SECOND HELPINGS: Chicken Little (2005)

After a string of underperforming flicks that garnered critical reception that was lukewarm at best, you would think that Disney’s decision to go back to the well of time-honored children’s fables would be a good thing. Let me tell you, in no uncertain terms, that we were very, very wrong. Chicken Little is not only Disney’s worst film to date, it commits a sin far worse than simply being boring or lacking quality animation. This film is obnoxious and insulting. I dreaded re-watching this film and all of my fears were justified.

As a fan of context, I’d like to provide some here. When this film came out, Disney was in heated negotiations with Pixar. Their contract was almost up and Pixar was using Disney’s lackluster performance streak as leverage to sweeten their end of any deal. Disney had yet to enter the fray of computer-animated films and interest in their traditionally-animated product waned as audiences craved the new hotness. All of this converged into Chicken Little. It was Disney’s way to say that they were still relevant and that they could compete with not only other studios but also with Pixar. It was almost as if Pixar told Disney ‘you need us’ and Disney said ‘no we don’t and we can prove it.’ Disney was dead wrong, scrapped the negotiations, and flat-out bought Pixar less than a year after this film was released.

As far as the animation goes, it’s not Pixar quality but it’s also not terrible. In fact, Disney should get a little credit for spending enough on their animation software that their end product looks better than a handful of Pixar’s imitators. Some of the characters look like they were designed to be as simple to work with as possible, which calls into question whether Disney was really ready and willing to take the full plunge on computer animation. Much of the movie is spent teetering back and forth between rich textures and few, if any, textures. It’s pretty clear that the animators used this film to work out all the bugs and to get used to the new-fangled technology.

In its push to bring the technological heat, Disney forgets one important element. The story sucks. The classic fable is only long enough for a short film, so after running through said fable in the first five minutes, the filmmakers have to make up an additional 75 minutes of story. Instead of something interesting, like a lesson against needlessly spreading fear or putting your trust in those who capitalize on it, we get a combination lecture and public service announcement on the importance of communicating with your children.

Yes, you read that correctly. Rather than a lesson about the spread of fear, Disney flips the story on its head. As it turns out, Chicken Little was right- part of the sky did fall! More random yet, it’s aliens! Once an outcast, now only Chicken Little can save his town, and Earth, from certain doom! To fill in the gap, we get sad attempts at making the juvenile characters clever, funny, and mature beyond their years. What this results in is a rehash of coming-of-age movie clichés where the kids are smart and capable but the adults are dopes who can barely get out of their own way.

The spastic antics of our tightly wound kiddie characters may entertain children on the most superficial of levels but that’s only because they won’t realize they aren’t the target audience. Chicken Little sets its sights on mom and dad. It seems like a first to me but it is also a problem. Can you imagine paying to take your kids to see a movie in the theater only to have the movie lecture you, suggesting that you’re not spending enough time with or listening to your own children? With this film, Disney is basically thanking you for buying a ticket and immediately questioning whether you really love your kid. I’m surprised there weren’t riots like you see at Chuck E Cheese.

I think one of the chief reasons that this film feels so insultingly inferior is that Finding Nemo was so great. There you had similar father-son communication issues being resolved but in a way that showed character growth. With Chicken Little all you got is a Big Dumb Parent saying, “Gosh! I guess I should have listened to and believed my own kid a little more.” The animation may be better than the average studio attempt to catch up with Pixar but that story sets up any number of puns. Is Chicken Little a bad egg, a rotten egg, a story that never fully hatched, one in need of a little more incubation, or not all it’s cracked up to be? Take your pick and please don’t watch this stain on the legacy of Disney.

ORIGINAL RATING: 2.25 out of 5

NEW RATING: 2.25 out of 5

Rescue Dawn (2006)

It seems that every war has its share of incredible stories. The intensity of battle brings out the best in some men despite the utmost trying circumstances. The Vietnam War is almost exclusively viewed in a negative light. Tales of atrocities were commonly reported and hold fast in the American psyche. Rescue Dawn is just the opposite. Here is a Vietnam-era tale of boldness and bravery that not only astonishes but uplifts.

German-American Dieter Dengler (Christian Bale), a pilot in the US Navy, is shot down over Laos in February 1966 during a covert mission. Despite his best efforts, he is captured by a communist militia. Since US operations in Laos were illegal, the Laotian government isn’t too keen on being nice. They offer his freedom if he signs a document for release condemning his country. Refusing, he is tortured and taken to a rural POW camp in the middle of the Laotian jungles.

Dengler’s fellow inmates include two Americans- Gene DeBruin (Jeremy Davies) and Duane Martin (Steve Zahn)- and three men of Thai descent. There is little hope of rescue, as America and Laos did not have diplomatic relations, so the prisoners advise Dengle to get used to being chained down much of the time, fed meager portions and to avoid upsetting the abusive guards. Refusing to concede, Dengler plots a bold escape that could lead them all to freedom.

The first thing that struck me about this film is the way it looks- old. I don’t know if it’s due to the equipment director Werner Herzog chose to use or just an immaculate attention to detail, but this films looks about 20 years older than it really is. Oddly enough, this older look makes the whole film more visually believable. I see no digital grading to make the jungle greens pop or any of the crispness that modern film-making technology lends to a film. It all looks very old-school and I love it.

Another key factor is that everything looks authentic in this film. The sets are almost all on-location and everything down to the costumes and hair styles of the characters (pre-capture that is) looks era-appropriate. Herzog avoids falling into the trap of allowing any modern elements from creeping into his historical picture. This prevents any action or war movie clichés from putting a crimp on the intense tale being told.

Filming on location in Thailand really gives the film the mood it needs. The thick jungles surrounding the POW camp are haunting with an abundance of heavy mist and animal noises. Inside the jungle you can’t help but feel claustrophobic as the dense vegetation threatens to swallow up our subjects. As vile as the Laotian prison guards are, Rescue Dawn shows just how menacing an antagonist nature can be.

Christian Bale, Jeremy Davies and Steve Zahn are well up to the task of taking on the jungle though. The transformations they put their bodies through to look like starving, unkempt POWs are shocking. Christian Bale seems to be the modern master of dire and determined protagonists. Jeremy Davies exudes a chilling aura as the lone doubter of the escape plan. He speaks with the freakish conviction of failure that can only come from someone who has been cooped up for too long. It’s Steve Zahn though who surprises the most here. Normally seen in humorous or outlandish roles, Zahn is perfect in his muted performance as the most shell-shocked of the bunch.

The only minor fault I could find, which didn’t even come close to taking me out of the mood, was an instance or two of sub-standard effects in a few early scenes. I can understand using some CGI instead of tracking down or rebuilding working models of Vietnam era airplanes. Some things are just easier with today’s technology even if they don’t look perfect. The rest of the film is paced, shot, acted and directed fantastically.

War-time and action escape flicks aren’t exactly anything new. It’s the perfect sub-genre for thrilling audiences but it has also grown stale thanks to an abundance of inferior films that just don’t work. That leads to some critics and moviegoers to cry foul when they feel a film like Rescue Dawn is predictable. Werner Herzog can’t help it that Hollywood has thrown nearly every conceivable permutation of escape flick at us already. If we want to be honest with ourselves and the film, all we can do is judge the film by its presentation. The ‘based on a true story’ tagline almost always adds extra weight and meaning to these kinds of productions, especially, in this case, when we watch a story unfold that most people have never even heard of.

Rescue Dawn is a flat-out tour de force of everything done right in a wartime escape movie. You will find yourself cringing at the brutality of the POW camp, on pins and needles in anticipation of the escape and on the edge of your seat as it unfolds. In many ways, this film is like a Vietnam version of The Great Escape but I won’t even think of comparing the two further. Both are true stories that probably fudge a few historical facts here and there but they both make for compelling drama. Track this gem down and treat yourself to one of the best war films since Saving Private Ryan.

RATING: 4 out of 5

Chicken Little (2005)

After years of success together, Disney and Pixar had a little squabble over whether they needed each other. Pixar was a computer animation powerhouse that possessed some of the best CGI technology, and Disney tried to prove they didn’t need Pixar by creating their own CGI technology. It sure seems like somewhere along the line to prove that they had the technology to equal Pixar, Disney forget to make sure their story was any good.

Chicken Little takes a classic fable about misconceptions and miscommunication and distorts it into a flashy piece of eye candy filled with sight gags, self-aware post-90s sensibilities, and pop culture references for the adults. Lest I forget, it’s dripping with smarmy psychobabble focused on parent-child relationships. Instead of one great big misunderstanding that is the original fable (which is covered in the first 5 minutes), it turns out the sky really is falling...and it’s because of aliens!

Honestly, I was fairly insulted by this film. While there is enough humor and silliness to keep the kids at bay for an hour twenty, the real message of the film is aimed at parents. Are we that hopeless as a society that we need to trick parents into seeing a public service announcement by disguising it as a kid’s movie? And ever since Shrek came along, “kids” movies seem to be required to contain humor for mom and dad to pick up on, and that’s annoying. Either make an adult-oriented animated film or be true to your core audience- the kids.

While there were parts that I laughed at (despite being inappropriate and unnecessary for a “kids” movie) and the computer animation was rather good, the story still sucks. I couldn’t decide which pun was more fitting for Chicken Little- I was torn between “This egg is a dud” and “This bird’s flown the coop” because they are both so apt.

RATING: 2.25 out of 5