Chicken Little (2005 film)
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| Chicken Little | |
|---|---|
 Promotional Poster for Chicken Little |
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| Directed by | Mark Dindal |
| Produced by | Randy Fullmer |
| Written by | Steve Bencich Ron J. Friedman |
| Starring | Zach Braff Joan Cusack Steve Zahn Dan Molina Garry Marshall Season Elmore Fred Willard Catherine O'Hara Amy Sedaris Don Knotts |
| Music by | John Debney |
| Distributed by | Walt Disney Pictures |
| Release date(s) |  November 4, 2005 February 10, 2006 |
| Running time | 81 minutes |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $60,000,000 |
| Preceded by | Home on the Range (2004) |
| Followed by | Meet the Robinsons (2007) |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Chicken Little (2005) is a computer-generated imagery (CGI) animated film and the forty-fifth animated film made and produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures and Buena Vista Distribution on November 4, 2005. It was written by Mark Dindal and Mark Kennedy with the screenplay by Steve Bencich, Ron J. Friedman, and Ron Anderson and directed by Mark Dindal. The film was animated in-house at WDFA's main headquarters in Burbank, California. Chicken Little is the 45th animated feature in the Disney animated features canon.
This was Disney's first all-CG picture since ceasing production of traditionally-animated films. (Pixar's films were distributed but not produced by Disney, and Dinosaur was a combination of live-action and computer animation).
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[edit] Plot
It is loosely based on the fable Chicken Little, otherwise known as The Sky is Falling. In the small suburban town of Oakey Oaks, Chicken Little (voiced by Scrubs star Zach Braff) rings the school bell and cries for everyone to "run for your lives!" This sends the whole town into a frenzied panic; 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's only friends are outcasts like himself: Abby Mallard (Joan Cusack), who is called "Ugly Duckling"; Runt of the Litter (Steve Zahn), who is extremely large despite being the smallest in his family; and Fish Out Of Water, 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.
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 building and airplanes. Fish then proceeds to pull a King Kong impersonation. Foxy and Goosey bully Little and Friends soon after.
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 when Chicken Little, reluctantly called to bat by the coach, scores a home run after two strikes.
But that night back at home, he is hit on the head by what appears to be a chunk of the sky "shaped like a Stop sign" with a glowing star on it, 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 has chameleonic characteristics- it's not invisible, but it blends into the background. He summons his friends to help figure it out.
When Fish pushes a button on the back of the octagon, it flies back up into the sky, taking Fish with it. It turns out to be part of the camouflage of an invisible alien spaceship, apparently part of an invading force. It is up to Chicken Little and his friends to save the day.
The invasion is actually a misunderstanding, as two aliens are looking for their lost child (whose name is Kirby) and attack only out of concern. Little realizes he must return the lost alien 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.
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 vaporisor 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 little quest to return the child to the alien invaders. After the aliens get the kid, the aliens return everything to normal, and Hollywood makes a heavily dramatized film about Chicken Little.
[edit] Themes
It is notable that the movie ties Chicken Little, another of many Disney's coming of age outcast characters, directly in the social context most apparently familiar - that of school with most of the supporting characters being in a similar position.
The plot of the movie gives nods to 3 alien films: E.T., Signs, and War of the Worlds. The scene where Kirby sees his parents fly off into space mirrors the scene in E.T. where E.T. is left behind by his family. At the end, the invasion is similar to War of the Worlds, as aliens vaporize civilians with similar rays.
The movie also pokes fun at crop circles. In the scene where Chicken Little, Fish out of water, Abby Mallard, and Runt of the Litter are chased by aliens in a corn maze, the aliens use spinning razors to chop down the tall corn. A bird's eye view shows that the Aliens' paths through the field carved out a crop circle (though this is merely an in-joke and has no relevance to the plot). This can either be considered an allusion to the M. Night Shyamalan film Signs, or just the Disney Studios making a humurous nod commentary to the crop circle phenomena.
[edit] 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 Little's 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.
[edit] 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 $134,881,973 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 Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) and Treasure Planet (2002), the latter credited for destroying Disney's animation department. A few critics believe that this could be a turnaround for Disney animation, most are less hopeful. 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.
[edit] 3D Digital format introduced
The movie was also released in Disney Digital 3D 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, almost 3 times the level of the 2D release, in the 79 theaters (84 screens) that showed the film.
The DVD was released on March 21, 2006.
[edit] Pop culture references
- The Lion King: In the beginning of the movie, it starts with the sun rising and the Circle of Life song, until Chicken Little's dad corrects that mistake.
- Raiders of the Lost Ark: The movie-within-the-movie playing during the rolling-ball crash.
- Star Wars: After hearing what Kirby has to say, Runt yells "Darth Vader's Luke's father?!", which makes everyone give him a weird look.
- War of the Worlds: In War of the Worlds, the aliens resemble molluscs, but walk around in giant metal tripods. In Chicken Little, the aliens are small furry blobs, but walk around in fairly large metal squid-like robots. Also, when Chicken, Buck and Abby are hiding in the theater, Abby shouts "It's like War of the Worlds out there!"
- Independence Day: The alien ships cast massive shadows over Oakey Oaks as they arrive, with one ship hovering over town hall.
- Alien: Runt references the film when he believes that Fish has fallen victim to the aliens' face-hugging babies.
- King Kong: During the break in dodgeball, Fish builds the Empire State Building and a few planes out of paper, climbs to the top, and makes believe he is King Kong. When Fish spoofs Kong's death, Runt says "'Twas beauty that killed the beast". Also, near the end of the movie, the way Chicken Little's father beats off the aliens at the School tower is reminiscent of King Kong (although, admittedly, the aliens are not flying at the time).
- Close Encounters of the Third Kind
- Mickey Mouse: The aliens have a watch that has a picture of Mickey Mouse (with three eyes) on it.
- Invader Zim: The alien's cloaking device is similar to the sky camouflage from the aliens in the episode Planet Jackers.
- Signs: In Signs, the farmer discovers strange patterns carved into his corn field and later in another scene, sees an alien in his corn field. In Chicken Little, Chicken Little and his friends witness the aliens carving a pattern into a corn field, and later, the baby alien named Kirby sees Chicken Little walking in the corn field. Also, the first line of the trailer for Chicken Little is: "He saw the signs..."
- Star Trek: Chicken Little:The Movie at the end of the film is based on the original series of Star Trek with the Chicken Little character's performance patterned after William Shatner's Captain Kirk.
- Toy Story: As they watch the final movie of Chicken Little, the star reveals his wings, with soda bottles on the end. This is done in exactly the same fashion as Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story.
- Girls Gone Wild: When Chicken Little tells them the aliens are coming, the two men filming there say, "We should submit this to Chickens Gone Wild."
- Men in Black II: One of the posters for the film and the DVD case shows Chicken Little sitting in an egg while wearing a black suit and sunglasses, mirroring the poster for Men in Black II, which shows the Men in Black sitting in egg-shaped Arne Jacobsen chairs.
- Back to the Future: Ace's exit in "Movie within the Movie" at the end of Chicken Little is really similar to Doctor Emmett Brown's exit as they both go out of the scene with two flashes.
- Beverly Hills, 90210: When Chicken Little and his father are being questioned by Kirby's father, they are told that they are in violation of "Intergalactic Law 90210". The postal code for Beverly Hills is 90210.
[edit] Goofs
- When the water tower collapses, we see water splash from the tank. Yet as it's rolling through town, the tank has no opening; it's a complete sphere.
- When Abby shows Chicken Little the Modern Mallard magazine, the cover is in full color. But when Fish build the paper Empire State it is in black and white.
- During the baseball game, the commentator claims that both teams played "nine grueling innings" of baseball, yet the scoreboard only shows that six innings were played, unless Abby was so much into the game, or her conversation with Runt, that she forgot to put the sign up.
- In the beginning of the baseball scene, Oakey Oaks' score adds up to fifteen runs, yet the total score is shown as thirteen runs. However, this may just be because after Chicken Little's at-bat, that is the inning-by-inning score.
[edit] Trivia
- In the Italian version, Mayor Turkey Lurkey is voiced by Walter Veltroni, a famous political leader and currently Mayor of the city of Rome.
- Originally, Chicken Little was supposed to be a girl, voiced by Holly Hunter (voice of Elastigirl from The Incredibles), but the character was switched to a boy, voiced by Zach Braff.
- This was Don Knotts' last film. He died before the DVD version of this film was released.
- This is Disney's first, in-house, fully CGI theatrical film.
- Fish Out of Water's dialogue was recorded from editor Dan Molina blowing through a hose into a 5 gallon water barrel.
- In the beginning when they're trying to decide on an opening, the storybook opening was actually at alternate opening.
- As major studios continue to phase out VHS, this was the first Disney animated film only released on DVD. (Disney films continue to phase in DVD) The last Disney animated film released on VHS was Bambi II.
- In the PS2 video game Kingdom Hearts 2 Chicken Little makes an appearance as a Summon character.
[edit] Cast
- Zach Braff .... Chicken Little (voice)
- Garry Marshall .... Buck Cluck (voice)
- Don Knotts .... Mayor Turkey Lurkey (voice)
- Patrick Stewart .... Mr. Woolensworth (voice)
- Amy Sedaris .... Foxy Loxy (voice)
- Steve Zahn .... Master Runt of the Litter (voice)
- Joan Cusack .... Abby Mallard (voice)
- Wallace Shawn .... Principal Fetchit (voice)
- Harry Shearer .... Dog Announcer (voice)
- Fred Willard .... Melvin - Alien Dad (voice)
- Catherine O'Hara .... Tina - Alien Mom (voice)
- Patrick Warburton .... Alien Cop (voice)
- Adam West .... Ace - Hollywood Chicken Little (voice)
- Mark Walton .... Goosey Loosey (voice)
- Mark Dindal .... Morkubine Porcupine/Coach (voice)
- Dan Molina .... Fish Out of Water (voice)
- Joe Whyte .... Rodriguez/Acorn Mascot/Umpire (voice)
- Sean Elmore .... Kirby - Alien Kid (voice)
- Evan Dunn .... Kirby - Alien Kid (voice)
- Matthew Michael Josten .... Kirby - Alien Kid (voice) (as Matthew Josten)
- Kelly Hoover .... Mama Runt (voice)
- Will Finn .... Hollywood Fish (voice)
- Dara McGarry .... Hollywood Abby (voice)
- Mark Kennedy .... Hollywood Runt (voice)
- 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 Chicken Little, the voice of Buck Cluck was played by an Australian, Mark Mitchell, who put on an American Accent. Although released in Australin Cinemas, this voiced version of the film has not been released on the Australian DVD.
- Charlene Choi provided the voice of Abby Mallard in the Cantonese version of the film.
[edit] Crew
- Director
- Mark Dindal
- Writers
- Robert L. Baird, Steve Bencich, Ron J. Friedman, Dan Gerson
- Producers
- Peter Del Vecho, Randy Fullmer
- Original music
- John Debney, Billy Martin, Jeremy Sweet
- Film editor
- Dan Molina
- Casting directors
- Matthew Jon Beck, Jen Rudin
[edit] 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.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- The Official Chicken Little Website
- Chicken Little at the Internet Movie Database
- 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
