The sky is falling!

I watched the latest Disney animated film Chicken Little at the theater with my son, Josh. He became a fan after he saw that diminutive chick dance in its trailer during the Batman Begins showing. Since then, whenever it is shown on TV, he’ll try to dance with the chick, which is quite often, as most of the time our television is tuned-in to the Disney channel.

The movie starts off with the widespread panic Chicken Little caused when he mistakes a falling acorn for a piece of the sky. In the hopes of reviving his reputation from the embarrassing chaos he cause and winning back the respect of his father, the young man chicken joins the town’s baseball team. With a great deal of luck, Chicken Little led his team to victory and finally redeems himself. Happy times, however, don’t last for long, for he was hit again on the head by a piece of the sky. This time the sky is really falling! Enlisting the help of his friends: Runt of the Litter, Abby Mallard (aka Ugly Duckling), and Fish Out of Water, they tried to save the day without sending the town into a frenzy.

The film’s story is an outtake from the classic British children’s tale and was further twisted: what if the sky is really falling. This is the first attempt of Disney to produce a computer-generated animated feature without Pixar. It may have solid laughs that could amuse a small child, but hardly any humour aimed for grownups, which made Pixar’s The Incredibles and Dreamworks’ Shrek huge blockbuster hits – clicking effortlessly on all levels. One could sense how forced this movie is – trying for a universal appeal, which I believe made it fell flat on its face. Young kids may go giddy on the first two-thirds of the movie but would later turn freaked out when it changes into a junior War of the Worlds.

It still delivered the Disney essentials: comedy, adventure, and music; there are, however, only a few original songs in the soundtrack unlike most Disney animated features. The visuals are fantastic! It’s funny in some ways, but not something one would consider a classic to watch over and over in your DVD player. Could it because the story is just too simple or not a sturdy children’s tale that needs retelling?