Everyone growing up as a kid has, no doubt, heard the story of Chicken Little. You know, the little chicken who, after an acorn fell on his head, ran around thinking the sky was falling, dragging his friends into it until they ended up getting eaten by Foxy Loxy. Doesn’t sound like much of a plot they could make into a full-length movie, but Disney managed to do it for their first self-produced CGI-animated movie (that wasn’t done by Pixar that Disney just distributed). The result is a bit off-the-wall, but good for the kids and maybe some good slapstick.
The movie starts the same as the original story, with Chicken Little (voice of Zach Braff) having something fall on his head, and then he goes running around yelling that the sky is falling and getting the whole town, not just his friends, into a panic. But when he can’t prove it, he ends up humiliated and becoming the town outcast. The movie then cuts to a year later, with Chicken Little trying to redeem himself by joining the local baseball team. But then something new falls on his head, he and his friends discover the sky isn’t just falling, there are aliens invading. Now Chicken Little and his friends have to prove what’s happening really is happening and find a way to stop the invasion.
I have to admit, this was an interesting way to expand on the original plot to make it into a movie. An alien invasion does fit into the idea of the sky falling, though more than likely a piece of an alien ship falling on someone would probably kill them. And being a kids’ movie, the usual elements of an alien invasion movie are toned down a bit and/or made kid friendly, especially when compared to something like Monsters vs Aliens. But it does provide some interesting twists as to why the aliens are invading, rather than just some of the more stereotypical stuff.
Aside from Chicken Little, most of the movie’s major characters are original ones made for the movie. There’s Abby Mallard (Joan Cusack), who seems to be based on the Ugly Duckling and has a crush on Chicken Little; Runt of the Litter (Steve Zahn), a large pig whose quick to panic; and Fish Out of Water (Dan Molina), a goldfish who lives on land wearing a helmet filled with tap water. These are Chicken Little’s friends, the town outcasts who he falls in with after his humiliation. Other new characters include Buck Cluck (Garry Marshall), Chicken Little’s dad, and Mr Woolensworth (Patrick Stewart), a sheep teacher who is rather boring. Characters from the original story, such as Foxy Loxy, Goosey Loosey and Turkey Lurkey, are pretty much minor characters and changed for the movie. Foxy Loxy (Amy Sedaris) is a girl, a tomboy who is the star of the baseball team and bullies Chicken Little and his friends. Goosey Loosey (Mark Walton) is her best friend who goes along with whatever she does, and Turkey Lurkey (Don Knotts) is the not-too-bright mayor. It would’ve been interesting to see what could’ve been with the original characters to make them play a bigger role with the plot, but the original ones seem to fit better, given how Chicken Little is portrayed for the majority of the film.
As their first CGI film, Disney makes a good attempt that fits with their taking classic stories and putting new spins on them. Chicken Little isn’t a great film, but still a good one to at least give a look as a family and maybe one the kids will really enjoy.
Chicken Little comes to you on blu-ray 3d in a nice package with lenticular slipcover. The video quality is over all pretty great. The film happens to use different hues than your average animated flicks so it can appear foggy at times, but its always intended. When needed the blacks are simply that while the brights can shine and pop when called for. The 3d aspect of this release isn’t the best, but definitely entertaining throughout.
Chicken Little Blu-ray comes to you with a 5.1 DTS HD Master audio track that definitely takes the cake. This is by far the best audio Chicken Little has ever seen, or don’t I mean heard. The fronts and center channel will carry the bulk of your load with few instances of ambient noise. The sub gets play when needed, and handles it with ease. Can’t complain much about this release, it does what is needed of it for this title.
Chicken Little on blu-ray 3d host the same extras listed below.
Audio Commentary with Director Mark Dindal, producer Randy Fuller and visual effects supervisor Steve Goldberg.
Filmmaker Q&A:
Deleted Scenes
Hatching Chicken Little behind-the-scenes featurette.
Alien Invasion Interactive game
Music Videos
Easter Eggs
If you are a fan of the film and have blu-ray 3d capabilities then its time to upgrade to your final Chicken Little. If you don’t already own this then now is a good time to get in with a complete edition. The video and audio quality are great while the supplements add some depth to the release. Throw in the fact you get a dvd as well it rounds out this edition for accessibility.
