|  The writers do attempt to address themes of unconditional love and acceptance, which Chicken Little seeks from his father. Eventually Buck Cluck gets the message that his son wants to be understood. But between an overlong subplot about Chicken Little trying to win his father’s love through success in baseball and an all-out alien invasion that may scare younger viewers, these themes are overshadowed. In an era when many TV and movie dads just never get it, at least Buck Cluck comes around in the end.
Inevitable comparisons are suggested with Disney’s first CG animated film, Toy Story, produced in collaboration with Pixar. In that case, there was more to the movie than cute gags and clever CG effects. Toy Story gave us memorable characters and addressed important themes related to friendship and the realization that love isn’t a limited commodity. Chicken Little never has such high points, yet the sky doesn’t come crashing down either. You could save yourself the price of admission by visiting the movie’s official web site, where you can see its best gags and make Chicken Little dance or the sky fall on his head. Once those are complete, there’s little left to enjoy.
--TOM PRICE
Contuned on the blog
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 How many of us REALLY listen to people when they try to communicate with us? How hard do we try to figure out what's going on inside people's hearts and minds? If we're to be honest, it's common for us to put blinders on to what people are trying to say and draw our own conclusions. Througout Chicken Little, dynamics between the characters present several situations where they attempt to get their points across to no avail. Chicken Little tries to warn the townspeople that 'the sky is falling', and the result is fear, rejection and ridicule. Such was the reaction of many to Jesus and his radical claims, for example when he is thrown out of the synagogue in Luke chapter 4.
'No prophet is accepted in his hometown.'
Luke 4:24 The town will not listen to Chicken Little, but neither will his father, Buck. An interesting scene in the principal's office shows how the principal's assumption is that Buck, who has a past reputation as the school baseball hero, simply got an untalented son who is nothing like him. Chicken Little's attempts to explain himself to Buck is shrugged off, simply by saying 'it doesn't matter.' Soon after we find out that Buck is simply a widower struggling with his own ability as a single parent, which is something he keeps to himself. Because he has a reputation to uphold, he responds more in public embarassment to Chicken Little's antics rather than deal with the issue at hand of connecting with his son better. (In Scripture we have another character named Peter, who is embarassed to admit he knows Jesus and denies him 3 times.) In turn, Chicken Little also avoids the issue of opening up to his father despite the persistent magazine-column advice from his best friend Abby Mallard. So in this way, Buck's behavior is being emulated in his own son. They both display a refusal to listen which breaks down the communication between them. In the end, when disaster strikes, Abby's advice is finally taken. With Abby's character acting as the voice of reason trying to mend this broken bond between father and son, she becomes somewhat of a Christ figure in the story. This symbolism is further emphasized by the fact that in Isaiah chapter 53, we are reminded that Jesus might have been rather ugly in appearance, rather than the blue-eyed prince Hollywood often depicts him as. (This deceptive beauty is also parodied at the end of Chicken Little, where Abby is portrayed as an attractive sexpot, when in reality she is referred to as the 'Ugly Duckling') Through empathizing with Chicken Little and his little band of outcasts, I couldn't help but think of the kind of ruffians Jesus chose to be his disciples. They would have been the 'un-popular' kids getting whacked with dodgeballs. Chicken Little reminded me of Zaccheus, who was too short to see over the crowd, so he had to climb a tree in order to get a glimpse of Jesus. It is this gesture of faith that is brought forth in the image of Chicken Little sitting on his rooftop, praying for just one chance at greatness, for he knows he cannot achieve it on his own. One final inkling of Biblical imagery in Chicken Little was near the end of the film when the sky appears to split from end to end, resulting in a full scale invasion from the alien spacecraft. In Luke 17 Jesus figuratively describes the coming of God's kingdom as 'lightning which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other.' To those unprepared for the Second Coming of Christ, this event will seem very much like an invasion, but it is, in fact, the final act of a rescue mission. The whole point of this apocalyptic scene is simply to save a small alien 'child', who is as precious as a lost sheep, coin, or son (Luke 15). Indeed, Christ 'invaded' once already to save us, and when he invades again it will be to take us home for good. So when the sky really DOES fall, will you listen?
—Ken & Janet Priebe
—Continued on the blog |
