Chicken Little a 2005 CGI animated film, and the 45th animated feature produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and the first full CGI film not created by Pixar. It was written by Mark Dindal and Mark Kennedy with the screenplay by Steve Bencich, Ron J. Friedman, and Ron Anderson, and was directed by Mark Dindal. The film was animated in-house at WDFA's main headquarters in Burbank, California, and released by Walt Disney Pictures and Buena Vista Distribution on November 4, 2005. It inspired two video games, one directly based on the movie, the other, Chicken Little: Ace in Action, based on the inaccurate "movie-within-the-movie" depicting Little as a buff action hero.

This was Disney's first all-computer-generated imagery picture, as Pixar's films were distributed but not produced by Disney, and Dinosaur was a combination of live-action and computer animation.

This was Disney's first animated film to receive a DVD-only release, as most Hollywood studios had phased out the VHS format in 2006.

It premiered on the U.S. version of the Disney Channel on February 8, 2008, as part of "Phineas and Ferb-ruary."

Plot

The film is inspired by the fable The Sky is Falling (also known as Chicken Licken, Henny Penny, or Chicken Little). In the small suburban town of Oakey Oaks, Chicken Little (Zach Braff) rings the school bell and cries for everyone to "run for your lives!" This sends the whole town into a frenzied panic that causes so much havoc that it destroys a small part of the town; 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 has become famous in the town for being crazy, which has led to people avoiding him because of his supposed insanity, his only friends are outcasts like himself: Abby Mallard (Joan Cusack), who is called "Ugly Duckling" (who has a crush on Chicken Little); Runt of the Litter (Steve Zahn), who is extremely large despite being the smallest in his family; and Fish out of Water (Dan Molina), 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 (Mark Walton).

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 Empire State Building and airplanes. Fish then proceeds to pull a King Kong impersonation. Soon after, Abby is hit with a dodgeball thrown by Foxy Loxy. Little, fed up with being bullied, tries to stand up to Foxy. Goosey Loosey grabs Little, and flings him into a window. Little accidentally pulls the fire alarm while sliding down the window. He gets in trouble with the principal, and his father is more ashamed than ever.

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 of the last game. Chicken Little is reluctantly called to bat by the coach, who tells him not to swing as he's certain that if Chicken Little tries to swing, he'll lose the game for them. Little scores an inside-the-park home run after two strikes, and is hailed as a hero.

But that night back at home, while celebrating his victory by singing "We Are The Champions" by Queen in his own style, and his father's praise, he is hit on the head—by what appears to be a hexagon shaped chunk of the sky—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 is a device which has chameleonic characteristics—it's not invisible, but it blends into the background (which would thereby explain why Chicken Little was unable to find it last time). Meanwhile his friends are singing karaoke to the Spice Girls' "Wannabe", until Little calls them over to help figure out what it is.

When Fish pushes a button on the back of the hexagon, it flies back up into the sky, taking Fish with it. It turns out to be part of the camouflage of an invisible alien spacecraft. They chase the flying ship until it lands; they go inside, encounter a small orange alien, find Fish, and are about to escape when two aliens in robotic suits spot them. A chase ensues that goes outside the ship and into town (the orange alien still following in secret). Little manages to ring the bell to warn everyone, but the aliens see the crowds coming and manage to escape, leaving the orange one behind. No one believes the story of an alien invasion; Little is ridiculed all over again, and everything seems to be going down the tubes for him, until the next day. He and his friends discover the orange alien, and a few minutes later a whole fleet of alien ships descends on the town and start what appears to be an invasion staged to "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)".

The invasion is actually a misunderstanding, as two aliens (who are red and yellow making their child orange) are looking for their lost child (whose name is Kirby) and attack only out of concern. It's not an invasion, it's a rescue mission. As the aliens rampage throughout Oakey Oaks, vaporizing people and objects (among them Foxy Loxy and the mayor) seemingly at random, Little realizes he must return Kirby to his parents 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. They share a caring moment in a movie theater. Abby interrupts them and requests that they hurry up. Little and Cluck are seen leaving the theater, but before leaving, Chicken Little straightforwardly admits his romantic feelings for Abby and kisses her.

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 vaporizer 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 quest to return Kirby to his parents, motivated by the song "I Will Survive". It is then discovered that the aliens weren't vaporizing people, the ray guns teleported them aboard a spaceship. Afterwards, the aliens return everything to normal (though Foxy Loxy's mind was slightly scrambled after she was restored, making her more girly and kind), and Hollywood makes a heavily dramatized film about Chicken Little. The actor portraying Little is a handsome, muscular rooster while Abby is an attractive looking goose. Runt is a brutish hog with horns who dies a heroic death while fighting the aliens and the actor who plays Fish looks exactly the same but is able to converse in English. At the end of the movie, Little and Abby are seen secretly holding hands in their popcorn bucket, and everyone cheers for Chicken Little's efforts to save the town.

Characters

• Chicken Little: A young rooster who suffers under a reputation for being crazy since he caused a panic saying the sky was falling. He makes up for his small size by being extremely creative, for example, using a roller blind to get into his high locker. Little is constantly trying to impress his Dad. Voiced by Zach Braff.
• Abby Mallard (aka the Ugly Duckling): A female duck (implied swan) with buckteeth, and wearing a purple shirt and some hairbands. A slight speech impediment and a long, asymmetrical face earned her an unfortunate nickname from the less polite children. She is accustomed to being teased for her appearance, and takes a generally optimistic approach to life. She is Chicken Little's best friend and harbors a secret crush on him. Voiced by Joan Cusack.
• Fish Out of Water: A goldfish who wears a scuba helmet filled with water and lives on the surface. He is unable to speak properly, instead making gurgling sounds and acting out what he feels. He isn't very shy around others and he will perform brave stunts without fear. He is, however, somewhat easily distracted. Voiced by Dan Molina.
• Runt of the Litter: A pig, Runt is much larger than the other children, but is far smaller than the other massive members of his family. Runt is easily frightened and prone to panic, but keeps himself calm through 70's music: Stayin' Alive by the Bee Gees, Barbra Streisand, It's Too Late by Carole King, and I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor. Voiced by Steve Zahn.
• Foxy Loxy: A vixen who is a baseball star and the "home town hero", she is a tomboy and one of the "popular kids" at school. She bullies Little throughout the movie for causing the panic at the beginning of the film. Her mind is altered during the alien attack, turning her into a much nicer Southern belle, and she is later seen in a romantic relationship with Runt. Voiced by Amy Sedaris.
• Goosey Loosey: A goose, and Foxy Loxy's best friend. Usually helps Foxy Loxy do her bullying. She speaks in quacks, honks and squawks. She usually teases Chicken Little, but becomes his friend when he wins the baseball game. Voiced by Mark Walton.
• Buck "Ace" Cluck: Chicken Little's father, a former high school baseball star who has a hard time coming to terms with what it means being a good parent. Most of the time he tries instead to apologize for his son's behavior and encourage him to keep a low profile. Voiced by Garry Marshall.
• Turkey Lurkey: The city mayor. Sensible but not very intelligent. Voiced by the late Don Knotts.
• Kirby: A lost alien child whose parents, out of concern, trigger an alien invasion (which turned out to be a search party). In the end, he is returned to his family. Voiced by Sean Elmore, Matthew Michael Joston, and Evan Dunn.
• Melvin: Kirby's father and Tina's husband. He is the character that triggers an alien invasion and at the end is reunited with his son. Voiced by Fred Willard.
• Tina: Kirby's mother and Melvin's wife. She and Melvin land on Earth once a year on the way to her parents, but when Kirby went missing, Melvin triggered an invasion to retrieve their son. She is never named on-screen. Voiced by Catherine O'Hara.
• Morkupine Porcupine: One of the cool kids. His only lines in the film are "Yo." "No." and "Whoa." He also always wears sunglasses. Voiced by Mark Dindal.
• Mr. Woolensworth: A sheep teacher to the class. Voiced by Patrick Stewart.
• Chloe: Buck "Ace" Cluck's wife and Chicken Little's mother. She is deceased, but a family photo showing her is briefly seen.

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 Littles 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.

Crew

Innovations

New software and hardware tools were introduced for the production of this movie:

• "Chicken Wire", a geometric wire frame model of the characters that the animators can stretch and squeeze as they please.

• "Shelf Control", which makes it possible to see the whole model on the screen while having a direct access to any chosen area of the character.

• New electronic tablet screens that allow the artists to draw digital sketches of the characters to rough out their movements, which is then transferred to the 3D characters.

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 $135,386,665 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 Treasure Planet (2002) and Home on the Range (2004), the former credited for destroying Disney's animation department, despite much higher critical reviews than Chicken Little. 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.

The movie has a "rotten" 38% at Rotten Tomatoes.

3D Digital format introduced

The movie was also released in Disney Digital 3D format 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. The 3D did quite well in the 79 theaters (84 screens) that showed the film.

Soundtrack

Voice Cast

• Zach Braff .... Chicken Little
• Garry Marshall .... Buck "Ace" Cluck
• Joan Cusack .... Abby Mallard
• Steve Zahn .... Master Runt Of The Litter
• Don Knotts .... Mayor Turkey Lurkey
• Dan Molina .... Fish Out Of Water
• Harry Shearer .... Dog Announcer
• Wallace Shawn .... Principal Fetchit
• Patrick Stewart .... Mr. Woolensworth
• Sean Elmore .... Kirby - Alien Kid
• Evan Dunn .... Kirby - Alien Kid (voice)
• Matthew Michael Josten .... Kirby - Alien Kid (as Matthew Josten)
• Amy Sedaris .... Foxy Loxy (aka: Diana Fiana)
• Mark Walton .... Goosey Loosey
• Adam West .... Ace - Hollywood Chicken Little
• Mark Dindal .... Morkupine Porcupine/Coach
• Joe Whyte .... Rodriguez/Acorn Mascot/Umpire
• Fred Willard .... Melvin - Alien Dad
• Catherine O'Hara .... Tina - Alien Mom
• Patrick Warburton .... Alien Cop
• Dara McGarry .... Hollywood Abby
• Will Finn .... Hollywood Fish
• Mark Kennedy .... Hollywood Runt
• Kelly Hoover .... Mama Runt
• Additional Voices by Brad Abrell, Tom Amundsen, Steve Bencich, Greg Berg, Julianne Buescher, David Cowgill, Terri Douglas, Chris Edgerly, Amanda Fein, Caitlin Fein, Patrick Fraley, Eddie Frierson, Jackie Gonneau, Archie Hahn, Jason Harris, Brittney Lee Harvey, Brian Herskowitz, Amanda Kaplan, Nathan Kress, Anne Lockhart, Connor Matheus, Mona Marshall, Scott Menville, Rene Mujica, Jonathan Nichols, Paul Pape, Aaron Spann, Pepper Sweeney

• In the Australian version of the film, Buck Cluck is voiced by an Australian, Mark Mitchell, who used an American accent. Although seen in Australian cinemas, Mitchell's voice work is not featured on the Region 4 DVD release.
• Charlene Choi provided the voice of Abby Mallard in the Cantonese version of the film.

References

• Brown, Sandy (5 November 2005). "Disney, Pixar Playing Chicken". Mickey News.
• Holson, Laura M. (30 October 2005). "Much rides on 'Chicken' for Disney and Pixar". New York Times.
• Tyler, Joshua (4 November 2005). "Movie Review: Chicken Little". Monsters and Critics.

See also

• Chicken Little (soundtrack)
• Chicken Little (video game)
• List of animated feature films

External links

• The Official Chicken Little Website
• The Big Cartoon DataBase entry for ''Chicken Little''
• ''Chicken Little'' DVD Review/Article at UltimateDisney.com
• Chicken Little Info ? presented by chickenlittle-movie
• Chicken Little (2005) ? presented by MovieWeb
• ''Chicken Little'' at Disney Movies List

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