This is yet another of those recently-made animated films that is outstanding. They ("Polar Express," "Robots," "Cars," "Madagascar," "Barnyard," "Ice Age," etc.) all seem to have the following positive characteristics that I found in this movie:

1 - Fabulous colors; 2 - Great artwork; 3 - likable, humorous characters who care about; 4 - excellent jokes, both visually and audibly, many that make adults laugh; 5 - excellent surround sound that is entertaining in itself; and 6 - a nice story without a lot of sexual innuendos and other questionable (for kids) material. Like the old "Leave It To Beaver" TV show, these animated films also end with a positive message for kids and adults.

In fact, I would say that I - as an older adult - have seen more good animated feature films in the past two years than the previous 50 years put together.

The main character in this movie, "Chicken Little" (voiced by Zach Braff) has to be one of the cutest little animated figures I've ever seen. I smiled almost every time they had a closeup of his face with those green glasses.

The colors in this film are very bold and bright, sometimes making my jaw drop. Also, here's another example of a animated movie where there are so many things to see - meaning clever, funny things in the background - you can't possibly catch them all. An added highlight is that this story plays homage, or pokes fun at, previous science-fiction films. How many tongue-in-cheek references can you find to sci-fi movies?

The only complaint I have, and it's minor, is that they could have used a lull or two in the last 30 minutes of this. It's almost too much action but at an overall running time of less than 80 minutes (I'm not including the ending credits),the time is manageable.

Overall, this is another winner. Good stuff!

This was a very, very poor children's movie--mostly because few adults out there would enjoy this movie and because the script was so disjoint and busy that many younger children would be confused by the antics of the adorable character and his friends. It simply lacked focus and didn't have any plot until 2/3 of the movie was complete! Additionally, I have never seen a kids movie so blatantly padded through the gratuitous use of music videos and an intolerably loud soundtrack. It was as if the folks at MTV produced this Disney film, as in one case the film went from a loud sound montage (like a music video) directly to a different and karaoke-style song from the characters. Even worse, one of the characters (Runt) often spoke dialog that were the words to old popular tunes. Gimme a break--the kids certainly wouldn't like this and I sure thought this helped to bring the movie to a grinding halt.

So why if the script and the music were a mess (and BOY were they bad),then why did the movie earn even a 4? Well, the animation was really nice--even compared to a Pixar film. Plus, the title character (as well as the orange alien baby and the fish) were so gosh-darn cute. However, since they were so cute and the characters so quickly faded into obscurity (along with plans to market CHICKEN LITTLE merchandise),then it's obvious that the public in general didn't particularly embrace the movie either--probably because there were so many CG movies out there now that were better.

All in all, a very jaded attempt to create excitement over a film without bothering to write a coherent script. A nice idea, indifferently executed and sunk by scripting and padding problems. This one is strictly for undemanding audiences.

Now I really wanted to like this film. I adore Disney, but along with Home on the Range and The Wild for various reasons it is my least favourite Disney film. Home on the Range was forgettable save some good moments and The Wild while colourful had some derivative elements, but Chicken Little I feel suffered because it tried too hard. Granted, it is visually and technically accomplished, more in the backgrounds and colours than in the character designs. The animation is bright and colourful, though some of the character designs are rather forced at times. The film moves briskly, and it also does have a good idea and some above-decent voice work. However, because it tries so hard, elements get lost in the process. The film does have an uneven tone, and the storyline while trying to fit a lot in such as some references to pop culture and is unfocused unfortunately. Speaking of the pop culture references, sorry I think they are going to date, and the script was often very weak and the ending clichéd. Then there are the characters, I liked Mayor Turkey Lurkey and the title character was spirited enough, but others such as Abby Mallard verged on annoying or flimsy. I wasn't taken with the soundtrack overall either, it did have its nice spots but there are others where you are wondering what on earth? Some of it was very loud to the point it was almost intolerable. So all in all, it is spirited and tries hard, but on the whole sorry it didn't work for me. 4/10 Bethany Cox