Chicken Little

I almost feel bad for Chicken Little.  It gets a bad wrap for being one of the worst Disney Canon films.  I really didn’t think it was a bad movie.  But it feels very strange for Disney.  They seemed to have been leaning into the whole science fiction realm for a while when this one came out, but this one also tried to mix in a classic tale as well with the whole sky is falling piece.  But instead of Disney finding that perfect balance between modern and classic storytelling, they ended up with a film that I would have instinctually thought was made by warner brothers.

The animation in this film doesn’t age the best.  It is their first fully computer animated feature film for the company.  And as computer animation has improved massively over the years this feels dated.  It suffers from heavy focus on character features and less nuance with the textures.  It isn’t bad to the point that it feels unprofessional, but definitely feels like it was made during a time when the technology had not been fully developed yet.

The acting, the music, and pacing is all fine.  It has some great actors with Zach Braff, Joan Cusack, Steve Zahn, and Amy Sedaris.  They all do a convincing job, but nothing that stands out like Williams as the Genie or DeVito as Phil.  Instead we get what should have been an all star cast that headlined the poster, but were just typical voices.  The music is somewhat the same.  Not a classic score by Menken, but a general children's film score that accompanies most G rated movies about this time.

The story is the part where Disney seems to have really lost it.  The had tried over and over at this point to create some kind of big science fiction animated feature.  Lilo and Stitch, Treasure Planet and Atlantis.  The piece that was missing was the classic Disney fairytale intertwined in.  So, they tried it with Chicken Little.  But instead of using the old the sky is falling story, they used it as a background for this story.  In general, it feels forced and silly and very much like everyone except for Disney.  Again, this wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t Disney.  It might as well been DreamWorks.

I think we will see it one more time after this, but Disney seems to have really lost their style at this point.  Fighting to outperform Pixar they have swapped out multiple types of art, lots of changing music, and some strange storylines.   Treasure Planet, Brother Bear, Home on the Range, and now Chicken Little don’t feel like they all belong to the same canon.  They feel wildly different from one another. 

Run Time – 81 Minutes

78th Academy Awards – 0 Nominations

Disney Animated Canon so far in order of Quality  

1. Beauty and the Beast 9-29-1991

2. The Hunchback of Notre Dame 6-21-1996

3. Lady and the Tramp 6-22-1955

4. Aladdin 11-25-1992

5. Tarzan 6-18-1999

6. Mulan 6-19-1998

7. Peter Pan 2-5-1953

8. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh 3-11-1977

9. One Hundred and One Dalmatians 1-25-1961

10. The Lion King 6-15-1994

11. Hercules 6-13-1997

12. The Emperor’s New Groove 12-15-2000

13. Lilo & Stitch 6-21-2002

14. Home on the Range 4-2-2004

15. Dumbo 10-23-1941

16. Atlantis: The Lost Empire 6-15-2001

17. The Fox and the Hound 7-10-1981

18. Oliver and Company 11-18-1988

19. Cinderella 2-15-1950

20. The Little Mermaid 11-17-1989

21. Pinocchio 2-7-1940

22. Sleeping Beauty 1-29-1959

23. The Adventure of Ichabod and Mr. Toad 10-5-1949

24. The Jungle Book 10-18-1967

25. Brother Bear 11-1-2003

26. The Great Mouse Detective 7-2-1986

27. Fantasia 2000 6-16-2000

28. Robin Hood 11-8-1973

29. The Rescuers Down Under 11-16-1990

30. Make Mine Music 4-20-1946

31. Fun and Fancy Free 9-27-1947

32. Chicken Little 11-4-2005

33. Dinosaur 5-19-2000

34. Treasure Planet 11-27-2002

35. The Aristocats 12-11-1970

36. Pocahontas 6-23-1995

37. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 12-21-1937

38. Saludos Amigos 8-24-1942

39. The Sword in the Stone 12-25-1963

40. The Rescuers 6-22-1977

41. Alice in Wonderland 7-26-1951

42. The Black Cauldron 7-24-1985

43. Melody Time 5-27-1948

44. Bambi 8-13-1942

45. Fantasia 11-13-1940

46. The Three Caballeros 12-21-1944