AniMat’s Classic Reviews - Chicken Little is the 40th episode of AniMat's Classic Reviews and the 7th episode of Season 2016. We all know Disney animation studio, but there is one film that is not like any of them, as AniMat reviews Disney's Chicken Little, and to that, it was very unlikely to this film, that it gets the AniMat's Seal of Garbage and a score of a 4/10.
Transcript[]
1. An Awkward Piece of Disney Animation[]
AniMat: Chicken Little.
Well, this is definitely an awkward piece of Disney animation.
Back in the mid-2000s when Pixar and DreamWorks were ruling the animation industry with their computer-animated features, Disney was in one of their low points, Disney was in one of their low points when their films like Treasure Planet and Brother Bear were were not getting as much attention or praise as their films from the previous decade. It was even worse when they completely embarassed themselves with Home on the Range.
So, in order to adapt and compete with the big boys, they decided to make their first fully computer-animated feature film as well as the first-ever feature film to be fully released in Digital 3D.
Yeah, because of that, Chicken Little has now made its mark in cinema history, let that sink in.
But as Disney made its first step in CG WITHOUT the help of Pixar, did they create something to be proud of their legendary collection, or is the sky not the only thing that is falling in this film?
Let's find out...
2. The Story[]
Chicken Little: I just hope they stay true to what really happened.
Buck "Ace" Cluck: Aw, son, these people are FROM HOLLYWOOD! The one thing they will never do is mess with a good story.
AniMat: Oh, how I wish it were true, Buck. But alas, I don't think that even THIS story knows what it's doing.
Considering how this is Disney's first time playing with their new toy themselves, instead of putting its focus on the journey for Chicken Little's redemption, it rather wants to try out all sorts of things in a fast pace with its humor and action scenes.
This ends up leaves little room to tell an actual plot and the most that it gives us is just updates on Chicken Little's social status.
In other words, the only time when the town isn't in chaos or when the characters aren't running away in panic is when they have to remind us that Chicken Little is a loser,
Chicken Little is still a loser,
and Chicken Little is even more of a loser.
Sounds like a fun Disney movie, isn't it?!
As you can tell, all it does is give out this unpleasant tone since most of it consists of either the main character in peril or that the whole town hates him.
"But wait a minute!", you may say. "There was that one point where EVERYBODY loved him, outside of the ending. And that is the baseball scene, remember?"
Well, yeah, but if I may ask you, what's the point of that scene?
Seriously, what does it have to do with anything going on in the film??
He doesn't use his new baseball skills to save the day or that it connects to the events that the aliens lead Oakey Oats. So why have it?
So that we can get a taste of Chicken Little being happy and connect with his dad? Let's face it!
That whole baseball bit is just 15 minutes worth of pointless filler. That's IT!!
Anyways, since one of the focus is on the humor, can it make up for the lack of story?
(strugglingly thinking sounds) Ehh... no, not really... Here's what makes this unusual as a Disney film.
For every second that it has, it tries to throw as much visual gags, slapstick and pop-culture references as possible, many of which are not even funny nor do they have a point.
Fish: makes delusional noises as if he were King Kong (refrencing the 1939 King Kong movie)
Abby Mallard: Men...
Runt of the Litter: 'Twas beauty that killed the beast?
Abby Mallard: I guess only girls are good at honest communication and sensitivity. (gets hit to the point where she was sent heavily and rapidly flying by children that seriously should have been grounded for their cruel-spiritedness)
This is why it's hard to believe that this is coming from Disney. They usually know the importance of a story in a movie, but they somehow completely forgot it here!
3. The Animation[]
AniMat: As it is Disney's first fully computer-animated feature, the best way to describe the animation is that, um... (smacks lips), yeah, it really shows.
I can see what they're trying to do with it, but the result came out with such low standards.
And keep in mind, this was released at the end of 2005, the year after The Incredibles and Shrek 2, so it had NO excuse for this!
Starting off with the overall designs, the movie wants to have a more cartoonier approach to it.
The characters look more reminiscent to the art style of their more comical films like The Emperor's New Groove and Home on the Range, and the town of Oakey Oaks is meant to be lifted from Disney's cartoons from the 40s and 50s.
Also, the character animation is meant to be more playful with a large use of squash-and-stretch.
I see what Disney wants to achieve, but it all comes out looking pretty bad. Not because it tries too hard to be cartoony, but more that it's obvious that the crew lacked experience with the technology.
This results in the animation getting a lot of problems at the same time.
The movements are awkward, the textures are unnatural, the extras start to look the same, the designs feel like they don't sit well in CG, and all the chaotic action scenes LOOK LIKE A MESS!
It doesn't help that the movie itself decided that's how it begins!
(Anthropormorphic cartoon firefighter dog accidentally knocks over all trash cans with his fire truck and a tipped over ladder knocks over the top of an anthropormorphic cartoon poodle woman's top of her car, and then she knocks over a fire hydrant on dated water effects that push it down to the Oakey Oats water tank)
If there is something the visuals did manage to get right, it's most likely with the aliens.
Everything from the concept to their design to even their spaceship and technology, this is where all this movie's creativity and uniqueness comes from, and admittely, it does make the third act interesting to watch.
Granted, having aliens in a Chicken Little movie makes absolutely no sense, but that's the fault if the writing.
The animators had to work with what they were offered and pulled out the best from it. What works in the animation looks pretty good, but what doesn't work is what makes you wish they did ask help from Pixar.
4. The Characters[]
The movie features an interesting mixed bag with all their characters. You might get some decent ones, and some that they clearly had no idea what to do with them.
Starting with Chicken Little himself, all I get from that guy is that he's a loser. Sure, he's the old odd-man out screw-up trope, but the movie forgot to give out a reason why to like him. Other characters with that trope would include something like, a dream, a quirky personality, a need to want more in life, or ANYTHING to explain why we should root for him and be by his side even during his darkest hour!
Without it, everybody is calling him a loser to the point where even I am starting to believe it and wonder why this movie is about him anyways!
Moving along to his friends, there's Abby Mallard, Chicken Little's best friend and biggest supporter, who could be the best character here and.. even somewhat likeable.
Runt of the Litter is the easiest to frighten and panic, and is actually powered by dated pop songs.
Chicken Little: We'll survive!
Runt of the Litter: "I Will Survive"? Quick, Abby!
Abby Mallard: Oh, okay.
(rings the bell of their firetruck while Buck Cluck was hanging down the back of it holding the back of the engine)
Then we have Fish Out of Water.. who actually seems pretty pointless here.
Seriously, he does nothing but make pop-culture references, and anything that did happen to him could have easily been replaced by Abby or Runt.
I guess he's meant as the comic relief, but we already have Runt and Turkey Lurkey doing that, and they arguably have their good moments!
So he's pretty much as pointless as the baseball scene!
And then there's Buck Cluck, Chicken Little's dad. He's another old trope, but he forgets one important element to make him an actual character.
He's the tough dad who has a hard relationship with his son and in the end, he learns to love him, but throughout the film, he doesn't show ANY sign of support WHATSOEVER!
In fact, most of the vibes that Chicken Little is actually a loser actually comes from HIM without giving out a single reason why we would want to be associated with his own freakin' son!
He just comes off as someone shallow and could arguably be responsible for this movie's downer tone!
There are some that you can give a pass to, but for the most part, they're just a collection of Disney's weakest characters!
5. Chicken Little Conclusion[]
This is NOT Disney! If I never knew who made it, I would've guessed it would be some kind of half-rate studio that's trying to be like DreamWorks!
Chicken Little is the most unpleasant film from Walt Disney Animation Studios where instead of telling us a timeless story with master-class animation, it rather wants to fill itself with unfunny humor, unnecessary chaotic action scenes, animation that's mostly mediocre and some barely likeable characters!
This is one of those rare films by Disney Animation where it's probably best that it's probably best that you should skip.
In fact, instead of watching this, there's actually a BETTER version made by Disney, and that's the 1943 animated short of the same name! It's ten tines shorter than the film, ten times more close to the original fable, ten times better-animated and just ten times better in general!
As for the movie, this is easily one of Disney's worst animated films, in which not even they can escape the AniMat's Seal of Garbage!
Story: 3/10
Animation: 6/10 (AniMat liked it partially for the aliens, and mostly didn't like it for the dated cartoony CGI element)
Characters: 4/10
Overall: 4/10 with the Animat's Seal of Garbage
credits and a chance to check out other YouTube channels briefly roll