aged okay.
 * 12) *It also has a 2-D animation style to the 3-D animation whenever a character is shocked nor react to slapstick, which is quite creative.
 * 13) It has a handful of heartwarming and emotional scenes, such as Chicken Little and Buck Cluck driving home, Chicken Little getting ridiculed again as the aliens leave, Kirby missing his parents, Abby, Ruby, and Fish trying to cheer up Little, Buck's apology and reconcile with Little, and Chicken Little and Abby’s kiss (though it’s spoiled in one trailer).
 * 14) The film does have a decent start during the 'One Little Slip' sequence, where Chicken Little uses his ingenuity to get out of certain jams.
 * 15) The ending isn’t so bad, with a movie within the movie is pretty good to look at with Adam West voicing Ace.
 * 16) *It would later have a video game spin-off with Adam West returning.
 * 17) Morkubine Porcupine, despite being completely useless, is one of the best characters in the film, his lines are kinda funny and he is not even a jerk to Chicken Little.
 * 18) The scrapped early storyline/concept and deleted scenes of the movie are much better than the final product, as they were less mean-spirited, heartwarming, sad, interesting, and also kinda dark (such as the original opening and the wolves plotting to eat the students in the camp in the scrapped storyline).
 * 19) ”Tic-Tac?”

Reception
Chicken Little received mixed-to-negative reviews from critics and audiences who praised the 3D animation, visuals, soundtrack, and voice acting but criticized the story, inconsistent tone, humor, and the characters and is considered (maybe) by many to be one of the worst or weakest animated movies created by Disney. In particular, it was criticized for its mean-spirited nature, Buck’s poor parenting, and executive meddling of the story.

mh:rottenwebsites:Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 37% score with a critic consensus that states: "Disney expends more effort in the technical presentation than in crafting an original storyline.". mh:rottenwebsites:IMDb gave it a 5.7/10 and Metacritic scored it a 48/100 indicating "mixed or average reviews."

Box office
Chicken Little opened at #1 with $40,049,778, The total domestic gross was $135,386,665,in foreign countries, it made $179,046,172, Overall, the film grossed $314,432,837 worldwide against its $150m budget.

Because of the negative reception to the film, Mark Dindal was dissatisfied with the final product and the rejection of the original plot still haunts him to this very day. See the tagline above ("The end is near").

Trivia

 * This is Disney's first fully CGI-animated film without Pixar because it’s made by Walt Disney Animation Studios.
 * This is one of the film’s by Disney that doesn’t have a villain nor an antagonist.
 * The film's box office assisted in getting Disney to buy Pixar in 2006.
 * The German title of the movie is Himmel und Huhn, which means "Sky and Chicken".
 * The movie was originally going to get a sequel which was going to be called Chicken Little 2: The Ugly Duckling Story and was going to be released in 2010, but it was canceled when John Lasseter became CEO of Walt Disney Animation Studios.
 * Chicken Little appeared as a summon character in the highly-successful Kingdom Hearts II which came out about a month later in Japan and in North America four months later after the film's release.
 * David Spade, Michael J. Fox, and Matthew Broderick were considered for the role of Chicken Little.
 * Editor Dan Molina performed the "voice" of Fish Out of Water by vocalizing through a tube into a water cooler tank full of water.
 * Holly Hunter, Jamie Lee Curtis, Sarah Jessica Parker, Jodie Foster, Geena Davis, and Madonna were considered for Abby Mallard.
 * As of 2021, the movie started spawning memes, mostly featuring Runt and Buck Cluck.
 * There are 250,000 feathers on Chicken Little.
 * During the opening sequence, when the water tower ball crushes three cars, their horns sound off the M-O-U-S-E portion of The Mickey Mouse Club (1955) theme.
 * It was the last Disney animated theatrical movie to be released on VHS.
 * The movie has not one but two tie-in games, with the first one that follows the events from the movie (Microsoft Windows, Game Boy Advance, GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox) and the second one that's based on the movie within the movie (PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS, Wii, and Microsoft Windows).
 * The technical team built a digital tool called "Chicken Wire", which is a geometric wire-frame model of the characters that the animators could squash, stretch, and smear. They wanted to get a 2-D animation style in 3-D animation.
 * The last Disney animated film to be released before John Lasseter was made Chief Creative Officer of Disney Animation. It is also the last without Lasseter's involvement until Raya and the Last Dragon (2021) released 16 years later.
 * Dedicated to the memory of Joe Grant, who died during production before the film was even released.
 * This was also Walt Disney Animation Studios' last film he worked on. As were Tim Burton's Corpse Bride (2005) and Sony Animation's first film Open Season (2006), where he designed characters on that film.
 * The film was supposed to have a direct-to-DVD sequel by DisneyToon Animation Studios titled "Chicken Little 2: The Ugly Duckling Story", the plot would have Chicken Little finds himself in the midst of a love triangle. On one side, is his childhood sweetheart, Abby “Ugly Duckling” Mallard. On the other side, is the very attractive newcomer, Raffaela, the French sheep. Abby’s at a tremendous disadvantage here, so she goes to great lengths to give herself a makeover. It’s unknown if it was gonna be CGI-animated like the Tinker Bell film series nor hand-drawn like most Disney Direct-to-DVD sequels.
 * There were rumors that this film was gonna have an animated series.

Videos
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