This week I watched Chicken Little and thought it would be a really easy review to write.

The movie wasn?t very good, done, end of story.

Unfortunately, once I started doing some background research, it became increasingly clear that I would need a business degree and a seat on the Disney board of directors to properly analyse this movie.

In and of itself, Chicken Little is pretty basic.

It takes the old story of Chicken Little, where a little chicken causes panic by shouting, ?the sky is falling, the sky is falling!?

Disney takes off with that and poses the question: What if Chicken Little wasn?t crazy and the sky actually was falling.

As it turns out, the sky wasn?t falling, it was aliens, and they may be planning a full-scale invasion of earth.

Chicken Little and his friends, an obese pig named Runt of the litter, Abby Mallard, the ugly duckling, and the Fish out of Water, band together to defend earth from the invaders.

It’s pretty much standard fare for kids? movies, and will definitely be forgotten by this time next year.

Long gone are the days when Disney movies were cherished treasures, to be watched 40 or 50 years later.

Chicken Little is unimpressive and mediocre at best, however, that is the least interesting thing about this movie.

This is the first computer-generated solo project for Disney. Up until now all of the computer generated features that came out of Disney were part of a partnership with Pixar, and these productions were wildly successful.

Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, and The Incredibles were all hugely popular, and were pioneers in the medium of computer-generated animation in much the same way that Disney movies defined animation back in their heyday in the ?40s and ?50s.

The Disney/Pixar partnership was largely seen as the reason for the success, Pixar being the radical element that pushed the envelope, and Disney providing the steady hand of experience.

But there was trouble in paradise.

The story varies based on who you ask, but the long and the short of it is that money got in the way, and there were disputes over royalties.

There are serious questions as to whether any more Disney/Pixar movies will be made after Cars, which comes out in June 2006.

Chicken Little is not seen as a good sign for all the fans that want to see the partnership stay together.

The general feeling seems to be that Disney had given Pixar the cold shoulder, and tried to go off on its own, making Chicken Little by itself.

If Chicken Little grosses a decent amount, Disney will turn around and say that they never needed Pixar, and that will be the end of that.

However, if Chicken Little flops, fans sort of hope that Disney will crawl back to Pixar begging for mercy, and the marriage will stay together a while longer ? hopefully producing a bunch of successful offspring.

But whether Chicken Little grosses a respectable amount is anyone?s guess.

I for one hope it will flop, not only because I would like to see Disney and Pixar stay together, but because it really is a bad movie, and it always makes me sad when bad movies do well.

The movie sort of fuses a run of the mill kids? story (a father who doesn?t believe in his son, and only comes around when aliens attack Earth) with a bunch of topical humour that no child would ever understand (presumably to keep the parents entertained.)

It doesn?t work.

There are a few funny moments, but all told it feels like the whole thing is held together with scotch tape and toothpicks.

Moreover, Chicken Little doesn?t push the boundaries of computer animation the way any of the Disney/Pixar films did; this may be the single most important reason why they need each other.

Unfortunately, even if I give Chicken Little a terrible review (as I hope I have) that?s no guarantee that it won?t make a lot of money.

As it turns out, kids don?t seem to read movie review, and what they?re looking for in a movie is not always what the film critic elite is looking for.

It is entirely possible that kids will love it despite its flaws, and Disney will go on to make its shareholders very rich making many more such mediocre movies.

And the more I think about that possibility, the more I hope that the sky really is falling.






Related Stories: