The chicken little resource

This is Disney's first all-CG picture since ceasing production of traditionally-animated films. (Pixar's films were distributed but not produced by Disney, and Dinosaur was a combination of live-action and computer animation).

Plot

It is loosely based on the fable Chicken Little, otherwise known as The Sky is Falling. In the small suburban town of Oakey Oaks, Chicken Little (voiced by Scrubs star Zach Braff) rings the school bell and cries for everyone to "run for your lives!" This sends the whole town into a frenzied panic; eventually they calm down enough to ask him what's wrong, and Chicken Little explains that a piece of the sky shaped like a stop sign had fallen on his head when he was sitting under the big oak tree in the town square. He's unable to find the piece now. His father, Buck Cluck (Garry Marshall), ashamedly assumes that this "piece of sky" was just an acorn that had fallen off the tree and had hit him on the head. Chicken Little becomes the laughing stock of the town.

A year later, Little's only friends are outcasts like himself: Abby Mallard (Joan Cusack), who is called "Ugly Duckling"; Runt of the Litter (Steve Zahn), who is extremely large despite being the smallest in his family; and Fish Out Of Water, who wears a helmet full of water and does not speak. All have been mocked and teased by neighborhood bully Foxy Loxy (Amy Sedaris) and her friend Goosey Loosey.

During a dodgeball game (the coach pits the popular vs. the unpopular), Abby tells Little to talk to his dad, when Little wants his dad to be proud. While Little, Abby and Fish are dodging, Runt is getting hit by every ball thrown at him. To help Chicken, Abby hands Little magazines about talking to your parents, but he hands them to Fish, who immediately starts ripping pages out of each one, making a miniature building and airplanes. Fish then proceeds to pull a King Kong impersonation. Foxy and Goosey bully Little and Friends soon after.

Chicken Little joins his school's Little League baseball team in an attempt to recover his reputation and his father's pride, but is unfairly made last, while Foxy Loxy impresses spectators and the newspapers with her pitches and "miracle catches" -- until the ninth inning when Chicken Little, reluctantly called to bat by the coach, scores a home run after two strikes.

But that night back at home, he is hit on the head by what appears to be a hexagon-shaped chunk of the sky with a glowing star on it, only (after narrowly avoiding telling his father about it) to find out that it is not a piece of the sky, but something else. It has chameleonic characteristics- it's not invisible, but it blends into the background. He summons his friends to help figure it out.

When Fish pushes a button on the back of the octagon, it flies back up into the sky, taking Fish with it. It turns out to be part of the camouflage of an invisible alien spaceship, apparently part of an invading force. It is up to Chicken Little and his friends to save the day.

The invasion is actually a misunderstanding, as two aliens are looking for their lost child (whose name is Kirby) and attack only out of concern. Little realizes he must return the lost alien to save the planet. At first he tries to do it covertly but once the aliens attack, he's forced to confront his father and regain his trust first.

In the invasion, Buck Cluck, now regaining his pride and trust in Little, defends Little from the aliens, even going as far as deflecting an incoming vaporisor ray with a garbage can lid, throwing the lid at the creatures, and punching them away at the top of town hall. Abby, Runt and Fish also aid Chicken Little in his little quest to return the child to the alien invaders. After the aliens get the kid, the aliens return everything to normal, and Hollywood makes a heavily dramatized film about Chicken Little.

Themes

It is notable that the movie ties Chicken little, another of many Disney's coming of age outcast characters, directly in the social context most apparently familiar - that of school with most of the supporting characters being in a similiar position.

The plot of the movie is based on 3 alien films: E.T., Signs, and War of the Worlds. The scene where Kirby sees his parents fly off into space mirrors the scene in E.T. where E.T. is left behind by his family. The movie parodies Signs in the scene where Chicken Little, Fish out of water, Abby Mallard, and Runt of the Litter are chased by aliens in a corn maze, where the aliens use spinning razors to chop down the tall corn. A bird's eye view shows that the Aliens' paths through the field carved out a crop circle much like those in Signs (though this is merely an in-joke and has no relevance to the plot). At the end, the invasion is similar to War of the Worlds, as aliens vaporize civilians with similar rays.

Critical response

Chicken Little received a Rotten 37% rating on RottenTomatoes [1]. Richard Roeper of Ebert & Roeper fame gave it a thumbs-down, saying "I don’t care if it’s 2-D, 3-D, CGI or hand drawn, it all goes back to the story." James Verniere of the Boston Herald said "Disney’s first all-CGI effort not made by Pixar, looks cheap, bland, plasticene and often fuzzy."

Impact

At the time of the release of Chicken Little, the co-production deal between Disney and Pixar Animation Studios was set to expire with the release of Cars in 2006. The end result of the contentious negotiations between Disney and Pixar was viewed to depend heavily on how Chicken Little performed at the box office. If successful, the movie would have given Disney leverage in its negotiations for a new contract to distribute Pixar's films. A failure would have allowed Pixar to argue that Disney could not produce CG films without aid from Pixar. Discussions to renew the deal in 2005 were held off until both sides could assess Chicken Little's performance at the box office.

It is not known how the two sides regarded Chicken Little's modest success. While it underperformed compared to Pixar's product, it was more successful than Disney's recent output and was much more profitable for the company, since they did not need to share the revenue. Regardless, both sides decided that they were better off with each other than separate. However, instead of negotiating a new contract, on January 24, 2006, Disney announced their intent to purchase Pixar in an all-stock transaction worth $7.4 Billion USD. (Note that Pixar had roughly $1 Billion in cash, making the effective cost closer to $6.4 Billion.) The purchase was completed on May 5, 2006.

Box office

In its opening weekend, Chicken Little debuted at number one, the first Disney animated film to do so since Tarzan (1999) taking $40 million and tying with The Lion King (1994) as the largest opener for a Disney animated film (not including Pixar's films). It also managed to claim the number one spot again in its second week of release, earning $31.7 million beating the Columbia Pictures' sci-fi/family flop, Zathura. With a drop of only 20 percent on the second week, that brought its two week total to $80.4 million. In the end Chicken Little grossed $134,881,973 in North America alone. This is good news for Disney, for not only is it its first CGI movie by its own means, but it also reversed a slump that the company was facing since 2000, during which time it released several flops, most notably Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) and Treasure Planet (2002), the latter credited for destroying Disney's animation department. A few critics believe that this could be a turnaround for Disney animation, most are less hopeful. Overall, critical reception to the film was mediocre at best, with critics such as A.O. Scott, Richard Roeper, and many others panning the movie's narrative weakness.

3D Digital format introduced

The movie was also released in Disney Digital 3D along with the 2D version. Unlike many recent 3D movies which only show selected segments in 3D, the entire length of Chicken Little including the credits is presented in 3D. However, only less than 100 theaters across the US are equipped to show the movie in 3D. Many viewers were not even aware of the 3D version because many people assumed Disney Digital 3D refers to the 3D modelling of the CG characters, not the 3D stereoscopic presentation of the movie. The 3D did quite well, almost 3 times the level of the 2D release, in the 79 theaters (84 screens) that showed the film. In 2006 at least 6 animation films will be releasing in 3D digital or 3D IMAX film presentation, as part of their distribution schedule. Meet the Robinsons is the next Disney animation film to use the Disney Digital 3D release format, due out March 30, 2007. At least 500 theaters are expected to be equipped by then for digital 3D. Exit polling shows that the 3D was well received, and very comfortable to view. The film was not actually designed for 3D, and only minor changes were made, at the suggestion of Disney executives to "deepen" a few of the 3D screen effects. Much more intentional use of 3D will be built into the next Disney 3D offering. It should be pointed out that all computer graphic images (CGI) used to make modern "3D" animation films, contain adjustable images, where the camera position can be shifted at will. It is fairly easy to create a second camera point of view, to match to the original view with some offset. These two views are then blended in the brain to present an in-depth stereoscopic view of the scene. It would be far more difficult to create 3D from a regular "flat" 2D image of the real world or actors. Disney has stated that it expects to make a 3D stereoscopic version, as a consumer option on all upcoming future CGI animation features. Recent technology will also allow HD distribution of 3D on disks after mid 2006.

Pop culture references

Goofs

Controversy

Trivia

Cast

Crew

References

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