Chicken Little (2005)

"Tough morning?"
"I had a run-in with my old nemesis."
"Gum on the crosswalk?"
"He won this round."

Chicken Little (Braff) is the laughing stock of Oakey Oaks.  The year before he drove the entire town into a panic when he claimed that the "sky is falling."  But there is no evidence and his father, Buck (Marshall), tells the town that Chicken Little was hit on the head with an acorn.  The town considers him a joke and are planning a movie about the "crazy little chicken."

At school he is a laughing-stock and is friends with the other outcasts: Abby Mallard (Cusack) nicknamed "the Ugly Duckling," the Runt of the Litter (Zahn), and Fish Out of Water (Molina).  Chicken Little decides to change his image.  Just as things start to change, he is hit on the head by a piece of the sky just like before.  Can he and his friends save the town?


The story is based (name and catalyst only) on the folk tale "The Sky is Falling".  The story was first published in 1823 by Just Mathias Thiele in Danish.  After that, the story was translated into English and many other versions were published.  Most of the tales had the same start (the protagonist gets hit on the head and panics) and the same conclusion.  In most English versions, the characters have rhyming names, i.e. Foxy Loxy, Ducky Lucky, Henny Penny, Turkey Lurkey, etc.
In 1943, Disney created a short film based on the folk tale, Chicken Little (pictured below). 

That film was released during WWII and was supposed to warn audiences not to believe the anti-American propaganda.  The story focuses on Foxy Loxy and his manipulation of the dimwitted Chicken Little.

In 2001, Mark Dindal envisioned a new Chicken Little story.  His version would use the premise of the folk tale: the smallest bird causes a panic; and then take the story in a new direction: alien invasion.  They decided to use computer animation for the film, making this the first fully computer animated feature film made by Disney.

The film is ok.  It has a few funny moments, but it isn't up the quality you expect from a Disney film.  It is considered one of the worst Disney animated films.  The technology was impressive at the time, and the film looks good... but the story and jokes just don't hit.  The jokes were better in other movies.  The characters are entertaining, but not memorable enough to remember much about them.  Dindal has made other great animated films, so I'm not sure what went wrong here... there are some good ideas here, but it just didn't pan out.  Young audiences will still enjoy it, but there are better animated films out there.

Disney Toon Studios planned to make a sequel to this film, but those plans were scrapped.

Chicken Little (2005) 81 minutes
Director: Mark Dindal
Starring: Zach Braff as Chicken Little
Garry Marshall as Buck Cluck
Joan Cusack as Abby Mallard
Dan Molina as Fish Out of Water
Steve Zahn as Runt of the Litter
Amy Sedaris as Foxy Loxy
Mark Walton as Goosey Loosey
Don Knotts as Turkey Lurkey