Chicken Little

• animation powers: taste like chicken

Just to throw this out there first off. I never read reviews before going to see movies. I like to go in a blank slate, without the opinions of movie critics rattling around in my head. That said I will check the ole rottentomatoes meter to see what the general consensus is: is it good or does it stink.

Could be a minor spoiler or two just so ya know.

Before going to see Chicken Little I was aware there was a lot of negativity towards the film. Some negativity may have been from the Pixar-Disney "do we need them or not" debate, while some could have stemmed from this movie being the first in a line of CG films that Disney put into production after deep sixing the 2D division. And don't rule out "hey its hip to hate Disney." Neverless I went into the film hoping for the best, but expecting the worst.

I was pleasantly surprised, the movie was really cute. The story wasn't perfect but worked rather well with the main theme being Chicken Little wanting...needing the approval and support of his father; wanting to make him proud. The film had quite a lot of humor that worked and quite a lot that didn't. Actually the humor that didn't work all seemed to suffer from the same problem....."let's try to be cool and hip"....and unfortunately those moments just didn't do it.

The characters were a lot of fun with Fish out of Water probably being my favorite; something endearing about a fish walking around with a scuba helmet full of water. In general I felt the animation was well done, however there were moments when the animation was too chaotic. The animation on Buck Cluck, CL's dad, was consistently great throughout the film. There is a sequence with Buck and Chicken Little driving home which is one really long shot.....Buck Cluck's animation was just.....wow.

My biggest complaints: the pop songs. Not the song montages, although it seems like two of them occur almost back to back. No no those didn't bother me half as much as sequences when characters sang Spice Girls and Queen. Those bits, which would have worked had they been 10 secs, go on for such a long time that I felt uncomfortable watching them; sounds weird but true. Other complaint was the ending felt a little rushed. As the situation with aliens gets resolved I thought to myself at one point "why were the space ships there to begin with.......ooooo acorns.....well o-k" If you see it you will understand.

Bottom line: I liked the movie. I really don't know where all the hate is coming from regarding Chicken Little. It's not a perfect movie, it has its flaws, but it was also pretty fun which is all I really want out of any movie.

And I must point out that our teaser trailer for The Ant Bully is playing before Chicken Little. Woot! So be on the look out for that!