Chicken Little

Story

When Chicken Little (voiced by Zach Braff) raises an emergency call that the sky is falling, panic erupts all over town. But when the town discovers that it was only an acorn, he is labelled as ‘crazy’, ostracised by the community and, to a certain extent, his own family. Eventually he wins back the approval of society and his father (Gary Marshall), but just when life is looking sweet … a piece of the sky falls on him again.

The piece of sky turns out to be a piece of an alien spaceship, and when Chicken Little and his friends Abby (Joan Cusack), Runt (Steve Zahn) and Fish (Dan Molina) investigate, Fish accidentally winds up on board the spaceship. When his friends attempt to rescue him, they become the prey of two enraged aliens who believe the group have abducted their child. When the aliens fail to hunting down Chicken Little and his friends, they launch an all out alien invasion of planet earth and it is up to an unlikely hero to save the day.

Themes

None of concern

Violence

The film contains frequent use of violence that has unrealistic consequences, commonly seen in animation. Some of the violent scenes include:

In the first scene, there are a series of car crashes and near miss accidents, such as a fire engine taking off the roof of a car while a woman is driving, and a large metal ball careening out of control through the town where it nearly crushes a pram full of baby bunny rabbits. The bunnies escape in the nick of time.
A bag of acorns is thrown out of a bus window at Chicken Little. They hit him and knock him down while the children on the bus laugh at him.
Runt is targeted during a game of dodge ball. Though he is scared and tries to avoid getting hit, everyone violently aims for him.
A bully grabs Chicken Little by the top of his head and throws him against a window.
Abby, Runt, Fish and Chicken Little are pursued through the woods and cornfield by enraged aliens who are trying to kill them with blades from the ends of their tentacles.
Several objects and people are vaporised as an alien invasion attacks the earthlings while attempting to find a missing alien baby.
Chicken Little and his father are both blasted with vaporising rays and disappear into an alien limbo.
Aliens point guns and a wide variety of weapons towards Chicken Little and his father during an interrogation and threaten their lives.

Sexual references

There is one sexual reference in the movie, when Abbey and Runt sing the karaoke version of ‘If You Want to be My Lover’.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

None

Nudity and sexual activity

None

Product placement

None

Coarse language

Although this movie contains no coarse language, it does include several examples of name-calling and put-downs.

Ideas to discuss with your children

Chicken Little is an action-packed cartoon that will likely be enjoyed by many families. However, due to the nature of a number of scenes, the movie is far better suited to older children than to younger viewers.

The movie’s main message is to believe in yourself and to hold onto the truth no matter how crazy or unrealistic it may seem. You could talk to your children about the importance of communication and trust in relationships, and what can go wrong if these are lacking or compromised.