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Movie Review - Chicken Little (2005)
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(What this rating means)
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| Director: |
Mark Dindal |
| Starring: |
the voices of Zach Braff, Garry Marshall, Steve Zahn, Joan Cusack, and Adam West |
| Rated: |
G |
| Length: |
77 minutes |
| Genre: |
Animation/Family |
| Tagline: |
Chicken Little. Movie Big. |
| Studio: |
Disney |
| Website: |
Chicken Little |
| Release: |
November 4, 2005 |
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PLOT
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Chicken Little hurts his reputation when an acorn hits him on the head and he yells that the sky is falling.
You can imagine how difficult it is for him to convince the town that aliens are invading. He and his friends
take on the responsibility of saving the town from potential catastrophe. Disney's uninspired introduction to
the world of computer-animation ensues.
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JOHNNY'S TAKE
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Well, those 5-years-old and under should enjoy it!
And that's about the nicest thing I can say regarding Disney's first computer-animation feature.
"Oh Johnny, you're just not part of this film's target audience!"
Perhaps, and that's why I'm not going to waste time picking it apart and bashing it. But am I part of the target
audience for Toy Story and The Incredibles? Those are examples of
two animated movies that I thoroughly enjoyed and can recommend to both children and adults. But Chicken
Little just doesn't have that special something that Pixar possesses that enables them to break down the
age barrier.
"But didn't you think Chicken Little himself was cute?"
Nope. He looks like Jonathan Lipnicki, one of the least cute kids in Hollywood history. In my not-so-humble
opinion, of course.
"Sheesh, Johnny, was there anything you liked about the movie?"
Sure, the last 5 minutes of the movie are really inspired; starting with Adam West's voice work as the super-buff
"Hollywood version" of Chicken Little. He does a great Captain Kirk impersonation and gives us the movie's most
legitimate laughs. There are a few more humorous moments sprinkled in, but there is a severe overabundance of
musical montages (AKA substitutes for creative writing and clever dialogue). The most intellectually insulting is
a Karaoke scene involving the Spice Girls' If You Wanna be my Lover - IN ITS ENTIRETY! I saw a couple of
3-year-olds wigglin' in their seats, but I looked around the theater and saw some major looks of disgust plastered
on the parents' faces.
Noticing that my 10-year-old brother looked about as bored as the time I tried to explain to him the details of a
web development project that I was working on, I asked for his thoughts. He sighed a very uninspired, "It was OK
I guess."
So there you have it. Yell at me that this movie isn't directed at me all you want. I'll reiterate that those
5 and younger will probably enjoy this. I'm just trying to warn all you parents out there that this isn't as
adult-friendly as you may hope. Pixar has spoiled us in that regard.
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ODDS & ENDS
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- Holly Hunter was considered for the role of Chicken Little.
- Budget: $60 million
- This is Disney's first fully computer-animated feature film. Better luck next time.
- John Debney is the composer. He also did the music for The Young Riders.
- A 3-D version of Chicken Little is opening on a total of 84 specially-selected, high-profile theatres
in 25 top markets.
- If you want to know if your city will be showing a 3-D version of Chicken Little then check out
this list to see if you made the cut.
- Adam West was in Return to the Batcave: The Misadventures of Adam and Burt with Jason Marsden who was
in Step by Step with Sasha Mitchell who was in Not Quite Human with Alan Thicke who was in
Not Quite Human II with Ty Miller who was in The Young Riders with Josh Brolin who was in
Hollow Man with Kevin Bacon.
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MAMA'S APPROVAL
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I don't know if it's possible to cram any sort of offensive material in a G-rated movie.
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TRAILER COMPARISON
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No drastic differences between the trailer and movie.
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THE GIST
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Disney's Chicken Little just doesn't possess the same computer-animated magic that Pixar has monopolized.
This is pretty harmless stuff, and I didn't hate it, but I can only recommend it for the youngest of viewers.
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