Chicken Little

Last week I caught Disney’s Chicken Little at the Downtown Disney AMC 12 of all places. For those who’ve been hiding under a rock, this is Disney’s first independent foray into 3D animation. Previous Disney 3D efforts like Finding Nemo and Toy Story were essentially Pixar creations distributed by Disney. However, the Disney-Pixar relationship has been rocky lately with Pixar threatening to go its own way after its next release. Chicken Little is Disney’s effort to stay relevant after a long string of 2D flops. (Treasure Planet anyone?)

Did it work? Let’s put it this way: for the first time I can remember I had to fight to keep from falling asleep in a movie. My wife did fall asleep. Chicken Little is really that bad. And it’s not just boring. It’s not just derivative. It’s occasionally outright disgusting, and not in a good way. One of the real strengths of Disney and animation in general has always been cute, memorable, cartoon animals. In fact, as a walk around Disneyland will prove, the characters are often more valuable than the movie itself. (When’s the last time you saw Mickey Mouse in a movie?) But not this time. These characters are outright gross.

The ugly ducking character is genuinely ugly and cringe-inducing. Bill the Cat has more charm than she does. Foxy Loxy is merely annoying. Runt of the Litter (the pig) is not just pleasantly plump. He’s morbidly, grossly obese. The main character, Chicken Little, is at best inoffensive. Perhaps I just have my mind in the gutter; but the head of Chicken Little’s father reminds me of nothing so much as one large testicle. (Not that this is necessarily a bad thing: Joe Camel proves that children just adore characters designed in the shape of male genitalia.) Only Kirby and Fish Out Of Water seem like genuinely cute funny animals.

Disney is really in trouble. The problem at Disney has nothing to do with 2D vs. 3D and everything to do with corporate designed plots and characters meant to sell toys rather than tell a story. Unless Disney figures this out, their animation division is doomed. Until then the best they can do is license good movies from 3D companies like Pixar and 2D animators like Hayao Miyazaki.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 18th, 2005 at 4:52 AM and is filed under Movies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the Atom feed. You can make a comment, Digg this story, or trackback from your own site.