Chicken Little (2005)

This recent Disney cartoon flick features an original take on the classic tale of Chicken Little, and does it ever stray. It strays into a caricature American town full of consumerist animals and science fiction. In fact it completely abandons the themes of the original story.

But it's still fun.

The focus quickly becomes the relationship between the clucker and his rooster dad and the issue is trust. Then the themes move toward school politics. Then there is this kooky act to close the film which I don't think really worked. Does Disney think that it would not be able to market an animated film where the parents (at least one of them) don't die and where the child is not justified in the end - revealing the ineptitude of the adult counterparts.

The 3-D animation is rich, but everything is kept simple. The film is noticeably short at 75 minutes plus credits - the standard for cartoons I guess. Aside from an original pretty tune by Five For Fighting, the barrage of pop tunes was a bit much.

Official Site | IMDB