CHICKEN LITTLE

Starring the vocal talents of:
Zach Braff, Garry Marshall, Patrick Stewart, Steve Zahn, Joan Cusack, Don Knotts, Patrick Warburton, Fred Willard, Catherine O'Hara and Adam West

Director:
Mark Dindal

Running Time:
81 mins

Out to buy on DVD 29/05/06

"The sky is falling, the sky is falling!"

When Chicken Little (Braff) rings the school bell, the whole town comes running to see what the emergency is but when he tells everyone that the sky is falling no one believes him, not even his Dad. For the next year, Chicken Little became the butt of everyone's jokes and a media scapegoat for everything, they even started making a movie about it. Just as he was starting to make progress in getting his self-respect back, it happened again. A piece of the sky has fallen on his head.

After the death of traditional 2D animation at Disney, their first fully computer generated feature that was not produced by Pixar is about to fly in but can they stop the sky from falling in on them.

Based on the classic children's tale and then taken onto a new level, 'Chicken Little' is a story that has great animation possibilities and the good news is that Disney really runs with it. Taking a big leaf out of Pixar's book, Disney's new CG animation arm creates lovable and extremely likeable characters that everyone can enjoy. Most importantly however they have made the film just as fun for adults as it is for kids.

Where Pixar, PDI and Blue Sky have succeeded with CG films like 'Toy Story', 'Finding Nemo', 'Shrek' and 'Ice Age' is by making them real family entertainment. Disney's string of 2D failures at the box office had forgotten about this and the abundance of straight to Video/DVD sequels to some of their classics targeted just younger viewers, angering fans of the original films. 'Chicken Little' is the studio starting again and they have certainly got back on the right track.

The children's tale about Chicken Little might not seem long enough to sustain a full movie plot and you would be right. The plot for the movie is very slight but it does take an expected twist on the original storyline. The sky is falling and it might be even more dangerous than even Chicken Little has realised. This is when the action starts and when the film really entertains.

The highlight of the movie is the expertly designed and perfectly vocalised characters. Chicken Little himself is voiced by the always-brilliant Zach Braff. His comic timing and personality shines through making Chicken Little an extremely likable character. His friends provide most of the comedy. Steve Zahn is excellent as Runt of the Litter, the panicking pig who just loves the clichéd hits of the 60s, 70s and 80s. Joan Cusack is the feisty Abby Mallard, the ugly duckling with a heart of gold. Then you have Fish, the goldfish who just loves been out of the bowl. Add to this Patrick Stewart as the sheep Mr. Woolensworth, Don Knotts as Mayor Turkey Lurkey and Garry Marshall as Chicken Little's non-believing father Buck Cluck.

'Chicken Little' is a big step in the right direction for Disney animation. With some excellent characters and a plot that will appeal to both old and young watchers, this is the best Disney film in a long while. It still isn't a patch on anything Pixar has produced for the Magic Kingdom but at least the sky isn't falling down on the mouse house anymore.

PICTURE & SOUND

Presented in Widescreen 1.85:1 Anamorphic with a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, the transfer is very good, as you'd expect from a computer generated film.

BONUS FEATURES

Deleted Scenes (13.23 mins)
Entitled 'Alternative Opening #1: Chicken Little Storybook', 'Alternative Opening #2: Cooking with Klaus', 'Original Opening with Chicken Little as a girl' and 'Lunch Break', these deleted or alternative scenes have introductions by director Mark Dindal and producer Randy Fullmer.

Music and More
Watch the music videos for 'Shake your Tail Feather' featuring the Cheetah Girls and 'One Little Slip' by the Bare Naked Ladies. Also watch Karaoke and Sing-a-long versions of 'One Little Slip' Where's Fish Trivia Game Help Fish find the holes in the sky by answering trivia questions to progress.

Hatching Chicken Little: The Making of Chicken Little (18.07 mins)
Director Mark Dindal, producer Randy Fullmer, supervising animator Jason Ryan, composer John Debney, songwriters John Ondrasik, Pattie Labelle, Joss Stone and The Bare Naked Ladies and vocal artists Amy Sedaris and Dan Molina take you behind the scenes of the making of 'Chicken Little'. Split into chapters entitled 'The Incubation Period: The Story behind the Story', 'Cracking New Ground', 'Birds of a Feather: The Voices of Chicken Little', 'Rock-a-dooble-doo: The Music of Chicken Little' and 'Ruling the Roost: A Day in the life of the Director', we find out about most aspects of the films production from the story to the songs used in the film.

Easter Egg
Find this and you can watch Runt talk about the movie with a very confused looking Fish

Trailers
Previews of 'Lady and the Tramp', 'Brother Bear 2', 'The Little Mermaid', 'Bambi 2' and 'The Wild'

OVERALL

While they usually fill their DVDs for their feature length animated movies to the brim, Disney's 'Chicken Little' seems a little lacking. The bonus features are OK but there are not a lot of them and they are pretty hit and miss. The lack of a commentary is also disappointing.

DVD

Lilo & Stitch


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2006