Overall Rating:
Grade: B+
Score: 8/10
Family-Friendliness Scale: Level 4 (Great)
Kids ages 6+
Everyone, skeedaddle!!! Why? The sky is falling!! HUH???!!!
That's how the main character of this film became the most disliked person in Oakey Oaks. Chicken Little (Zach Braff) just wants to have a chance at being popular, like his dad (Garry Marshall). But he's bullied constantly by Foxy Loxy (Amy Sedaris), and is always getting into mischief, accidentally. Then one day, the unthinkable happens, Chicken Little saves a baseball game by scoring a game-winning run, and all of a sudden, everyone loves him. But then again, a piece of the "sky" falls on him that night, and its' later to be revealed as aliens invading earth! Will Chicken Little be able to save the planet, or could he have just opened up a door to disaster and unpopularity all over again?
Positive Notes
The main positive lesson we learn from this film is not to judge someone by their size, the way they look, or the way they act. Chicken Little, Runt of the Litter (Steve Zahn), and Abby Mallard (Joan Cusack) all are outsiders, but in the end, they all stand up and are willing to sacrifice themselves to save Oakey Oaks. Chicken's dad learns to appreciate his son the way he is, and learns to be a better father. Also seen in the film are solid examples on friendship, the importance of family, bravery and self-sacrifice. Foxy Loxy, on a negative side, lets kids know by her actions that bullying is just plain wrong. Abby encourages Chicken to have "closure", or having discussions with his Dad, which in today's families, would be a great encouragement for kids to have discussions with their parents over uncomfortable subjects.
The film has 80's songs galore, some of which are hilariously re-done. The cast, including Braff, Marshall, Zahn, Cusack, Sedaris, the late Don Knotts, Patrick Stewart, and others do a fine job with their characters. Considering this was Disney's first effort at computer animation (if you're confused, Disney did hand-drawn while Pixar was doing computer-animation), they did a pretty good job.
John Debney does a fine job with the music score.
Negative Notes
Despite carrying a G rating, Chicken Little has quite a bunch of exceptions. One minor problem is that the film carries quite a bunch of slapstick cartoonish violence that might scare younger children. Chicken is constantly battered all over the place, while alien spaceships cause whrilwinds, chase people, zap them, and aliens in battle suits chop up a cornfield, narrowly missing Chicken and his friends. Toilet humor gets a bit of screentime as well with Chicken losing his pants once and frozen pee being mentioned. No language, though it is implied once that an obscene insult, aimed directly at Chicken's dad, is written in the clouds (we don't see it, but he says he's thankful that a cloud covered up the last letter). Some cartoonish silliness.
Conclusion
Disney's been doing animal stories for years, from Bambi to Brother Bear. This one is updated for the modern times, and is the first one that Disney decided not to draw by hand.
Looking at Chicken Little up close though, we find many positive examples that we don't normally see in kids' movies these days. For instance, many kids can relate to Chicken, having a tough time fitting in due to some embarrassing situations, his size, and some embarrassing situations in the past. As a result, we root for the underdogs the whole way, and in the end, we see them becoming heroes, which may be predictable, but its' a that will give the kids who sit by themselves in the lunch room, a little more hope. A little more of believing in themselves.
So, while we never saw the sky actually fall, this film rose to the occasion by being a family-friendly comedy that will appeal to almost anyone.
