(DISCLAIMER: This blog is not for profit. All images and footage used below are property of their respective companies unless stated otherwise. I do not claim ownership of this material. New to the blog? Start at the start with Snow White.)
“WE WANT BLOOD!”
“WE WANT BLOOD!”
“Guys, that crowd is getting pretty nasty. Has he started reviewing it yet?”
“Nah man. He just watched it and now he’s just sitting there not doing any damn thang.”
“What?! Mouse, cmon! Snap out of it!”
“…”
“I told you! I told you we couldn’t expect to review another movie so soon, after…that…other movie. I TOLD YOU ALL! “
“SHUT UP! Mouse, listen to me! You’ve kept them waiting too long, if you don’t tear this movie apart they’re going to kill us all!”
“I…can’t…”
“I knew it! He’s too traumatised! Why din’t you listen to me?! Making him watch that piece of shit so soon after Foodfight…”
“NYAAAAAARRGGHHH!”
“Sorry, sorry, my bad.”
“BLOOD! BLOOD! BLOOD!”
“Listen dawg. Ain’t no thang. Just go out there and tell them that the movie was a piece of shit and then you never have to see it again.”
“That’s not the problem. I…I liked it.”
“Oh Jesus. That’s it everybody, run for your lives. Latin America, you go out and create a distraction.”
“Sure thing…heeeeey, wait a minute!”
“What?”
“That’s a “diversion”, not a “distraction” silly.”
“Aw, you’re so smart. Now get going! We’ll rendezvous in the afterlife. Let’s go Mouse. You packin’ Asia?”
“You know it. Let’s murder some bitches.”
“No. It’s alright. I’ll go and talk to them.”
***
Okay. Well. No point beating around the bush. Time to take my punishment like a mouse. Here goes.
ATTENTION INTERNET! CHICKEN LITTLE IS NOT THAT BAD! I REPEAT! CHICKEN LITTLE IS NOT THAT BAD! PLEASE ADJUST YOUR OPINIONS ON THE BADNESS OF CHICKEN LITTLE ACCORDINGLY!
DINOSAUR REMAINS SHIT!
THAT IS ALL!
“…”
“Um…hello?”
“I think they’re paralysed with rage, boss.”
“Ah. How long before they recover and tear me limb from limb like wet tissue paper?”
“Eight, nine minutes?”
Okay. Better make this quick.
***
The movie begins with Buck Cluck (Gary Marshall) saying that the story begins “Once Upon a Time” before nixing that idea as played out and suggesting we try something new…
“Naaaaaaahhhhdon’tgetyourhopesuptoohiggggggghhh!”
He then tries a classic Disney storybook opening next before finally settling on just beginning in media res (look at me! look at me! I’m a movie critic!) with Chicken Little (Zach Braff) up in a clocktower ringing the schoolbell and screaming that the sky is falling. The town of Oakey Oaks is populated by talking animals which mumble mumble segue mumble brings us to the animation. It’s…pretty bad. No question. As I’ve said before, CGI just does not age well and the cracks are definitely showing here. Coupled with that, while there are a few interesting character designs here and there most of the background characters are terribly generic looking.
It’s like IKEA animated a dog.
And yet, and yet…and yet. I have to admit that there’s something very appealing about it. Mostly it’s the way the characters move. This movie was directed by Mark Dindal who directed Emperor’s New Groove and some of the same cartoony energy is on display here. Anyway, so Chicken Little is ringing the bell and screaming that the sky is falling. This causes everyone to lose their shit and wreck half the town. He takes the townsbeasts to an acorn tree where he swears that a piece of the sky feel on his head. His dad, Buck, embarrassed by all the chaos his son’s created, tells everyone that it was probably just an acorn. Chicken is devastated that his father doesn’t believe him, and the story skips ahead one year. Chicken Little is now a social pariah, and they’re even making a movie about the Acorn Incident.
I bet Mark Strong’s in it. He’s in everything.
Chicken says he has a plan to make people forget about the Acorn Incident (which he probably should have come up with when the movie was still in pre-production so they could re-work the ending) but his dad just wants him to lay low and not bring attention to himself. I’ve seen a lot of people (Nostalgia Critic and TVTropes to name a few) who consider Buck to be the worst Dad in the Disney canon.
Behold, the Anti-Mufasa.
And sorry, no, I don’t think that’s fair. Maybe I just have sympathy for dads who don’t know what they’re doing and are in WAY over their heads (we meet on Tuesdays) but I don’t think Buck is a bad guy. I mean, sure, he could have been more supportive of his son during The Acorn Incident, but I actually read that as him trying to minimize the whole thing to protect Chicken. And as for not backing his son when he wants to take up baseball…guys, Chicken Little is literally the size of a milk bottle. He doesn’t want him to play baseball because he will get mashed into McNuggets. Cut the big chicken some slack, is what I’m saying. Buck leaves Chicken Little into town and tells him to just be sane, for Christ’s sake, and drives off. Chicken Little misses the schoolbus and has to run to school, dodging various obstacles to the tune of Bare Naked Ladies’ One Little Slip. This scene basically shows us everything we need to know about Chicken Little, he’s unlucky, but also smart and resourceful, using whatever’s handy to overcome his tiny size. He even uses a flower to climb up a pole to reach a traffic light signal a lá Mulan.
“We are hens!”
“We must be swift as the coursing river!”
He arrives late to school and misses his mutton language class which is being given by Mr Woolensworth (Patrick Stewart).
“Hello gents, sorry. I know you’ve been trying to get me to do one of these Disney things for the last two decades but I’ve finally cleared my schedule. So. Tell me about this character. Is he a king? A captain? Some great leader of men tormented by inner doubts and…”
“Actually he’s a funny talking sheep.”
“I see. Is he naked?”
“I’m sorry?”
“Is the sheep naked?”
“He…could be?”
“Make it so.”
Every other creature in this thing wears clothes. You have a better explanation?
So here’s where we meet most of our supporting cast. After the Acorn Incident (and the more I say it the more it sounds like a 70s political thriller starring Robert Redford) Chicken Little’s only friends are the class rejects. There’s Abbey Mallard (Joan Cusack), an ugly duckling with a secret crush on Chicken, Runt of the Litter, a massively obese pig voiced by Steve Zahn and Fish Out of Water, a fish who has to go around with a diving helmet full of water on his head at all times. Runt’s a big steaming pile of irritating but Cusack is actually really charming as Abbey Mallard and Fish…
I FREAKING LOVE FISH OUT OF WATER.
He’s just this daffy, happy-go-lucky little guy who has no idea what’s going on outside his helmet so he just makes up his own movie as he goes along. And his movie is AWESOME. Honestly, this little guy probably raised my final score five full points on his own.
This guy right here. This is the guy.
“Jeez, what is it with you and fish?”
We also meet the class bullies, Foxy Loxy and Goosey Loosey. Foxy is the school jock and while it’s certainly interesting that for once its a girl playing that role, other than that, she’s not really that memorable.
Abbey wants Chicken to confront his father over not sticking by him during the Acorn Incident (“In Washington DC, one man will risk it all for the truth.”) but Chicken instead decides that he’ll make his father proud by joining the baseball team. Chicken Little tells his Dad that he’s going to make him proud when he “hits that ball and go for a touchdown” and then says “That was a joke, Dad.”
“Hahaha! Good one! (??)”
Buck tries to dissuade Chicken Little from trying out for the baseball team and what you think of his actions here really depends on motive. If he’s just worried that Chicken’s going to embarrass him, then, yeah, he’s an asshole. But personally I see it as just wanting to protect his son from further disappointment. Compounding the problem, Chicken Little’s mother is dead (I know, dead mother in a Disney movie STOP PRESS!) and Buck just can’t be there emotionally for his son what with his obsessive quest to bring her killer to justice.
“Peter Griffin will die by my hand, my love. I swear it.”
We then get a montage of Chicken Little training with his friends to get better at base ball, learning to catch the base ball with the big base ball glove and hit the base ball with the base ball stick. But the coach never lets Chicken Little play because his stats aren’t moneyball enough so he has to sit on the big bench. The base ball team get to the base ball finals and they are playing another base ball team who have scored just as many base balls so it is a tie base ball game. Chicken Little is the only player left so the coach has to put him up to the white square where they start running from and tells him to “take the walk”. Apparently this means that if Chicken Little does nothing they win the game (This is your national pastime? No wonder you’re all so fat.) But Chicken Little decides to swing the base ball bat stick and he misses the base ball but apparently it’s okay because you get three lives in base ball. He misses again but then he hits the base ball on the third because you have to hit the base ball on the third try for maximum dramatic effect. He then runs to the white square that he has to run to to score a base ball before the other base ball team gets there with the base ball to stop him. Chicken Little reaches the last white square and wins the game.
And everyone is happy. Because they have won base ball today.
Alright, so Chicken Little is now a hero and his dad’s proud of him and it looks like every’s gravy (sorry, poor choice of words). Now, here’s where the movie pleasantly surprised me. I thought that Chicken Little would become one of the popular kids, forget his friends only to remember before the end who really stood by him through thick and thin and blah blah blah. But the movie doesn’t do that. In fact, the very next scene has Chicken Little getting ready to go to a party that’s being thrown for him by Abbey, Runt and Fish and in fact the four friends stick together throughout the rest of the movie, which I like.
“Zero. Also known as zilch. Aka Nada. Sometimes described as bupkis.”
“They’re like locusts…”
Guys? I’m starting to suspect this may be a somewhat loose adaptation of the original folktale.
Chicken Little realises that the aliens have come for their kid, and that the only way to save the town is to get Kirby to his folks ASAP. He tries to explain this to Buck, who only wants to get Chicken Little out of town until Chicken Little finally snaps and calls his dad out on never being there for him. This gets through to Buck, and he promises to support his son no matter what. Because being a good dad means going along with every insane, suicidal scheme that comes into your kids’ little malformed noggins. Chicken Little heads out into the battlezone to return Kirby to his parents, stopping only to get some sugar from Abbey.
“Mmmmm…chicken.”
Meanwhile outisde, the bodycount is already getting pretty high with Turkey Lurky and Foxy Loxy having been vaporised. With the help of Runt, Fish and Abbey, Chicken Little and Buck manage to get to the top of town hall, where the alien mothership is hovering. Chicken Little holds Kirby aloft, telling the aliens to stop the invasion and take their kid back.
This movie has Adam West as a space hero chicken. Your argument is invalid.
***
“…”
Okay. Guys, I know what you’re thinking. The movie I watched before this was the worst cartoon ever made bar none. ANYTHING was going to seem better than this. You all think I’m just PTSD’d to fuck, don’t you? (I can hear you. I hear you through the wall. Whispering…). Well, I anticipated your reaction, so I used a control.
“STOP CALLING ME THAT!”
Yeah, so I was so surprised that I liked this movie as much as I did, that I sat down with my wife and watched it again. And sure enough, not only did it win her over by the end (and she went into this ready to tear it a new one, believe me) but I actually found myself liking it even more the second time. Little details I hadn’t noticed before, like the chicken wire in the windows of Chicken Little’s house, little touches like that. Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s not a great movie. It’s not a lost classic. It’s clearly been made for an even younger audience than is usual for Disney. But it’s a bright, harmless, occasionally funny, often quite charming little kids flick. It’s not fantastic, but the worst in the canon. No. Not even close. So…there you have it. I know you may disagree with me, but I know we can respect each other’s views and amicably come to an…
“GUYS! CMON! ITS JUST A CARTOON!”
unshavedmouse 
As someone born in 2005, this movie is pretty nostalgic for me. Because of this, I really like it. I’m surprised you of all people would. Not that I’m complaining.
You were born in 2005? Good God I’m old.
I’ve been planning on doing some video versions of your reviews, but they’re kinda time consuming and costly so they’ll take a little bit.
Costly? As in you’re spending money?
Yes, I am spending money, but for good reason – i’m going to do it with drawn storyboards, video clips, and myself doing the best Irish voice I can muster with my stupid British face.
(for my reference i’m gonna use that fan art of you during your french-phase, and my first video will be of your Bambi review)
Oh. Well good luck!
yeah well more likely than not the first one might just be Robin Hood due to it being the only Disney movie I have on DVD (computer only has dvd drive, other disney movies are vhs or blu ray), and I might end up spending 100 pounds on everything (paper, movies, a camera that is better than my shit eyesight).
P.S. i’ll be making your character design by using concept references of Bernard from the rescuers down under, coupled with other screenshots of him from that movie, plus with your other features that make your character… you
Are you making an actual CARTOON?!
well… sorta. As of now, it’s gonna be just story-boards with the audio and clips from the movie playing with it, and it will eventually start to look better as it goes on, eventually to the point where some clips are fully animated.
Just to let you know so far, I finished the first concept art picture, and I would show it to you… but because I used the camera on my Iphone, I can’t get it just yet because my computer connector is broken.
Wait, you’re literally 9 years old?
Is that you, Artemis Fowl?
YAY! I’m not the only person in the world who thinks this movie is ok and actually funny in some parts!
On an unrelated note, have you seen the LEGO Movie? I’m curious what you as an internet animation reviewer think of it.
Saw it. Loved it. Everything is awesome.
😀
PRINCESS MONONOKE OH GOD YES YES YES YES YES YES YES
I also kind of like this movie. It’s relatively charming and yeah, Fish is THE best character. This one also had a pleasantly surprisingly fun videogame for the GameBoy Advance. There were parts where you go to play as the older movie version of Chicken Little and fight off an alien invasion and those parts were pretty damn awesome.
Also, I get the feeling that you don’t know much about baseball. This is a terrible thing and you should educate yourself because baseball is the king of all sports. I’ve been a Dodgers fan my whole life and I watch just about every game during the season (which is one hell of a time commitment, let me tell you). Baseball reigns supreme.
OH GOD PRINCESS MONONOKE YES YES YES YES YES SO MUCH YES IT’S SO BRILLIANT YES YES YES
Me?! Not know much about the base ball?! HOW DARE YOU SIR!
I will admit that I haven’t watched this movie and had no plans to, but your review makes me curious about it. Mayyyybe I’ll rent it one of those days and see it for myself. Then again, I did watch Meet the Robinsons, the movie that’s supposed to be a step up from this one, and actively disliked it so I probably would like this one even less.
Haven’t seen Robinsons yet so I couldn’t comment. Honestly, your life won’t be that much poorer for not having seen it but it passes the time inoffensively.
I am of the opinion that this is the worst film in the Disney Canon, but I am with you in that I really like this movie! It’s just so enjoyable!
Have you seen Disney’s “Chicken Little” short from the ’40s?
Actually watched it for the review. It’s fun.
Oh and the Nostalgia Critic reviewed “Foodfight!”. I like to think you inspired him.
Taught him everything he knows.
Yet he believes that Chicken Little’s dad is a bad one.
I taught him everything HE knows, not everything I know.
I watched that review yesterday, and the animation is………is……you were so right Unshaved to give it a 0%. It looks worse than the animation in Sims. And they had 10 years to fix that crap? Omfg.
Ten years. $65 million dollars. No talent.
I wish there was a thumbs up button.
Oh…..well…..I had a comment ready to agree with you on this trash film, that I now need to take a different direction. Let me think for a moment……
This film can have some charm (very little), but the voice acting is either dull or irritating to me, the characters were not very likeable, the environment was really mean spirited (I don’t think they meant to make it as much as it was in the film), the animation is ugly, and the story drops plot points as soon as they were building up. I will respect your opinion.
What I will say is that things are easier for the rest of the canon.
*wanders around, poking at things with a stick*
Fussan…Fussan…
I know I’m not here but I’ll keep looking anyway for my missing parts.
Patrick Stewart did manage to do an awesome stoic role in Bambi 2. Lower the guns, lower the guns!! If you liked Bambi, you’ll like the sequel, and Patrick Stewart was great at giving the Great Prince the kingly presence he had in the first film while easily slipping into the role of a great father for Bambi.
Princess Mononoke, YESSSSSSSSS!!!!! My very first DVD, and even on a 20 year old TV, my eyes wept from all the glorious detail and colors. I’ve been severely burned on anime but I always keep coming back to Mononoke.
I expect Mouse to use the “No word, should have sent a poet” picture no less than 76 times during the Mononoke review. In fact, let’s just assume his whole review is just going to be that picture
Let’s.
I own Bambi II, it’s one of my favorite Disney movies.
So that’s why you reviewed all those other movies, you were running from this! JK, I really liked this movie, this and “Bolt” are the only CGI Disney films that I got to see at a cinema (and then I became poor) and I think it gets ripped off too much.
Well, this is a pleasant surprise! You actually don’t consider this Disney’s worst, and not even as bad as “Black Cauldron”, “Home on the Range”, etc. A very rare opinion. Nice review! Can’t wait ’til next time!
I was honestly expecting a much angrier reaction to this review.
Guess you just got yourself an awesome readership. Live with it.
Loved the review—didn’t watch the movie though. So I’ll probably hate it when I watch it, just because you gave me too high expectations. Oh well.
It’s the cross I bear.
I only get mad at idiots who annoy me and waste my time.
My main gripe with this movie is that it seems so mean-spirited for the first two acts that it taints any positives this film has. The animation’s alright for it’s time, but it just reminds me of the pain of having no more traditional animation. And the reason why I really hate the father so much is because the scenes where we see him not believing his son tends to feel like he’s trying to cover his own arse rather that protect his son. Maybe that’s not what they intended, but that’s what I gathered.
With that said, it’s your opinion if you enjoy this film, and I won’t stop you from doing so. (can’t say the same for the angry mob)
Although I will admit, I did like “One Little Slip” and the ending was amusing. (though mainly because of Adam West)
West is best.
Yeah….I am happy that I am not the only one who sees the good aspects of the movie…in a way, though, this makes it worse for me.
Let’s break down what I like: First of all the father/son relationship. It is beautifully done, with both not really understanding the other. I also love that winning that game is not the solution for it. Too many movies go that route and I always found it very frustrating.
Second…I really dig the whole aliens story. It’s just so unbelievable creative. Totally crazy, but creative.
BUT – and that is a big but – there are two aspects which kind of ruin the movie for me. The minor one is a few puns too much. The mayor one is that it is so mean spirited at parts. Mostly it boils down to Foxy. Why exactly has foxy to be THAT cruel? We can’t she just be popular and making a little bit fun of little chickens dreams? Like you I like that she is female, but that makes the ending even doubly worse. The whole “mindrape so that she is now a girly-girl” is easily the most sexist thing Disney has ever done…and the most uncomfortable. I have a huge issue with the idea of the media that messing with someone’s mind is a minor thing (I dislike Brave for similar reasons).
Either way, I wouldn’t agree that this is the worst movie in canon either. Unlike with Dinosaur, there is actually creativity in it. Unlike with The Black Cauldron, I actually mostly like the characters. Unlike Home on the Range the movie at least tries to address some serious issues. Unlike the package movies is it at least a freaking movie and not a collection of randomly thrown together shorts. But it still belongs in the bottom of the pile, and the main reason for it can be boiled down to more or less every decision they made concerning Foxy (who is naturally only female so that they can hook her up in the end…urgh!!!!!!)
It’s 7 am, waking up in the morning… ♪
Sooo, uh, I don’t really like this movie. I’ve always thought Buck was trying to protect himself instead of his son (until the end I guess)…that hasn’t changed.
The animation is pretty bad and the entire thing is just…weird. Even more than Home on the Range OH MY GOD I CAN’T BELIEVE I ACTUALLY SAID THAT.
It’s similar to Meet the Robinsons in that sense…
Also WOOOH! PRINCESS MONONOKE! Now I just HAVE to watch it!
Interestingly enough, you pinpointed the creepiest thing about the movie despite liking it: Foxy Loxy’s ultimate fate. It gets way creepier when during the credits, it’s revealed that Runt is actually trying to take advantage of her.. condition, to “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” (this movie ruined that song for me).
It’s just.. I don’t know.. maybe I’m overanalyzing, but how is this any different from a situation where someone is lobotomized against her will and then another person refuses to let her get cured? And then, later on it turns out the same person is trying to score with her?
I don’t know, that was incredibly gross and sexist and plain screwed up. Left a bad taste in my mouth for sure. Have avoided the movie ever since, despite enjoying it up until that point.
Yeah, I really didn’t like that at all. I got the impression that Runt is just happy to have a singing partner than that there’s any sexual motive which makes it an INCH less creepy but…taking cartoons too seriously is a real pet peeve of mine but yeah, that’s messed up.
I’m not at all surprised that this isn’t the worst movie in the Disney canon, if only because Home on the Range exists.
My favourite joke, and this is coming from someone who does not care for Seth McFarlane’s stuff, was easily the implication that Peter Griffin killed Mrs. Cluck.
Went back and forth between Peter Griffin and Colonel Saunders.
One is more accessible while the other is hands-down funnier. Just gotta know your audience, I guess. Definitely worked with me.
While Chicken Little isn’t really a good movie, I’ll admit it made me laugh more than a few times, so I can’t say I hate it. Also, even though it’s fucking weird, I like the addition of aliens to the story. I thought it was pretty creative.
But my main problem with the movie is that it’s so mean-spirited towards the main character. Chicken Little himself is fine, but you only sympathize with him because everyone except his friends is such an asshole. It’s even worse than the treatment Dumbo gets.
Hi unshaved mouse,
just wanna point out that when I try to search u on google, I accidentally forgot 1 letter (letter s) and porn comes out.
People looking for porn is like half my web traffic.
When I’m bored at work and go back to reread the old reviews, I have to specify “unshaved mouse disney reviews”, because if I just type in “unshaved mouse” into google it won’t get past the porn filter.
Oops. Sorry!
Funny, if I type in “Unshaved mouse” pretty much every link is from here. Even the google images results are like 90% pictures Mouse has used in his reviews
I almost always have that problem with Yahoo, but not Google, for some reason.
My dad had this on the other day; I think it was on the Disney channel. I wasn’t really watching it but as I went in and out of the room it seemed like standard Disney little kiddish fare…not fantastic, not awful, just pleasant enough.
By the way, Mouse, you should fix the setup on the Lost Era page. This review and the Lilo & Stitch one are stretched all the way out.
Thanks, I’ll look into it.
Now I’m worried that there will be the opposite effect and that the mouse will hate “Meet the Robinsons.” There was some hate on that movie posted earlier in the comments, but I’m a defender of it. While most of the movie isn’t great, the ending is awesomeness itself, and the Disney quote heading the end credits is downright inspiring. Don’t let me down, Mouse…
Hi mouse :D. Been lurking on here sometime & couldn’t find any way of contacting you until now. I’ve been enjoying your reviews (and you saved me from watching some very crappy movies in the process, like Coraline & Food Fight—very sorry you had to watch that, btw). I made something for you on DeviantArt, if you’re interested. You can find it here: http://ladyaquanine73551.deviantart.com/art/My-Tribute-to-the-unshavedmouse-448745150?q=gallery%3ALadyAquanine73551&qo=0 (I hope they let us post links on here).
I haven’t actually watched “Chicken Little,” save for the last scenes where they meet the alien dad & find out why the aliens are REALLY in the town, but still, your review was enlightening.
Oh, I also talked with TV Tropes & got them to send you some Brain Bleach so you can forget some of the nastier movies you’ve had to watch. Don’t know if it’ll work, but it’s worth a try.
Would you believe I actually stumbled across this already (yeah I Google myself randomly what of it?). Finding out you have fanart is kind of awesome. Would you mind if I put it up on the blog?
Wow! That fast? Hehe Wasn’t expecting that. It wouldn’t be the first time anyone has Googled themselves, just to see if they can find themselves online. Everyone does it now & then.
Sure, that’s perfectly fine if you post it. Feel free to look at my other art on DA too ;). I even have a section on Disney Heroines.
I nearly died laughing at the constant use of “base ball.” Now to get back to reading the rest of the review!
I despise this film. Even as a child when it came out, I found it aesthetically ugly and filled to the brim with annoying. I’m glad others have found some merit in it, but I cannot stand it.
Hey, I don’t mind this film. But the best is either Hunchback or Mulan, depending on my mood. (My other weird view is that the Little Mermaid is ‘not so great’ and that Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast are ‘good’ and below Emperor’s new groove. I also haven’t seen Lion King.)
Also, when are you going to review Bolt onwards? I would like to see how you rate the Great Disney Rescue i.e. Tangled
Well, Bolt is due up this Thursday. Then it’ll be a readers request two weeks later, Princess and the Frog two weeks after that and alternating until we get to Frozen in October.
Chicken Little. This has to be one of the biggest disappointments Disney’s given me. My first impression of the first trailer I saw was “this looks silly”. But Disney, clearly hell-bent to get themselves on the cool CGI movie-making map, sent down a bombardment of commercials, ads, trailers, multiple theatre posters, even one hour-long ad that was basically what you’d expect to find on a special-feature bonus disc of a damned DVD. Pretty much everything possible to get this thing into everyone’s conscious as the best movie ever of all time.
So having Disney’s marketing team force any ill thoughts of this film crumble to rubble like a battering ram, my sister and I decided we wanted to go to theatres and see this thing. It might actually be good, we thought. After all, Robin Hood, also a movie in which all the humans are replaced with animals, is an all-time favourite with us. This new-found desire was not an easy task to fulfil, as the executives failed to convince my mother that getting tickets to this thing was worth her money, so after a whole lot of time looking for someone who would take us, finally managed to find a group of kids we knew who were going to that movie and decided to come along with them. After finally getting to see Chicken Little, we found the plot badly paced, and any drama or laughs completely dried out by having been already seen in the trailer a dozen times too many.
Looking at that poster back there, I have to say its tagline was equally foreboding as Brother Bear’s; this was it for movies we saw in theatres, and pretty much sealed the fate of the rest of Disney’s CGI movies to a miss from us. The end was near, and it was brought with this cursed failure to impress. A pox on ye, spawn of the Crimson Cockerel.
…..And apparently we don’t share that opinion. Yoiks, I suppose I spoke too soon. Well, I guess I can’t blame you, who expected the worst, for enjoying it more than I, who expected the best. And again, I like Aristocats, so I can call us even or something in the department of liking not-so-great Disney movies featuring waterfowl named Abigail. …Why are all the Abigails of Disney waterfowl anyway?
Poor South America’s always the butt monkey, isn’t he? And Asia’s slanging it up was funny. This can’t be the first time you’ve got mobs after you, so surely you can survive this, right? Hmm, y’know, the anti-Mufasa is Cluck? That actually might kind of make sense. The opposite of England is France, right, and England’s national animal is a lion while France’s is a rooster, right? Can’t fight logic. Also, Woolensworth isn’t naked, he’s clearly wearing a pair of glasses. Silly.
Hmm, when I hear “Acorn Incident”, I think of Calvin and Hobbes’s “Noodle Incident”. It’s actually hard for me to hear of any sort of unknown incident without thinking of that, really, Watterson’s got an impact on me like that.
Steve Zahn sure seems to like being in movies starring CGI characters under the name “Little”. If you ask me, he was better in the one with the mouse. Also, looking at his cinematic rap sheet, he apparently voiced a bear very comparable to Bongo from Fun and Fancy Free, fascinating. I didn’t like him as Runt either, but I do agree on you with Fish, I think that guy was actually quite a pretty good hook that led to me biting and reeled me in to watching this movie. I remember having similar feelings to you when it looked as if the little guy had gone belly-up. In other news, the Cleo jokes just never get old, Europe’s line got me in peals. So did the Peter Griffin gag. The cursed Fat Man!! Also, I can relate to your not getting baseball at all. All I can say about that is damn, it must suck to be Casey, that poor galoot got bested by a chicken of all things. Talk about not being able to show your face in the locker room, geez.
Ooh, Spouse of Mouse has been called in? Things have gotten interesting now. Well, I guess I can’t argue with a second opinion. Also, the giant mousetrap made me laugh. Can’t really argue with your verdict on the animation, I do remember in those DVD-extra-esque commercials being told that the animators did a lot of work to make the animation particularly more fluid and appealingly toon-y.
Hmm, Mononoke, eh? That may not have been the most memorable Miyazaki movie for me, but this ought to be an interesting review. Also, love the Giant Foreign Fanbase gag.
There are three reasons why I have no desire to ever see this movie.
1: Call me a cranky old lady, even though I’m only 30 years old, but I just can’t get used to 3D animation.
2: Like you said, it seems to cater to an even younger audience than what is usual for Disney. So maybe I will watch it my little niece (who is now two years old) one day, but I won’t watch it on my own.
3: Foxy’s fate! Yeah, I know that she’s a bully. And she probably deserved a lesson. But she was basically mind raped, and that is just disturbing. And yeah, you can see that as very sexist as well, that the tomboy just had to become a stupid girly-girl.
So I can see why people don’t like this one, and I’m surprised that you could like it as much as you did.
This “movie” is basically “Everything Wrong With the First Decade of the 21st Century” boiled down to 80 minutes. Including bin Laden, who I’m sure was a fan of this.
Actually, I can believe that Bin Laden liked the idea of s tomboy being mindraped into becoming a stupid girly-girl.