Due to the failings of 1985’s The Black Cauldron, the way the animation studios were run had changed dramatically. With this shift over the studios entered the renaissance period, a series of films that were just hit after hit.. By the time of the new millennium this wave of blockbusters had started to dry up. From the heights of the early 1990s, the films now being produced just a decade later began to slip. Pixar had taken over the reigns as the leading animation studios with successful films such as Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo and The Incredibles. Rival Dreamworks had released Shrek and then Madagascar, plus the Ice Age films had taken off from the get go, these all left Disney Animation behind.
3D animation was becoming cheaper to produce films in and many took Pixar as an example. From the release of Toy Story in 1995, 3D computer generated animation seemed new and fresh, leaving traditionally 2D drawn characters behind. The Lion King had been the height of the 1990s renaissance but these other companies were closing in. Shrek 2 took over the top spot in highest grossing animated film and Disney could do nothing but watch it happen. Their focus had shifted towards live action films and the distribution of Pixar. Disney was still a contender on the Cinematic front. Pirates of the Caribbean and it’s sequels were fast becoming some of the most popular films of the decade.
If Disney were to return as serious contenders to animation then they needed to up their game, Home on the Range, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Treasure Planet and Brother Bear are almost forgotten now whereas all of their rival’s films from this time are still considered highlights of the era today. The obvious difference between Disney and their contenders was the animation technique used. So with their 45th Animated Classic, Chicken Little, they finally shifted from the hybrid of 2D and computer generated animation to full on Computer animation. What would come out of it became the highest grossing Disney Animated classic since the Lion King and would be the kick start to the new era of Disney Classics, Paving the way for Frozen, Wreck it Ralph and Moana.
The Plot
Chicken Little actually dates back nearly 25 centuries and is one of the best known folk tales that has survived through the ages. It is also known as Henny Penny but is better known in the United States as Chicken Little. Disney altered the story to fit their own way of telling the story just as they did in the past.
Chicken Little is hit on the head by a hexagonal shape which he believes is to be a part of the sky. In his panic, he runs to the school and begins to ring the bell. Shouting the ‘Sky is falling’ he sends the town into a mass panic. Unfortunately for him, he cannot find the piece of sky and the townsfolk shun him and cast him as a liar. From that point on, the relationship between him and his father is strained.
A year later, in a bid to make his father proud, Chicken Little joins the baseball team. Due to his size and possibly the option of him as a liar, he is kept on the bench until the final game, where 9 innings in he is called up.
His attempt at hitting the ball actually wins his team the game and he is branded a sporting hero for the town. It is then that his relationship with his father improves dramatically.
The excitement is short lived when another piece of the sky falls on him.Weirdly the hexagonal shape returns to the sky with a sort of camouflage ability. It is then revealed in front of Chicken Little and his friends that it is actually a spaceship.
Predicting an invasion, Chicken Little runs to the school and once again rings the bells. This time he cries out that there are aliens invading. The aliens manage to get away before the crowds can see them but this only makes Chicken Little look like a liar once more. His respect as a sporting hero is soon diminished and his relationship with his father wavers.
It is revealed that a small orange alien has been left behind when the spaceships were there, just a few minutes after they return. The invasion begins and the town is seemingly destroyed. Chicken Little realises that he must return the orange alien to stop the vapourising of the town, but first he wants to earn back the trust of his father.
Between them, they try their best to return the alien but are vaporised along with everyone else.
Or so they think…
It turns out that the vaporiser is actually a teleport, beaming people up to the spaceship. The aliens explain that they were actually looking for their lost son and that the invasion was a complete misunderstanding. The town is returned to normal but the aliens recognise a loose part of their ship, namely the piece of sky that fell on Chicken Little.
Everyone is grateful of the small Chicken’s efforts to save the town.
Before the Film
The 2005 film wasn’t the only time that Disney had re-imagined the folk tale onto the big screen. During the Second World War, a short named ‘Chicken Little’ was released. It was quite simply an Anti-Nazi film showcasing mass hysteria. In the original short, Foxy-Loxy reads a book that advises him to strike the least intelligent first. He does so by telling Chicken Little that the sky is falling. This creates Hysteria within the farm and the fox is able to attack. It is basically a story that says Fear-mongering damages the War effort and can cost lives. It is little wonder that the film was produced on the US Government’s request.
The short was archived but released on a 2004 Disney Treasures DVD. It is on the Audio commentary that it states the book’s name was changed from Hitler’s Mein Kampf to Psychology so it doesn’t appear dated after the war. This Chicken Little makes an appearance in 1988’s Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
The idea for the film actually started in 2001, although this version of the film by Director Mark Dindal, had the title character as a girl. She would head to summer camp to build on her confidence but whilst they uncover a dastardly plot. Her Councillor was planning to take over the town and it was up to Chicken Little to save the day. The Camp Councillor was to be voiced by Penn Jillette, the talking half of hilarious magic duo, Penn and Teller. When this was pitched to Michael Eisner, he suggested that Chicken Little should be a boy. The reason for this: When you are a short boy you get picked on more.
The story was re-written after David Stainton became president of Walt Disney Feature Animation. The extent of the re-writes took a long time and over 25 scenes were created and thrown away during the course. At the request of Stainton, the now male Chicken Little would fight aliens in the story we know from the film.
Disney selected 50% of their new 3D animation team from the existing 2D animation team. They were then put through an 18 month vigorous training program on how to use and animate with the software. Most had worked on Dinosaur, a semi animated film that used CGI Dinosaurs on a filmed background. For Chicken little, Director Mark Dindal wanted to recreate the ‘rounded look of the animation style of the 1940s and 1950s. Inspiration was taken from a 1942 Goofy cartoon, How to Play Baseball, for the fluidity of motion.
The Cast
The Voice of chicken little was originally Holly Hunter when the character was female. Although not a known voice to work for Disney at the time, she would go on to become Elastagirl in Pixar’s The Incredibles. Her association with superheroes would continue when she played Senator Finch in Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. When Zach Braff took over as the male version, it was claimed that he had the high school energy the character needed. Braff’s most famous role at this time was JD in Scrubs. He had recently appeared in 2002’s ‘It’s a very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie’ alongside Scrubs co-stars Chicken Little is his most known Disney Role although he did star as Finley in Oz, The Great and Powerful in 2013. He went of to voice Chicken Little in various video Games.
Sean Hayes, who most will know as Jack from Will and Grace, was the first name linked to the voice for ‘Ugly Duckling’ when Variety announced his casting in 2002. The character was changed to female, becoming Aby Mallard. Many people were considered and each would have brought with them a different element to the character. Sarah Jessica Parker would have made a sweet duck but her link with Spx in the City may not have been a wise choice at the time. Jamie Lee Curtis, mostly known for the Halloween films, Silence of the Lambs star, Jodie Foster, Geena Davis, Beetlejuice, and controversial singer Madonna were all considered for the role before it was given to Joan Cusack.
Cusack is no stranger to children’s films. She is most recognised as Jessy in Toy Story 2, 3 and 4. She has also appeared in Looney Tunes: Back in Action. Disney fans will also recognise her from Mars Needs Moms and It’s a Very Merry, Muppet Christmas Movie.
Patrick Stewart took on the role of Mr Woolensworth. Stewart has had a huge career in various different medium. On Television, he had been Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation. He had also appeared as various voices on Family Guy before he became Bullock on sister show, American Dad. In films, he had starred in multiple Star Trek films up to the point of appearing in Chicken Little. He was also Charles Xavier in the Xmen franchise. His involvement with Disney has been slim since Chicken Little.
If having an X-men star in the film wasn’t enough, the production team also recruited Adam West as Ace. West will always be known as Batman but he has appeared in multiple things since then. His voice work increased until his death, starring in The Fairy Odd Parents, Family guy, Johnny Bravo, and Scooby doo cartoon movies. He worked for Disney again in Meet the Robinsons. West dies on 9th June 2017.
Patrick Warburton returned to Disney to play and Alien cop, his previous work for the company included Home on the Range, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, Kim Possible, and most famously as Kronk in The Emperor's New Groove along with its sequel. He would continue to voice various characters (In The Wild and Underdog) but will be best known to adults as Joe in Family Guy.
Catherine O’Hara featured as Tina. Fans would recognise her in many cult films, most noticeably Home Alone, Beetlejuice and Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events.
Wallace Shawn is a noted voice actor, with roles in many of film and television’s most noted hits. For Disney fans he will be best known for Rex in the Toy Story Franchise, but he has also starred in The Incredibles, The Haunted Mansion, A Goofy Movie and My Favourite Martian. Elsewhere, fans will know him from Family Guy, Gossip Girl, Desperate Housewives, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and The Pink Panther Show. He has also appeared in Clueless, Teacher’s Pet, Sx and the City, Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness, Phineas and Ferb, Young Sheldon, The Simpsons, and had a cameo in Monsters Inc as Rex.
The Disney Director
Mark Dindal had a long history with Disney animation at the time of Chicken Little’s release. Born in 1960, he cites that he was first influenced by the animation studio when his grandmother took him to see The Sword in the Stone when he was three. In 1980 he began to work for Disney, his work includes animation on The Fox and the Hound, Mickey’s A Christmas Carol, The Black Cauldron, Basil the Great Mouse Detective and Oliver and Company. Although this era is known as the Disney Dark ages, his work on the films was praised.
It is around this time that he left Disney, he worked on other projects which included The Brave Little Toaster but returned to the studios after around a year. His first work upon his return was as Visual Effects Supervisor on The Little Mermaid. For Disney’s following Animated Classic, The Rescuers Down Under, Dindal became Head Animator. Continuing his career with Disney, he directed the animated parts of The Rocketeer and then worked as and effects Animator on Aladdin.
It was then that he turned his work to Directing, His first Directorial debut wasn’t actually The Emperor’s New Groove, however it was the film that he started Directing on First. The troubled production on the Disney Classic lasted 6 years, in which time Dindal had directed a film released in 1997. He continued his link with The Emperor’s New Groove by working on its sequel, Kronk’s New Groove. An enjoyable story that is just as funny and as good as the original. Around the time of the release of ‘Emperor’s’ he began work on Chicken Little, a story that required endless rewrites. The day after the DVD release of Chicken Little, Dindal left Walt Disney Studios. He has not returned since but has worked for other companies. It was announced in 2018 that he would be Directing and Animated feature about Garfield.
All Change at Disney
The film was made in Computer generated Animation to compete with the other giants of animated films at the time. It is the first Disney Animated Classic to me made in this technology, although computer generated animation had been used since the mid-1980s. Previously, it had been used for the majority of fast moving backgrounds or to provide a camera angle that would have been impossible without the computer’s help. Key examples of this is Beauty and the Beast dancing, The entire subway scene in Oliver and Company, and, Aladdin flying through the cave of wonders on the magic carpet. As it was a stance on how well Disney can do a CGI film, it was released in 3D in cinemas as well as the standard 2D. This was the first Animated Classic to be released in 3D too. Along with the firsts, this film is many lasts also. This is the last film to be made before John Lasseter took over as Chief Created Officer of Disney Animation. It was also the last film to use the 1985 Disney logo. The logo is well remembered as the castle made from multiple lines.
Chicken Little was very much a test at the time. Just as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Fantasia and Dumbo had been all those years ago. The experimentation of the new animation technique required whole new equipment, it also required a whole new way of working. The technology created, called Chicken Wire, allowed animators to stretch and bend the characters on the computer. It is a great technique that dates back to the earliest Disney cartoons. It also meant that Chicken Little could have a quarter of a million feathers, something that couldn’t have been done with traditionally drawn animation.
The Music
During this period of Disney, Music was not at the forefront of their animated Classics as it once had been during the 1990s. With the exception of Brother Bear, no film has any noticeable original songs within the era. Even popular Lilo and Stitch’s soundtrack was made up
of previously released and well known Elvis Presley songs. For Chicken Little, the soundtrack was made up of existing songs and character covers of existing songs, most enjoyably is the Spice Girls’ Wannabe. Songs include Diana Ross’ ‘Aint no Mountain High Enough’, and covers of ‘We are the Champions’ and ‘Don’t Go Breaking My Heart’. The Latter is a song by Elton John who co-wrote the music for The Lion King a decade earlier. Most songs are included on the soundtrack, even if they were less than a minute long. However, runt does Sing Gloria Gaynor’s I Will Survive, which does not feature on the soundtrack.
John Debney would create the score for the film; his work throughout various different genres is highly regarded. Other work for Disney Include: Hocus Pocus, The Emperor’s New Groove, The Live Action Jungle Book, Iron Man 2 and the Princess Diaries.
Pixar
The main reason behind the use of 3D animation was an upcoming expiration of Pixar’s contract with Disney. During production, this film was used as a negotiation between the two parties. If the film failed then Pixar could prove that Disney needed them to continue making profitable animated films. If the film was a success, then Disney could do it alone with a full share of the profits. The negotiations were put on hold until after the film’s release. It received moderate success, although not as great as Pixar’s. It was, however, better than the last few Animated Classics from Disney Animation. There is little information as to how the film finally affected the negotiation, but what is certain is Disney decided to purchase Pixar animation for over $7 billion. The move has proven to be a financial success. This being said, 3D animated films from Disney animation have also enjoyed huge successes, most noticeably Frozen, Moana and Wreck it Ralph 2.
Release and reviews
The film reached number one on its opening week, it was the first Disney Animated film to reach number one on its opening weekend since Dinosaur in 2000. It repeated its success and reach number one for its second weekend. The film also became the highest grossing Disney Animated film since The Lion King in 1994. It seemed like the film would be the turning point of the string of failures that Disney had in recent years. There were mixed reviews with many stating that the technology used was very impressive and Disney was able to compete with Pixar and Dreamworks, but it was also stated that the film lost out with Characters and plot, citing them both as poor.
The film became the last Disney Animated classic to be released on VHS, which also means it was the last Disney Animated Classic to be released on DVD, VHS and Blu-ray at the same time. The VHS was only available through the Disney Movie Club. A 3D release of the film was released at a later date.
Its original release date was scheduled for 1st July 2005, but in December 2004, it was pushed back to 4th November 2005, the original planned date for Pixar’s Cars.
Dispite being on the cover of the DVD and Posters, Mocubine Porcupine, rarely features in the film.
The Sequel
Whilst it is true that Chicken Little never had a released sequel and it looks like it never will, one was in the making. Chicken Little 2: Mission to Mars would feature a love triangle between Chicken Little with Abby Mallard and a new character Raffaela, a French sheep. Mallard would try to get a makeover by going to great lengths to win the heart of Chicken Little. As with many Disneytoon sequels at the time, it was cancelled. Walt Disney Animation Studios’ new Chief Creative Officer, John Lasseter, ordered the cancellation of all sequels in process. This could have been due to their poor quality, straight to video releases and bad reception in many cases. A Computer game was then developed as a direct sequel. Chicken Little also features in Kingdom Hearts 2.
Hidden Mickey
Many of the animated feature films include some sort of Hidden Mickey. Chicken Little’s is the inclusion of a Mickey Mouse wrist watch worn by Chicken Little’s dad. It pops up towards the end of the film. The watch is one of Disney’s most iconic pieces of merchandise and has popped up in multiple places. This does mean that either Chicken Little or his father has been to a Disney park, or he shops on eBay.
Although not a Hidden Mickey and more of a link to another film, Chicken Little was dedicated to Joe Grant. Grant has been an artist and writer in the 1930s and 40s. His contributions were many but now he is recognised as the man who created Lady and the Tramp. It was his dog that inspired him to make a film called Lady. He left the studios and the film was later adapted to merge with a book. Grant had passed away in 2005, 50 years after the release of Lady and the Tramp and the same year as Chicken Little’s release.
Merchandise
At the time merchandise filled The Disney Store as it did with every feature film. In 2005 you could pick up plush and various other toys. Action figures could be picked up along with the sports themed tee shirts and PJ sets. The characters could also be picked up in McDonalds Happy Meals. There were 8 toys in total, all came as action toys, which meant they all did something, rather than be a figurine toy or plush. The advert involved the characters heading to a McDonald’s restaurant and enjoying a meal there. The toys were available between October and November 2005.
The film received a special shiny cover for the DVD and Blu-ray releases and will be able for streaming on Disney+.
The Parade
In 2004, a Chicken Little Balloon was created for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. The balloon was sponsored by the Walt Disney Company as a promotion for the up and coming release of the film. Within this first year, there was no wire frame work in Chicken Little’s Glasses so they appeared bent; this was also true for 2004’s Balloon Fest. Chicken Little Debuted alongside a SpongeBob Squarepants balloon as well as M and Ms and Jeeves balloons. Because the release date of the film was pushed back until late 2005, the balloon was brought out and once again joined the parade in 2005. For this event, the glasses were mended. The Balloon is a figure shape of Chicken Little; he is in a walking pose with a smiling face. The Balloon still exists but due to the film not being a fan favourite, it may never return to the parade.
The Legacy
Whilst Chicken Little isn’t going to be known as a Disney must-see, it is an important stepping stone for the films we see today. The transision from traditionally drawn 2D animation to computer generated Aniamtion is an important step in Disney History. Up to that point the studios were consistently losing out to other companies, including Pixar. The films produced are known as some of the worst performing and received in Disney’s History. This is at a time when animated films were making a huge impact in cinema. From the early 1990s, animated films were once again at the forefront of family entertainment, and were put there by Disney. Prior to Chicken Little, films were getting worse and worse and even though this film is slated for concentrating on Technology more than plot, this isn’t the
worst film from the era. What would follow would be a new renaissance for the company, in a few years, Tangled, Frozen and Wreck it Ralph would appear on the scene and the animated feature film would once again belong to Disney. Their different approach to Pixar makes them stand out, but also work alongside each other. All that happened with both divisions of Disney is thanks to this film and the success that it brought. The film is largely forgotten by the company with very little merchandise available, it is never featured on Ornaments or pins and looks like it will only be revisited quietly on anniversaries.