Esoteric Happy Ending: In some "happy" versions of the story, Foxy Loxy eats everyone except Chicken Little, who manages to be an Idiot Houdini and escape without harm despite getting the others killed.
Were the townspeople genuinely thankful for Chicken Little's heroic deeds at the end of the movie, or were they just praising him so he doesn't betray them for their mistreatmentof him should something else threaten their town?
When Foxy Loxy tries to reassure Buck Cluck that no one blames him, was she genuinely trying to comfort him or was she trying to make Chicken Little feel bad?
Anvilicious: The movie is not subtle at all when it comes to portraying its message. That you should not believe everything you hear, and as a result, let yourself be guided by rumours and don't blindly follow others without reason.
Barenaked Ladies' "One Little Slip", playing over the opening scene of Chicken Little running to class. Detractors of the film considered it one of the only good things about it.
R.E.M.'s "It's the End of the World (As We Know It)" playing over the Alien Invasion. It also plays in the trailers.
Base-Breaking Character: Runt of the Litter. Most didn't like having to sit through yet anotherFat Comic Relief character in a Disney movie or how he takes advantage of Foxy Loxy'sMind Rape by making her his girlfriend against her will. Others will say that, that last matter notwithstanding, he's still one of the few genuinely pleasant characters in a film full of jerkasses.
Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: There are too many odd gags throughout the film not given proper setup and, as a result, just sort of "happen."
In one scene, a dog can be seen holding pushing a goat by his legs as he mows the dog's lawn with his teeth. According to Doug Walker, while the Extreme Omni-Goat intention of the gag is clear, the way it's presented feels like the punchline to a joke that had no setup.
During the Cold Open of the water tower tank barreling through town, it literally breaks the fourth wall by tearing through a movie theater screen showing the iconic scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark of Indiana Jones outrunning the boulder. Again, the gag is clear, but the fact that a world full of animated funny animals and absolutely no humans was screening a movie with live-action humans feels too out of place for it to make any sense and really only seems to exist for an obvious pop culture reference.
Broken Base: The film as a whole among general Disney fans. While others considered it one of the weakest, if not one of the worst films in Disney's animated filmography, there were, in fact, some people that genuinely liked Chicken Little, regardless of its flaws. Along with people who just simply considered it okay at best.
Catharsis Factor: After seeing how horrible and cruel the Townsfolk were to Chicken Little, it's incredibly satisfying to watch them getting terrorized and vaporized (actually teleported to the spaceships) by the Aliens later in the movie.
Critic-Proof: Professional critics and Disney fans considered it the worst film of the Disney Animated Canon, yet it was the studio's biggest domestic hit since the much-more-popular Lilo & Stitch, earning $135 million at the domestic box office and $314 million worldwide (their biggest worldwide hit since Dinosaur).
Demographically Inappropriate Humour: In one scene, a reporter comments, "Well, at least we can sell the video to Chickens Gone Wild." He's referencing Girls Gone Wild, a porn/adult entertainment franchise.
Designated Villain: Foxy Loxy. While she's a schoolyard bully and a jerk, she's the one who gets the baseball team to the finals and she actually did try to act heroic when the aliens invaded. Apparently she deserved to suffer Mind Rape.
Morkubine Porcupine was popular to quote among viewers, thanks to his hilarious monosyllabic punchlines and the fact that he's one of the few characters who isn't a jerk.
Fish Out of Water was often singled out as the movie's most likable character by both fans and detractors.
Foxy Loxy was surprisingly popular, thanks to her appealing design and being one of the only villainous characters who actually redeems themselves in Disney's works. One of the film's harshest criticisms was her Heel–Face Brainwashing at the end.
Esoteric Happy Ending: This is Foxy's fate at the end of the movie. A Teleporter Accident causes her personality to be overwritten from a tomboy into a girly girl. The aliens offer to turn her back to normal, but Runt of the Litter decides he likes her new personality better. She may have been a bully, but she certainly did not deserve this fate at all and the fact that the other characters treat it like a good thing is very uncomfortable.
Fanon Discontinuity: There are people who pretend this film is not made by Disney (despite the Walt Disney Pictures logo showing up) and instead look at it as a Spiritual film from DreamWorks Animation due to its pop culture references and snarky humor that happens to have Disney's name in it.
There's a fully-animated Deleted Scene where Mayor Turkey Lurkey gives Buck a pep-talk. A lot of fans found it more emotionally impactful and wished it stayed in the movie. It can be seen here.
A deleted scene on the DVD shows Buck cooking breakfast for Chicken Little and defending him from a crowd of angry reporters. Some fans believe it would be better if this scene had been left in the final product, because it makes him more likable by showing that he does care about his son.
Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Contrary to its atrocious reception on its home country, the movie was very well received in Latin America, thanks in no doubt to a good dose of Superlative Dubbing, with memorable performances by Kalimba and Xavier López "Chabelo", the movie's soundtrack having an amazing adaptation to Spanish, performed by talented voice actors and singers, and Buck overall coming off as more sympathetic thanks to the script playing up his struggles raising a paranoiac son, with a more heartfelt performance by Chabelo than Garry Marshal's original.
In one of the alternate openings, when Chicken Little gets stuck in his mail slot when trying to avoid some news reporters, Buck pops in to help him get out. One of the newscasters asks him how he feels about the upcoming movie they were making out of Chicken Little, another one asks him who should play his part. One of the newscasters then asks if "Sean Penguin" should portray him. 11 years later, Penn himself would go on to star in another movie where the main character is an ostracized bird.
Buck Cluck, who wants to do right by his son, is guilty of continuous Parental Neglect as his son suffers from All of the Other Reindeer. Even though the actual antagonists are aliens causing problems on Earth, what makes them better than Buck was that they were just trying to find the lost alien child Kirby. Many fans see Buck as a detestable Abusive Parent of the caliber of Lady Tremaine and Claude Frollo. While Buck does get called out and apologize for his actions, many viewers saw it as too little, too late.
The townsfolk especially deserve a mention here, due to their horrible treatment of poor Chicken Little, all because he claimed the sky was falling.
Karmic Overkill: Foxy Loxy is shown to be The Bully and a Jerk Jock, enjoying tormenting Chicken Little, and to a lesser extent, other unpopular kids. However, many found her fate in the end, where she's been hypnotized by alien technology to act like a stereotypical Girly Girl, as a bit much, as going through Mind Rape is a bit meanspirited for a character who was a jerkass at worst. It doesn't help that the aliens offer to restore her to normal, but Runt of the Litter refuses, saying "She's perfect" in her brainwashed state.
Think "Numa Numa" and recall the early teaser commercials with Chicken Little dancing to "Dragostea din tei". Then have it come back to haunt you when you hear "Down" by Jay Sean, a Suspiciously Similar Song version of the Numa Numa song whose lyrics specifically allude to the story of Chicken Little.
"Close the book. We're not doing that."ExplanationIn the YouTube Poop scene, a common gag is to have this line play over other Storybook Openings (or even just other books) playing backwards.
Padding: The whole business with baseball could have been dropped without having to substantially rewrite the rest of the film. AniMat points this out when he reviewed the movie.
Roger Ebert: He joins the town baseball team, but even though he plays in the big game, this sequence feels, frankly, as if the plot is killing time. That's because it is... As a general rule, if a movie is not about baseball or space aliens, and you have to use them anyway, you should have started with a better premise.
The voice actors of Chicken, Abby and Runt don't even attempt to sound like kids, though the film never is clear on whether they're supposed to be young children or teenagers. Word of God states that Chicken Little (at least) is a "teenager" around 12-13 years old.
The Italian version of the film has Turkey Lurkey voiced by Walter Veltroni; they probably thought it was amusing to hear the mayor of a cartoon town voiced by the man who was Rome's mayor at the time.
Ron the Death Eater: Buck, notoriously so. The movie's writing makes him come off as neglectful and unsympathetic jerk who doesn't come to his son's aid when he needs it, and only doesn't act embarrassed about his son's very existence when Chicken does something heroic. However, the movie also makes it clear that he's never outwardly or intentionally abusive and that this is the best he can do given his circumstances, being a widower raising a paranoiac child by himself, and he does eventually see the error of his ways. An extreme Vocal Minority of people on the internet (especially critics), however, depicted him as an abusive sociopath with no redeeming qualities, sometimes labeling him one of the most evil Disney characters or even the most Abusive Parent in all of fiction. The character's Disney Wiki page had an ongoing Edit War between ticked-off viewers categorizing him as the villain and adding "neglecting his son" to the list of things he likes and admins struggling to keep the page neutral.note This reputation largely grew out of The Mysterious Mr. Enter's thrashing of the film, as he famously has a zero-tolerance policy for whatever he considers to be poor depictions of abuse and bullying in fiction, having grown up with an abusive father and enduring bullying well into adulthood.
Rooting for the Empire: It is easy to say that the Townsfolk are not worth saving from the Aliens since they were shown to be nothing but insensitive assholes towards Chicken Little.
The Scrappy: Buck Cluck is without question THE most reviled character in the entire movie, if not the most reviled character to ever appear in a Disney film. He neglects his son's well-being in favor of his own reputation and only comes around after he's done something that he can benefit his public image with. A lot of people found his treatment of Chicken Little not only bad, but that it would emotionally scar most children, so much that they never forgave him for what he did in the movie, despite realizing how wrong he was and trying to make up for it in the end.note This stems from some believing that said Jerkass Realization doesn't feel earned/genuine.
Signature Scene: Runt and Abby doing karaoke with "Wanna Be". The movie was already bizarre enough, but this scene somehow manages to be even more bizarre than the rest, bordering on Big-Lipped Alligator Moment if it weren't for its marginal plot importance (that being the party that Chicken Little has to interrupt). It tends to be one of the scenes that people actually remember when talking about the film.
So Bad, It's Good: While widely agreed to be an embarrassing blemish on the Disney Animated Canon's history and by no means anyone's favorite Disney movie, the fact that it forced aliens and pop-culture references into an adaptation of a fable, to absolutely no advantage for itself, makes for a seriously out there and bonkers viewing experience. In fact, for a movie which failed to capitalize on DreamWorks-style comedies, it still sits comfortably next to plenty of post-Shrek DWA films like the Bee Movie or Shark Tale, as a fun movie to riff on.
So Okay, It's Average: For every ten people who hated this movie, there's one who would call it one of the more forgettable Shrek-inspired formula films from the mid-2000s.
Special Effects Failure: The scene where Chicken Little and Buck Cluck meet Melvin in his evil form hasen't aged well as it's just the CG models simply floating in a black voided background that doesn't really look that convincing.
Strangled by the Red String: Chicken Little and Abby. There was quite literally only one hint that Abby was attracted to Chicken Little before The Big Damn Kissnote during the dodgeball game when Abby slips and calls Chicken Little cute, and even after that, they hardly interact during the climax and they only really hold hands once during the final scene.
They Copied It, So It Sucks!: The film was very obviously trying to capitalize on the snarky, more cynical approach that had worked so well for DreamWorks in their previous works, as seen in Michael Eisner's public rivalry with Jeffrey Katzenberg. The studio very quickly found out that this is not what their audiences wanted from Disney, and have since made a point to avoid this approach in their later movies.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: The film under-utilizes Foxy Loxy's potential as a Starter Villain, since she doesn't get involved in the Inciting Incident where Chicken Little starts a panic in town, as with prior adaptations. Instead, she serves as a petty bully that only exists to make his life harder and the film more mean-spirited.
Many think that the Movie Within A Movie would've been more enjoyable than the actual movie. It's deliberately over the top, campy in a fun way, and has Adam West.
The deleted scenes of the original version of the movie, had more wit and charm than the movie we got. Mark Dindal still looks at the original work he made before the executives changes.
If they could've kept Buck Cluck's motivation of wishing his child to be normal like everyone else, it would've been understandable for the character. But instead, he cares more of his town reputation rather than his son's feelings and beliefs.
Chicken Little's character arc. His only character arc was have the guts to talk to his father of why he never supported him. Little should've also learned to think before over-acting. What lead to cause a major disaster in the beginning, was his over-acting of the sky is falling, before he could think to show everyone the piece of sky it got in his head. By the time his father decides to help him to return Kirby, he starts thinking before overacting.
Chicken Little also makes this mistake again, when he warns everyone about the alien invasion. He could've simply not warned the second time, because he knows, it'll ruin his reputation AGAIN. Sure, it would've be selfish, but living an entire year in a town where everyone mocks him, and his own father never helps him, and the one chance he finally gets everyone to love him, including his father, would've show what he cannot throw away his redemption.
If they wanted Abby to be the love interest of Chicken Little, they've should explored more of their relationship, instead of tossing it away by the last minute.
What was Chicken Little's life before the acorn incident? Was he always an outcast or just a normal kid? Two of the deleted opening scenes showed a bit of his backstory, but the final cut starts with the incident before we even know anything about him or his father or the whometown of Oakey Oaks.
Uncertain Audience: The attempts made to combine the usual Disney story conventions with a Shrek style Fractured Fairy Tale narrative ultimately worked against the movie, with too much juvenile and childish humor for adults, too much Nightmare Fuel for little kids, DreamWorks fans being unamused at the seemingly blatant attempt at ripping off Shrek, and Disney fans being unimpressed with Disney seemingly trying to abandon its usual principles.
Unintentional Uncanny Valley: The CGI has not aged all that well since the film's release. While the fur and feather details were certainly impressive at the time, considering how limiting the technology was, many of characters look a little too plasticky in some shots, coming off as dolls that came to life.
Unintentionally Sympathetic: Foxy Loxy is an arrogant bully. Apparently, this was worthy of getting mind raped into being a sweet Southern Belle. Runt of the Litter apparently getting to make the decision for her that she's better this way adds another fresh helping of sympathy on top of her situation.
Buck is presented as a desperate father coping with the loss of his wife and trying to do what's best for his anxiety-ridden son despite his unpopularity, which is hardly shown at all. What he mostly comes off as is a neglectful bum who will only come to his son's aid when it seems to benefit him, openly states that he's embarrassed by his son's actions when his public image is at risk, and initially tries to keep his distance from him while never standing up for him when the townspeople harshly dump on Chicken Little. The only time where he seems to try to understand his son is at the end when the aliens show up, which at that point, viewers deemed his actions in this movie unforgiveable.
After watching Chicken Little get bullied by the townfolk for most of the movie, many viewers couldn't feel sorry for them getting vaporized by the aliens.
The Woobie: Chicken Little's mother is dead, he is endlessly tormented by the entire town and made a complete pariah and laughingstock just for making a single silly mistake, and not even his father will stand up for him. Whether you like the film or not, it's really not hard to feel bad for him. In fact, a large part of the negative reception to the film is because the sadness of watching him be kicked around by everyone for two-thirds of the movie is too painful to watch.
The Disney Game
Catharsis Factor: In the video game adaptation, one level has you enacting out the dodgeball scene... where you promptly get to beat the snot out of all the highly unlikable "popular kids". It is every bit as satisfying and stress relieving as it sounds.
No Problem with Licensed Games: The video game based on the movie is heralded as an enjoyable platformer in its own right. Some would even go as far as to say it's better than the movie itself.
Polished Version: Minor retroactive example with the Xbox version, which benefits from an increased framerate when played on the Xbox Series X. This makes it feel much smoother to play compared to the other versions.
Underused Game Mechanic: At one point, you play as Abby instead of Chicken Little. She controls noticeably different from him by dint of being able to glide, but you only get to control her in one level.
", playing over the opening scene of Chicken Little running to class. Detractors of the film considered it one of the only good things about it.