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When the town's animals realize that Chicken actually mistook an acorn for a piece of the sky, they ridiculed him for the absurd declaration. Even a year later, Chicken has a lot to prove. And his reject friends, an ugly duck, a sissy fat pig and a fish who lives outside of water, certainly don't help his reputation.
Chicken joins the baseball team in hopes of regaining his dignity. As soon as he finally gets the respect he deserves, another piece of the sky falls through his bedroom window.
Introduced with slapstick humor, these corny characters set the scene for a promisingly hilarious plot.
Unfortunately, when we find out that the sky really is falling and aliens start to invade, the screenplay writers drop the ball.
Aliens and barnyard animals just don't seem to fit on the same screen. A slapped-together attempt at a plot spoils the efforts of the first half-hour.
So now, here we are in the second half, back to the generally weird.
Weird No. 1: The "big voice" that narrates in the original Disney fashion, sounds amazingly similar to that of Joe Paterno.
Weird No. 2: The invading aliens resemble cat hairballs with eyes. You'd think, with screenplay input from Monsters Inc. writers Robert Baird and Dan Gerson, Chicken Little would have the whole believable alien thing down.
The quick shifting animations, colorful scenes and screeching voices make for a lousy 3D Walt Disney World ride, but the general insanity keeps your attention, and many essential aspects of the plot are tactically left for the very end.
On the other hand, the moral commentary and life lessons -- a must for Disney-- come too blatantly, which is disappointing considering Disney usually concocts these messages cleverly.
Chicken's father, Buck Cluck, doesn't have faith in his son and sustains Chicken as an embarrassment to the town.
When Cluck witnesses the hairball aliens, he finally steps in to support his son. The writers' attempt to expand Cluck into a humorous character is forced.
3D animation, the new trend in animation art, may be on its way up. But Disney Enterprises, the leader in creative family entertainment, is falling short of tradition in attempts to catch up.
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