REVIEW : “Chicken Little”

(Chicago Tribune) – Feathers fly in Disney's "Chicken Little," a new spin on an old fable with a big promo-tional budget and high expectations. It's Disney's first 3-D animation production without Pixar, and Pixar's possible departure from the Disney family next year means the Mouse House has a lot riding on "Chicken Little." With this one film, Disney hopes to establish itself at the top of the animation pecking order and perhaps prove it doesn't need Pixar after all. That's a lot of pressure on one little clucker. The results are mixed, though there are signs of promise.

When Chicken Little (voiced spot-on by "Scrubs" star Zach Braff) is conked on the noggin by an octagonal "piece of the sky," no one believes him, including his dad (voiced by Garry Marshall). His bell-ringing warning sends the town into a panicked frenzy and he's made a laughingstock. As it turns out, that piece of the sky may be the harbinger of an alien invasion--which, again, no one believes. So, it's up to Chicken Little and his friends Abby Mallard (Joan Cusack), Runt (Steve Zahn) and Fish (gurgled by Dan Molina) to save the Earth. Director Mark Dindal ("The Emperor's New Groove") stretches the form, using all manner of camera acrobatics to expand the notion of what 3-D animation can do. He borrows a few live-action tricks (notably the 360-degree "bullet time" visual style of "The Matrix") and bends perspective to show Chicken Little scrambling through town after missing the school bus. Lightning-quick zooms also accom-pany more detail and close-ups (watch as Chicken Little sings Queen's "We Are the Champions" into a shiny spoon). For all the whiz-bang visuals, however, "Little" could use a little consistency in tone. The comic-relief character – an obese, whiny piglet obsessed with Barbra Streisand – just isn't that funny. (Fish, in a role without dialogue, steals the show with a King Kong pantomime, complete with a paper re-production of the Empire State Building.) Dindal's animated cast has plenty of kiddie appeal, and the movie's pacing is on par with hummingbird-quick editing of Saturday morning cartoons. Older adults might be put off by the whiplash eye-candy, but a few vintage songs (the Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive" and Carole King's "It's Too Late") are cast out to reel them back in. But in trying to be all things to all popcorn-buyers, "Chicken Little" comes off as a manic scramble to please everyone. The odd bodily function joke gets thrown in to cover all the bases. There are other signs of strain, too, notably the saturation of music cues. When characters don't have anything to say, in comes the music montage. At one point, Dindal gives us two of them back to back, as Chicken Little feels dejected (to the tune of Five For Fighting's "All I Know"), then goes through baseball training (Patti LaBelle's "Stir It Up"). To top it off, the filmmakers stop a full-on alien attack so Chicken Little and his dad can have a heart-to-heart that goes on way, way too long.

Pixar reigns supreme because its formula strikes a balance between visual wizardry and characters who inspire a strong emotional tug. Like Motown at its height, Pixar's process and talent pool have turned it into a hit factory that's unrivaled. With "Chicken Little," it's still unrivaled. Disney proves that, yes, it can compete and merchandise the heck out of its properties. But Pixar-quality, it is not. Though entertaining and occasionally innovative, "Chicken Little" and its future siblings might take a tumble or two out of the nest before they can fly as high.