Chicken Little is the fourth and final film that I watched for the first time for this Animated Film Profile series. Even though the story left much to be desired, I was pretty excited about the cast, mostly that Don Knotts voiced Mayor Turkey Lurkey.
Premiered on: October 30, 2005 at the El Capitan Theatre, Hollywood
Directed by: Mark Dindal
Produced by: Randy Fullmer
Based on: Chicken Little fable
Sequels: none
Cast:
Zach Braff – Chicken Little
Garry Marshall – Buck “Ace” Cluck
Joan Cusack – Abby Mallard
Dan Molina – Fish out of Water
Steve Zahn – Runt of the Litter
Amy Sedaris – Foxy Loxy
Mark Walton – Goosey Loosey
Don Knotts – Turkey Lurkey
Mark Dindal – Morkubine Porcupine
Fred Willard – Melvin
Catherine O’Hara – Tina
Wallace Shawn – Principal Fetchit
Patrick Stewart – Mr. Woolensworth
Patrick Warburton – Cop
Sean Elmore, Evan Dunn, Matthew Josten – Kirby
Supervising Animators:
Mark Anthony Austin
Doug Bennett
Nik Ranieri
Jason Ryan
Tony Smeed
Dick Zondag
Music by: John Debney
Songs:
“Stir it Up”
“One Little Slip”
“Shake a Tail Feather”
“All I Know”
“Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”
“It’s the End of the World as We Know It”
“We are the Champions”
“Wannabe”
“Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”
Academy Awards: none
The Story:
Chicken Little begins with a narrator saying “Once upon a time…” There are sparkling lights floating around but the scene suddenly goes black and the narrator asks the audience how many times they have heard that before. He thinks they should do something else and the opening of The Lion King plays with “Circle of Life.” That scene quickly stops and the narrator suggests a storybook opening instead but that ends as well. Then the narrator says to begin back at the day that things took a turn for the worst.
Chicken Little is ringing the town bell and is telling everyone to run for the lives. The entire town goes into a mass panic. Fire alarms are going off. The water tower explodes and the water sphere rolls through Oaky Oats, destroying everything. In a movie theatre, Raiders of the Lost Ark is playing and the water sphere bursts through the screen at the same time the boulder is chasing Indy. The water sphere then destroys Mayor Turkey Lurkey’s statue.
A fireman finally asks Chicken Little what the warning is all about and the chicken answers that the sky is falling. Everyone thinks he is crazy but Chicken Little tells everyone to come with him and he will show them. They go to an old oak tree and Chicken Little looks for the piece of sky but can’t find it. He says that it was shaped like a stop sign and was blue and hit him on the head. Suddenly an acorn falls and also hits him on the head. His father, Buck, asks if that was what hit him and Chicken Little insists that it was definitely a piece of the sky. But his dad does not believe him and tells everyone that it is okay; it was only an acorn and he holds it up for everyone to see.
There are news reporters shoving microphones at Chicken Little and asking him how he could have mistaken an acorn for a stop sign. He can’t response and just starts to speak gibberish. Mayor Turkey Lurkey is very angry at Buck for his kid having scared everyone. The rest of the town leaves and Chicken Little again tries to convince his dad that it was a piece of sky.
The next scene shows a promotional poster of Crazy Little Chicken The Movie. Chicken Little is shown on the poster being hit on the head with an acorn. A “one year later” caption is shown and Buck and Chicken Little are driving by the poster. Buck can’t believe that they are making a movie. He just wants everyone to forget about the big mistake and he lists everything that has happened since then such as the books, games, websites, and bumper stickers that were made about the incident. Chicken Little says that it does not matter because he has a plan. Buck thinks that they should just lay low instead, like a game of hide and seek, but with the goal of never being found.
Buck drops Chicken Little off at the bus stop and tells him to keep low. A child walks by and tells his mom that it is the crazy little chicken. The mom says not to make eye contact and they quickly leave. Chicken Little says to himself that it is a new day and he is determined to start over. He tries to get on the school bus but is trampled but the rest of the kids and the bus takes off without him. Chicken Little chases the bus and the kids throw acorns out the window at him. The song “One Little Slip” plays. The title card is shown.
Chicken Little is still trying to catch up but he keeps running into people. He has one misstep after another such as stepping in gum and getting stuck in the middle of the street when the light turns green.
He is finally able to make it to school, but has to sneak in because he lost his pants. He flies up through a window with a soda rocket. Chicken Little makes it to his top locker and folds some homework into a pair of pants. But then he gets locked in his locker and must use a coat hanger slipped through the vent to turn the lock combination.
In Mutton Class, Mr. Wollensworth is taking attendance. He gets to Chicken Little but the chicken is not there.
In gym, they students play dodgeball and the coach teams them up ‘popular’ verses ‘unpopular.’ Runt of the Litter wants to review the safety guidelines but the coach just says to hit the pig. Runt is very scared. Chicken Little suddenly appears and Abby Mallard asks if he has had a tough morning. Chicken Little says that he ran into his old nemesis, gum on the sidewalk. The two friends then talk about the movie coming out and Chicken Little wants to tell Abby his plan. At the same time, the two friends make a great dodgeball team. Chicken Little says that it was just one moment that ruined his entire life so he just needs a chance to do one great thing to make everyone forget. And then his dad will finally have a reason to be proud. The dodgeball game comes to a timeout and Chicken Little asks Abby what she thinks. Abby thinks that he needs to stop messing around and deal with the real problem which is to talk to his dad and get closure on the problem. She tells him that there is a whole section in her Monthly Mallard magazine. She pulls out many different magazines with advice. Fish out of Water rips out pages and makes the Empire State Building out of the folded pages. But Chicken Little still wants to do something great and Abby points out all of the good qualities he already has such as being cute. The two friends are very awkward at that. She then tries to get Runt and Fish on her side but Runt disagrees and Fish is too busy pretending to be King Kong on his Empire State Building.
Foxy Loxy then hits Abby with a ball and Chicken Little stands up for her because they are in time out but Foxy and Goosey Loosey attack them. The kids all laugh. Chicken Little is thrown against the gym window and he slides down and pulls the fire alarm in the process. The sprinklers go off which causes mass panic.
In the principal’s office, Principal Fetchit is yelling at Buck but then he sighs and remembers how Buck used to be their school’s baseball star. Chicken Little is outside the office and looks over at a display of old newspaper articles and trophies that belonged to his dad. Chicken Little gets an idea. He hears the principal say that Buck’s kid is nothing like him at all and now Buck sighs. He says that he will take care of his son. They leave and Chicken Little tries to explain what happened to Buck but Buck just sighs again and tells his son that he doesn’t have to explain anything.
On the drive home, Chicken again tries to talk to his dad and then awkwardly says that he wants to join the baseball team. Buck almost crashes the car at that. He tells his son that they have already talked about this. Chicken Little argues that that was when he was small but he has gained 5 ounces that year and has really bulked up. Buck suggests doing chess or glee club or stamp collecting instead but Chicken Little still wants to play baseball. He says that he can’t wait to see the look on Buck’s face when he smacks the ball to a touchdown. Buck sighs and Chicken Little says that he was kidding, that was a joke. Buck asks for one favour, just to try not to get his hopes too high. Chicken Little reluctantly agrees.
They arrive home and the song “All I Know” plays as they go inside. They are both very quiet. Buck looks sadly at a picture of Chicken Little’s mom and comments that if only she was here, she would know what to do. Chicken Little climbs onto the roof. He hears laughter and looks over at their neighbours. A dad and son are playing together. He then looks at a large star and wishes for just one chance.
Chicken Little signs up for the Acorns baseball team. The coach is handing out baseball mitts and gives Chicken Little a knitted mitten. The song “Stir it Up” plays as the first game starts. Chicken Little waves from the bench at Fish, Runt, and Abby.
The team completely ignores him every game and his friends try to help him become a better player. Foxy Loxy is shown to be the best player.
It is the big game and that announcer says that it has been two decades since the Acorns have won the Pennant game. They are down only by one run but there are several players out with injuries so Chicken Little is up next. The crowd groans and the mayor weeps hopelessly. The coach tells Chicken Little not to swing and to just walk. Chicken Little can barely hold up his bat and so the other team pays no attention at all to him. Chicken Little promises to himself that he won’t embarrass his dad.
At the first pitch, Chicken Little swings and misses. Strike One. He strikes a second time and everyone is telling at him not to swing. But he swings for a third time and hits the ball. The crowd is very surprised and even Chicken Little is too surprised to run right away. He does start running, but in the wrong direction. His dad yells at him to go the other way. The other team was not ready and they can’t get to the ball in time. Chicken Little goes for a home run but it looks like he doesn’t quite make it. The umpire then brushes off the large amount of dirt on home plate and declares him safe. The crowd cheers and the team celebrates Chicken Little.
At home that night, Chicken Little is singing “I am the Champion” and then Buck and Chicken Little act out the game and celebrate some more. Buck is very happy that they can finally put the whole ‘sky is falling’ incident behind them once and for all. But Chicken Little thinks they still need some closure. Buck doesn’t agree and so Chicken Little doesn’t push it. Buck leaves the room and Chicken Little thanks the star he wished on for the chance. The star then grows bigger and bigger, and brighter and brighter until something comes flying down and hits Chicken Little on the head, knocking him out.
Chicken Little come to and realizes a piece of sky is in his room! It is shaped like a stop sign and he starts screaming. Buck comes running upstairs and so Chicken Little quickly hides it. He just tells his dad that he fell out of bed. Buck leaves again and Chicken Little looks for the piece of sky but it now looks like his floor. He picks it up and leans it against the wall. The piece then looks like the wall. He holds it up to the window and it looks like the sky again. Chicken Little starts to freak out and goes to call Abby.
His friends are all doing karaoke and singing “Wannabe” at Abby’s house. The phone rings and Abby freaks out at what Chicken Little has to say.
At Chicken Little’s house, he shows his friends the piece of sky and they think it is absolutely bizarre. Abby is upset that he hasn’t told his dad yet. Chicken Little just wants the piece of sky out of his life forever. Fish turns on a switch on the underside of the piece and it begins to flow and hover. Fish rides on it and it flies up and out of the window towards the hole in the sky. The piece goes back in play with Fish on the inside, only with his glow stick hanging out of it.
The friends all panic and run downstairs. Buck asks what is going on and Abby pushes that Chicken Little has something to say and tries to get him to talk to his dad. Chicken Little just says that he has to go and they run out. The run after the glow stick and get to the baseball stadium. The glow stick stops and then starts to spin. It causes a tornado with the friends in the middle. A light beams down and Runt runs away screaming. Chicken Little follows but then realizes that Abby is in a trance and looking up at the light. He grabs her and runs away.
A spaceship lands and two aliens come out and walk right by the friends who are hiding. They see Fish up in the cockpit.
Inside the spaceship, the friends are sneaking around and looking for Fish. They find some weird looking stuff including an orange, fuzzy alien. Runt is freaking out and so sings “Stayin’ Alive” to try to calm down. They find Fish and then find a map of the solar system. All of the planets have been crossed out but there is a big, red circle around Earth. Chicken Little whispers that they are next and then they all start running and screaming. Abby says that they need to go back to Chicken Little’s house to tell his dad and he agrees. The orange, fuzzy alien follows.
The two aliens come back and notice that the orange, fuzzy alien is gone. They start to freak out. They find Chicken Little and his friends and they chase them through the spaceship. Runt gets stuck in the entrance but is finally able to get out. They leave the baseball stadium and the aliens chase them through a cornfield. The aliens’ tentacles turn into blades and they take out all of the stocks. The friends get close to the school and Abby gets an idea to ring the bell to warn everyone.
The school is locked so Chicken Little uses a soda rocket again and shoots to the top of the bell tower. He is about to ring the bell, but then remembers the ‘sky is falling’ incident. His friends are yelling at him to ring the bell as an alien grabs Abby. Chicken Little rings the bell and the aliens run away, hating the sound. The town wakes up and everyone panics at the alarm bell. They head to the school.
Chicken Little tells the town to hurry and to follow him because there are aliens there. Buck can’t believe it is happening again. Chicken Little heads to the baseball field but by the time everyone gets there, the spaceship has turned invisible. Everyone thinks that Chicken Little is crazy for trying to convince them that there is an invisible spaceship there and his friends try to back him up. The town folks are all yelling at Buck for having such a crazy kid. Chicken Little then says that Buck has to believe him but Buck says he doesn’t. He turns back to the crowd and apologizes.
Back in the cornfield, the orange, fuzzy alien realizes that the spaceship is leaving without him and he tries to catch up but cannot. Chicken Little sadly walks through the field and the alien spots him and follows.
The aliens in the spaceship are trying to get out an emergency signal for help to be sent.
The next day at Chicken Little’s home, the incident from the previous night is on the news. Their phone is ringing off the hook and Buck is getting lots of hate mail. Buck is trying to calm everyone. Chicken Little is sadly sitting outside on a stump. His friends appear and Abby still tries to get him to talk to his dad. They leave but then the orange alien appears. Chicken Little and the alien both start screaming at each other and his friends come running back. Fish talks to it and he learns his name is Kirby and that he was left behind. Kirby starts to cry and Chicken Little promises that they will do whatever it takes to get him back home.
A storm starts and the sky cracks opened. Many spaceships descend to Oakey Oats and there is mass panic. Kirby is excited because it is his parents who have brought the galactic armada. He takes off and Chicken Little tries to follow but his dad grabs his arm. He tries to convince Buck that it is not an invasion, but a rescue mission and they need to help out. Chicken Little doesn’t think that his dad will believe him so he takes off. His friends follow.
The song “It’s the End of the World as We Know It” plays as the aliens are all looking for Kirby. Chicken Little catches up to Kirby and then they go crashing into the movie theatre. Buck finds them and tries to pull Chicken Little out but he doesn’t see Kirby. Abby comes and freaks out that they need to solve this big problem. Chicken Little just starts blurting everything out about how Buck was not there for him and that they need to talk about the ‘sky is falling’ incident. Buck admits he is right and says that he loves Chicken Little no matter what and apologizes. They hug. Chicken Little shows his dad Kirby and says that all they need to do is return him to his parents. Chicken Little then tells Abby that he has always found her extremely attractive and kisses her.
They also find Runt and Fish. Abby is very giggly and Runt thinks that the aliens have given her a mind wipe! Chicken Little is going to hand over Kirby but then he sees the aliens blast the mayor into oblivion. They then try to blast Chicken Little and Buck. They run. Kirby points to his parents’ ship which is hovering above town hall. The new plan is to climb on top of town hall and hand Kirby back to his parents. They run and try not to get blasted. They almost make it but then are surrounded by aliens. They then take off in a fire truck for plan C. Runt is driving and singing “I will Survive.”
They make it back to town hall and run up the stairs. At the top, Chicken Little and Kirby go through the small window. Buck thinks it is too dangerous but Chicken Little convinces him to believe in him. He climbs up to the very top and holds up Kirby. The other aliens start to climb up town hall and Buck makes it up to the top as well. He fends off the aliens.
All three are zapped up to the ship where other members of the town who had been blasted into oblivion are. Kirby’s parents are very angry that Chicken Little took their child and they demand that they release him. They do and Kirby runs to his mom. But they still say that Chicken Little violated the rule 90210. Kirby convinces Melvin the dad that they are telling the truth and it was just a misunderstanding. Then the lights are turned on and the aliens are fuzzy like Kirby and not scary at all.
They are then zapped back to Earth and the aliens apologize. They explain that they were picking acorns and they show them the map of the solar system with the red circle around Earth. They explain that it is the only planet to get acorns. The aliens need to get going. Melvin says that when kids need you, you do whatever it takes. Then the stop sign-shaped panel of the spaceship falls off and everyone realizes that Chicken Little had been telling the truth about the sky falling the entire time. The aliens take off.
Buck comments that he would like to see the movie that would be made about Chicken Little now.
One year later and the movie Chicken Little The True Story comes out. It is a very sci-fi feature. An epic battle is shown to the song “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.” Everyone watching in the theatre is very drawn into the film and Abby and Chicken Little hold hands. At the ends of the movie, everyone cheers for Chicken Little and Buck holds him up on his shoulders.
The end credits play as the characters dance and sing to “Don’t go Breaking my Heart” and “Shake a Tail Feather.”
Trivia:
- The movement of the animated characters was based on the Goofy cartoon shorts from the 1940s and 1950s.
- Chicken Little was dedicated to Joe Grant, who started working for the Disney Studios in the early 1930s.
- The Acorns baseball team consists of: Foxy Loxy, Goosey Loosey, Morkubine Porcupine, Gordy Groundhog, Goaty Loaty, Doggy Loggy, Mousey Wousey, Catty Watty, Drakey Lakey, Bunny Wunny, and Chicken Little.
- Melvin has a Mickey Mouse watch.
- This was the first Disney animated film to be released in 3D.
- This was also the first Disney animated film to be completely CGI-made.
- Chicken Little was only released on VHS for Disney Movie Club members.
Representation in the Disney Parks:
There is currently no representation of Chicken Little in the Disney Parks.
Check out the other films of Disney’s Post-Renaissance Era:
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