Chicken Little (U)

CHICKEN Little was supposed to be the dawn of a new era for Disney. Having decided to scrap their old style two-dimensional animation this was the first entirely computer-generated three-dimensional animation from the grand old studio. They had previousl

CHICKEN Little was supposed to be the dawn of a new era for Disney.

Having decided to scrap their old style two-dimensional animation this was the first entirely computer-generated three-dimensional animation from the grand old studio. They had previously worked with and distributed movies from Pixar, such as the Toy Story films, but Chicken Little was an entirely in-house Disney product.

It looks pretty good and technically Chicken Little is well up to scratch - the trouble is with all that technology to concentrate on they've forgotten to get a good story.

It is loosely based on the old fable of the chicken who spreads panic when he claims the sky is falling down and eventually morphs into a kind of War of the Worlds for kids but the tone is not right.

It's set in a small town America where all the inhabitants are anthropomorphised animals.

Chicken Little is a runty outsider at school who hangs out with other outsiders - the Ugly Duckling and the like. Chicken Little becomes an outcast and the butt of ridicule after the first sky falling down incident and nobody believes him when the aliens arrive so it's down to him and his friends to save everybody.

There are plenty of decent voice actors involved, with Zach Braff as Chicken Little and the likes of Joan Cusack chipping in, but the characters are weak.

Compared to the likes of Shrek or The Incredibles, Chicken Little is a big let down.