Review of Chicken Little (1943) by Olga O — 31 Mar 2016

So my thoughts on Chicken Little are this: forgettable. I think this could have been a good film, but it squandered some choice moments and felt weak at the end. After the tepid opening, we get Chicken Little trying to rebuild his life. Had it been just about that, I might have found this to be enjoyable. But the alien factor didn't do it for me.

The best part of this movie is the baseball game, and that's what the movie should have been about. That part of the film had good charm, with everything else squandering the chances of producing some memorable characters.

I think one of the problems is this has the possibilities for good characterization, but the movie feels inconsistent. There are a handful of gags that didn't work or felt too mean to laugh at. It just wasn't written as well or as cleverly as something like Shrek or The Emperor's New Groove.

There are some moments in the film that made me cringe. The Foxy Loxy one at the end of the movie still prompts a facepalm whenever I think of it, because that REALLY does put a serious damper on the end of the film and drags it down.

They also didn't use Patrick Stewart too much, which I found to be a letdown. Captain Picard is a cartoon nerd, but if you don't give him the screentime he deserves, that's a crime that justifies being mauled by Worf for.

This is one of the weakest Disney Canon films, and it's a shame, because I saw potential for a lot of charm and heart in Chicken Little that they never fully utilized.