Chicken Little (2005 film)
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- For other uses, see Chicken Little (disambiguation).
| Chicken Little Chicken little poster.jpg | |
| IMDB Page (external link) | |
| Writer: | Steve Bencich Ron J. Friedman |
| Starring: | Zach Braff Joan Cusack Steve Zahn Dan Molina |
| Director: | Mark Dindal |
| Music by: | John Debney |
| Distributor: | Walt Disney Pictures |
| Release Date: | November 4 2005 (USA) |
| Runtime: | 77 min. |
| Language: | English |
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Chicken Little (2005) is a computer-generated imagery (CGI) animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures and Buena Vista Distribution on November 4, 2005. It was written by Steve Bencich and Ron J. Firedman, and directed by Mark Dindal. The film was animated in-house at WDFA's main headquarters in Burbank, California.
This is Disney's first all-CG picture since ceasing production of traditionally animated movies. (Pixar's films were distributed but not animated by Disney, and Dinosaur was a combination of live action and CG.)
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. However, only less than 100 theaters across the US are equipped to show the movie in 3D. Many viewers were not even aware of the 3D version because many people assumed Disney Digital 3D refers to the 3D modelling of the CG characters, not the 3D presentation of the movie.
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Plot
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 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 laughingstock of the town.
A year later, Little's only friends are outcasts like himself: Abby Mallard (Joan Cusack), who is called "Ugly Duckling" due to her buck teeth; 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.
Chicken Little joins his school's Little League baseball team in an attempt to recover his reputation and his father's pride, and by batting a home run, it appears he's well on his way. But that night back at home, he is hit on the head by a strange hexagonal-shaped object which he recognizes as a piece of the sky. He summons his friends to help figure it out.
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 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 and attack only out of concern. Little realizes he must return the lost alien to save the town. At first he tries to do it covertly but once the aliens attack, he's forced to confront his overprotective father and regain his trust first. The plot of the movie is based on 3 alien films: E.T., Signs, and War of the Worlds. It is like E.T., because the scene when the lost alien child sees his parents fly off into space mirrors the scene in E.T. when E.T. is left behind by his family. The movie parodies Signs 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 razors to chop down the corn. A bird's eye view shows that the Aliens make signs just like the ones in the earlier movie. This has no tie-in to the plot. At the end, the invasion is similar to War of the Worlds, as aliens zap civilians with rays.
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 .... 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
Crew
- Director
- Mark Dindal
- Writing
- Robert L. Baird, Steve Bencich, Ron J. Friedman, Dan Gerson
- Producer
- Peter Del Vecho, Randy Fullmer
- Original Music
- John Debney, Billy Martin, Jeremy Sweet,
- Film Editing
- Dan Molina
- Casting
- Matthew Jon Beck, Jen Rudin
Impact
The contentious relationship between Disney and Pixar is viewed to depend heavily on how Chicken Little performs at the box office. If successful, the movie could give Disney leverage in its negotiations to renew a contract with Pixar to produce CG-animated films. A failure could allow Pixar to argue that Disney cannot produce CG films without aid from Pixar. The distribution deal between Disney and Pixar that permits Disney to distribute Pixar-made films will expire in 2006. Discussions to renew the deal in 2005 were held off until both sides could assess Chicken Little's performance at the box office.
Box office
In its opening weekend, Chicken Little debuted at number one with 40 million. That ties with The Lion King 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, with a drop of only 20 percent, that brought it's two week total to 80.4 million. 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, when it witnessed a series of flops, such as Treasure Planet and Atlantis:The Lost Empire.
Trailers
Chicken Little trailers are available here. There is also one trailer which is a parody of the Numa Numa available here
Trivia
- In the Italian version, Major Turkey Lurkey will be dubbed by Walter Veltroni, a famous political leader.
- Chicken Little will be featured as a summon character in Kingdom Hearts 2, which is quite baffling seeing as the movie was released a mere one month before the game's Japanese release date (December 22, 2005).
References
- Brown, Sandy (Nov. 5, 2005). "Disney, Pixar Playing Chicken". Mickey News.
- Holson, Laura M. (Oct. 30, 2005). "Much rides on 'Chicken' for Disney and Pixar". New York Times.
- Tyler, Joshua (Nov. 4, 2005). "Movie Review: Chicken Little". Monsters and Critics.
