Synopsis
One year after causing a destructive panic because he believed the sky was falling, Chicken Little is still living down the embarrassment, and is desperate for his father to be proud of him. Miraculous success at baseball seems mark the turnaround in his life, but then he is bonked on the head by another piece of the sky, and discovers that this fragment is in fact a tile from a flying saucer. Now he and his group of misfits must save the town from possible alien invasion, despite the fact t…at no one but them believes in the danger.
This certainly isn’t a bad film – the pace is quick, the jokes come fast (and a number of them are even funny), and some of the characters (notably a baby alien) are quite appealing. But compared to the likes of The Incredibles, the spark of genius is simply not there, and the enterprise, though decently entertaining for its running time, is also quite forgettable.
Audio
The big beneficiary of the 5.1 track is the score, which comes off very handsomely, thank you very much. It does, however, tend to dominate the surround aspects of the track to the exclusion of just about everything else. There ARE some sound effects that get the wraparound treatment, but they are not much more frequent than hen’s teeth. The dialogue never gets drowned out in all the mayhem and music, though, and there is never any buzz or other distortion.
Video
It’s a Disney computer-animated film. The picture had better be next to flawless. Fortunately, it is. There is no grain whatsoever, or edge enhancement for that matter. The colours are absolutely fabulous – strong, extremely bright and cheery, and blessed with excellent contrasts. Blacks are great, too, and the image is as sharp as one could possibly hope for. Fullscreen disappointment is avoided with a 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen ratio.
Special Features
No commentary track here. The closest you get to that is the introductions the creative team give to the two alternate openings and two deleted scenes. The making-of featurette is broken down into five parts (but still runs less than 20 minutes). Brief though it is, it is still more informative than many of its ilk. There are two music videos (“Shake Your Tail Feather” by the Cheetah Girls and “One Little Slip” by the Barenaked Ladies). “One Little Slip” also gets the sing-along and karaoke treatments. The “Where’s Fish?” game is a mixture of extremely basic trivia and a shell game that requires eyes faster than mine to catch. The menu is fully animated and scored.
Closing Thoughts
Decently entertaining, but a long way from the glory days of the Pixar films.
Special Features List
- Alternate Openings and Deleted Scenes with Introductions
- 2 Music Videos
- Karaoke and Sing-Along Options for “One Little Slip”
- Making-of Featurette
- “Where’s Fish” Trivia Game
