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37 of 45 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very, very good, March 11, 2006
I find it interesting that this film's reviews show a wide range of opinion. The premise is an odd one: blend the traditional Chicken Little story (a little chicken gets hit on the head by an acorn, believes the sky is falling, panics, incites panic in others, and becomes a laughingstock) with, of all things, H.G. Wells's "War of the Worlds"!
In this hybrid, Chicken Little, voiced annoyingly well by Zach Braff, is hit on the head, creates a panic, becomes a laughingstock, and then tries to regain his social status amongst the other "kids" (all different kinds of animals), plus tries to gain his loving father's respect. His father, voiced paternalistically perfectly by Gary Marshall, is a single father, who loves his only child, but he was also deeply embarrassed by the sky-is-falling fiasco.
Chicken Little has three friends: Runt, an enormous piglet with self-esteem issues, voiced neurotically well by Steve Zahn; Abby "Ugly Duckling" Mallard, who is a cornucopia of well-intentioned and sometimes reasonable pop psychology advice, voiced offbeatly by Joan Cusack; and Fish Out of Water, an irrepressibly happy little fish wearing a diving helmet filled with water, voiced perfectly unintelligibly by Dan Molina. The quartet are busy trying to survive school, peer pressure, low social ranking, and frequent embarrassments, and are doing quite well at it. There are also some very good voice-cameos: Don Knotts as Mayor Turkey-Lurkey, Patrick Stewart as the teacher, and Frank Willard as the "visitor" father.
And then, the unthinkable happens: the sky falls on Chicken Little's head again, one year after the first incident. Chicken Little, and then his friends, realize that this is actually a Close Encounter of the Third (or Fourth?) Kind, that evolves into a full-scale alien invasion, because of a moment of parental distraction and a huge misunderstanding. Can the quartet save the world and avoid an unnecessary interplanetary war? Can Chicken Little get his father to believe in him? Those two issues are inextricably interwoven.
The story is pretty off-the-wall, but is fun to watch, and lends itself to lots of action and interaction. The father-son issue, and the parent-child issue, are dealt with nicely. I feel that the animation is very good, and harkens back to classic cartoons of yesteryear. The colors were vivid, and there was great attention to detail (e.g., the traffic light was run by a chameleon, who changed color along with the sign being held up). I very much liked how the different animal citizens of Oakey Oak acted somewhat like people, but also retained their natural, realistic aspects (e.g., the dog family did eat in a restaurant, but ate their food right out of a bowl, and lapped up their beverages). Even the vehicles driven by the animals were customized to each species, and the vehicles seemed to be just as much alive as their passengers.
Among the special features of the DVD, you can see most of the actors doing their voiceover performances. And, instead of offering us alternative endings, we can see three alternative openings to the story, including one where Chicken Little is a girl instead of a boy.
Is this a good, fun film for younger children and for families with young children? I think it is. Will it appeal to teenagers? Probably not. Will parents find any objectionable in it? I highly doubt it. Will adults enjoy it as much as, say, "Shrek" or "Ice Age"? No, the humor does not strike different levels like it does in those films. But, adults will probably enjoy it for at least one viewing, and smile a lot.
I have to add that the one character, Fish Out of Water, is one of my favorite animated characters ever. I found him to be irresistibly likeable. Mom, can I have one? I promise to take care of him! Please!
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