Review
Chicken Little
- Director
- Mark Dindal
- Year
- 2005
- Rating
- Reviewed by
- José Ruiloba a.k.a. Morris
- Review date
- Wednesday, December 07, 2005
Chicken Little (voice of Zach Braff) tried to warn everyone in his hometown that the sky was falling. As it happens, a piece of the sky hit his head, but when it was time to prove it, the piece had disappeared. He instantly became a joke and a year later he had not recovered yet. His father, Buck Cluck (voice of Garry Marshall), asked him to go unnoticed, and he could only trust his misfit friends: Abby Mallard (voice of Joan Cusack), Runt of the Litter (voice of Steve Zahn) and Fish Out of Water (voice of Dan Molina). But just as he was getting back in the game, it happened again: a piece of the sky fell right into his room. With the help of his friends he follows a lead and finds out that aliens are apparently planning to invade, or just plain disappear, planet Earth. But will anyone believe him this time?
In order to properly enjoy this movie, you have to understand that it was made primarily for kids. Witty humor for adults is scarce, yet the movie doesn’t downplay its intelligence quotient so that we can’t enjoy it. I actually had a blast. There are a couple of lame jokes here and there, such as one that has to do with burping, but for the most part the movie treats kids as smart individuals. There are also bits which aren’t precisely cheerful, but they’re truthful and they serve the movie’s ultimate message. And the movie also gets sentimental at times. When you have a character so devoid of cynicism and something bad, or really good, happens to him, I don’t know... it just gets me.
The movie is a lot of fun. Chicken Little lives in a town populated by all kinds of animals, some of which get hilarious exposition. I especially loved the appearance of some rabbits and the good use given to a chameleon. Our main character is also a very funny individual on its own, both visually and figuratively. That big head just cracks me up every time I see it. I also got a kick out of Fish Out of Water, a wonderful, well-executed creation. And the animation, while not photo-realistic but more cartoon-y in its look, is perfectly suited to the story.
Something I’d like to point out is just how modern the movie is. Sometimes it works, but sometimes it doesn’t. The use of some songs is awkward, although I liked the use Runt gave to some of the classics. There’s also a scene that has all the kids at school taking a break from gym class and instantly grabbing their cell phones to talk. I guess I like my old-fashioned Disney tales and that’s why this bit took me out of the movie, but hey, kids will most likely love it. And let’s not get into Runt’s character, the most openly gay character I’ve seen in a kids’ movie so far. Compared to this, Shark Tale was an exercise in subtlety. And I’m not complaining, just saying. It’s interesting.
I have to say that when the extraterrestrials first appeared I thought they crashed with the movie’s uplifting, innocent tone so far. I just didn’t feel they belonged in this movie. And it took me a while to get used to them, but the movie does a good job because by the end I was completely and utterly satisfied with where it went and what it did with the characters.
Voice work is uniformly good. Braff does a good job as Chicken Little and Joan Cusack brings some of her personality to the wonderful Abby Mallard. Also appearing in small roles are Don Knotts, Catherine O’Hara, Fred Willard, Amy Sedaris, Adam West and Patrick Stewart, among others.
And watch out for a hysterical King Kong homage!
“Don’t tap the glass, they hate it when you do that.”
CriticSociety en Twitter | CriticSociety en Facebook
Share on Facebook | Share on Twitter
Comments
New comments are temporarily disabled
