Review of Chicken Little (2005) by Markb. — 28 Nov 2005

After having endured the smug Shark Tale, the witless Robots, the obnoxious, headache-inducing Madagascar and the just-plain-boring Valiant, I almost poured what was left of my Diet Pepsi over my head at the end of this latest Pixar wannabe just to make sure I was awake and not dreaming.

..because here, at long last and hallelujah, is one that mostly gets it right! The famous fairytale about a panicky little chicken who mistakenly informs all the other animals that the sky is falling, and simply makes a dumb cluck out of himself in the process, is dispensed with in the first ten minutes; the rest of the movie deals with the hero's attempts to regain the respect of his classmates and his dad.

..just in time for a second character-testing apparent emergency that turns out to be both more and less than what it seems. As an animated entertainment, Chicken Little lacks the timeless quality of the Pixars (the Toy Storys, Monsters Inc.

, The Incredibles, etc.) -- and it doesn't deserve to beat the non-CGI Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit for this year's Best Animated Feature Oscar -- but it's still a whole lot of fun: pleasingly energetic, often ingeniously clever, and even sweet and touching at times without being syrupy.

One of my biggest issues with most recent animated features is their nonstop reliance on current pop culture references and jokes (which of course renders them more and more dated with each passing year), and Chicken Little is hardly innocent of this, but at least most of the references to Top 40 songs from the 70s to the oughts are kept within the concept of one specific character.

The writers and director Mark Dindal (who previously did the witty, Chuck Jones-flavored "flat" Disney feature The Emperor's New Groove) need to gain either an increased sense of self-confidence or faith in the intelligence of its audience: references to a couple of famous Spielberg movies are so spelled out, circled and underlined that they're rendered completely ineffective, while subtle visual or aural winks to lovers of Foghorn Leghorn and The Simpsons score bulls-eyes precisely because they're NOT explained.

Unlike most of the imitation Pixars, which come across as heartless joke machines loaded with humor that's completely inappropriate for the smallest members of the family, Chicken Little's touch of genius -- and its heart -- lies in basing its story and themes on the very real issues that its young viewers deal with.

The hero, like lots of human preadolescents, yearns for the acceptance of his peers and of his father (the latter scene-stealingly voiced by Garry Marshall, who like Sydney Pollack is often a better actor than director).

It's entirely appropriate that C.L.'s few friends are outcasts themselves: "Ugly Duckling" Abby Mallard; Runt of the Litter, who's not only wildly overweight but likes Barbra Streisand records (and we all know what THAT implies).

..and even a genuine Fish Out Of Water! As with Disney's Lilo & Stitch, these farm fauna are so engaging that the movie loses some steam when the science-fiction plot takes over, but here it adds real drama as C.

L. has to decide whether to succumb to peer pressure or do the right thing and risk more ostracization...and the resolution is remarkably satisfying. Equally vital to Chicken Little's success is a simple but basic element that more films, be they 3-D animation, 2-D or live action, would do well to include: an uncommonly likable, appealing and sympathetic lead character whose well-being and happiness you really care about.