This article is about the character from the 2005 film. For other articles that share the same name, see Chicken Little.
- “A piece of the sky?! Shaped Iike a stop sign?! Not again!”
- ―Chicken Little seeing a hexagon panel
Ace "Chicken Little" Cluck is the titular protagonist of Disney's 2005 animated feature film of the same name. He is a resident of Oakey Oaks who is often looked down by others due to his belief that "the sky is falling", which, in truth, is caused by the aliens.
Background
Development
Chicken Little was initially written as a female character with the voice of Holly Hunter (who voiced Elastigirl from The Incredibles) and Hunter reportedly recorded her lines for the part. The gender flip occurred because of the notions that short boys are more likely to be bullied than short girls, and that boys will not watch a film with a female lead even if girls will watch a film with a male lead. Before Zach Braff was cast as Chicken Little, Michael J. Fox (Who previously voiced Milo in Atlantis: The Lost Empire), Dave Foley, D.B. Sweeney, Drake Bell, Josh Peck, Nathan Lane, Jack Black, Paul Walker, Robin Williams, Ben Stiller, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matthew Broderick (Whom voiced Simba in The Lion King), Steve Carell, Steve Martin, Justin Long, Tom Kenny, Matt Damon, Jason Lee, John Travolta, Shia LaBeouf, Jon Heder, Keanu Reeves, and David Spade were all originally considered for the role.[2]
Personality
Despite his smart nature, Chicken Little has a tendency to worry about everything and can be both impulsive and quick to jump to conclusions, which lead to the whole incident where he panicked and thought that the sky was falling. However, after the incident, he remains determined and optimistic that he can redeem himself in everyone's eyes, especially his dad, whose approval he desperately seeks. He is also kind and supportive, especially to the people he cares about he most like his family and friends, which he extends to Kirby when he finds out that he's just a lost child trying to get back to his parents.
Physical appearance
Chicken Little has white feathers and a red rooster comb. His outfit consists a green and white striped T-shirt, green glasses, and brown shorts though he briefly lost them and replaced it with shorts made from paper.
Appearances
Chicken Little
After Chicken Little gets hit by a hexagon-shaped object with an image of the sky on it one day, he believes that the sky itself is falling, and tries to warn the town of Oakey Oaks. His attempt to do so throws the town into a panic that soon causes him to be accused of being insane due to not being able to provide any proof of it when his dad, Buck Cluck, assumes that Chicken Little was just hit on the head by an acorn. One year later, while constantly being the subject of public ridicule ever since, even to the point where a feature film titled Crazy Little Chicken: The Movie is being made about the incident, Chicken Little is told by Buck before he drops him off at a bus stop to Oakey Oaks Middle School that it would probably be best for the both of them if Chicken Little tries to blend in and get as little attention to himself as possible.
Unable to catch the bus thanks to Foxy Loxy, Chicken Little has to rush to school on foot, during which he loses his pants to a piece of gum on the crosswalk and has no choice but to carry on in his underwear. However, he manages to make it to the school just as the bell is ringing, sneaks around to a secluded spot where there's an open window and uses a bottle of orange soda to get inside the school. He ends up in the gym where he scares a group of cheerleaders, but then he reaches to his locker and makes a pair of shorts out of paper. However, he gets trapped inside his locker when a janitor shuts it on him. During Mr. Woolensworth's class, Foxy tells him that he did not show up on time again and he is marked "tardy".
As a misfit and the target of bullies since the incident happened, Chicken Little and his small circle of friends have been trying to figure out a way for him to improve/fix his image; for example, during a time-out in a game of dodgeball at the gym, Chicken Little's classmate and best friend Abby Mallard encourages him to employ "closure" and talk openly with his father, which she explains to Chicken Little can resolve the problems he and Buck are having ever since the incident from the year before. Later, Chicken Little ends up getting bullied by Foxy and Goosey Loosey, who launches him at a window, which causes him to flop down it to the wall and pull down a lever triggering the fire alarm, causing the sprinklers to turn on, the class to run off in a panic and his paper shorts to be ripped in half from being wet. That night, Chicken Little is sent to Principal Fetchit's office where he talks to his father inside about the inappropriate things Chicken Little did earlier at school. He sees a picture of his father's younger self as the school's baseball star nicknamed Ace. This gives him an idea on how to get Oakey Oaks to forget about the "sky is falling" incident and make Buck be proud of him. After the talk with the principal is over, Chicken Little tries to tell his dad about what really happened to him all thanks to Foxy, only for Buck to stop him from talking. He then explains to his father on the way home that he wants to be on the baseball team, but Buck, very uneasy about this, tells him to choose another activity such as chess. After Chicken Little and his father return home to their house, he sits on the rooftop where, after seeing a dog father and son duo spending some time together, he looks at the sky and wishes on a glowing star for a chance to make his plan work.
The next day, Chicken Little sees an opportunity and tries signing up for the school baseball team, the Acorns, as his father did years ago, only to be staying in the sidelines by the team's coach. He gets training from Abby, Runt of the Litter and Fish Out of Water in order to be a better player while Foxy Loxy keeps constantly winning all the team's games for them. Later, after Chicken Little trains hard, he ends up taking a crucial at-bat at the end of a big game due to multiple players being injured, much to everyone's chagrin. The coach instructs him to take the walk and don't swing. Although he gets two strikes, Chicken Little ends up hitting the ball on his third attempt as the announcer, the crowd, his father, and even Mayor Turkey Lurkey, tell him to run. He tries to make it all the way home, but it initially looks like he gets tagged out. However, the dirt covering the home plate gets cleared away by the umpire to reveal Chicken Little's foot is touching the plate and announces that Chicken Little is actually safe, thus winning the pennant for his team. Most of Chicken Little's teammates, his friends, the citizens of Oakey Oaks, and Buck, who is proud of his son, all cheer for him.
Later that night at home after winning, Chicken Little is extremely satisfied with his victory as the town's new hero and talks cheerily to his father, with them both feeling like the "sky falling" incident has been put behind them. Chicken Little attempts to talk about it using Abby's advice on having closure, but Buck is confused with the word, so they laugh it off. When Buck leaves while still feeling proud over his son's victory in the baseball game, Chicken Little finds the same star he wished on in the sky and thanks it for granting his wish. However, he ends up noticing its glow shine brighter before it heads straight to him. He is subsequently hit by a hexagonal object that looks like a piece of the sky, which he recognizes, much to his horror, as the same one that hit him before. Buck runs back to his bedroom to check on him when he heard his horrific yell, but he hides the object from him. After his dad leaves, Chicken Little finds the object gone, only to discover that it still remains thanks to its ability to blend in with its surroundings. He calls Abby about the object.
When she, Runt and Fish come over to his house, Chicken Little then explains to them about the object falling from the sky and shows its ability to them. While Chicken Little, Abby and Runt talk about the object, Fish plays with it and turns it on by pressing a white button behind it. When the object hovers, he gets on top of it, which causes the object to fly out the window with him on it and reconnect with an invisible object it came from in the sky. Chicken Little, Abby and Runt chase after the object carrying Fish away by following the light of a glowstick Fish is carrying that gives away the object's position to the baseball field where it connects to an alien spaceship that lands. Runt is convinced that the aliens have killed Fish, but Abby spots him through a window alive and well. While looking for Fish with his friends inside the ship, Chicken Little sees a small orange alien, who ends up following him when he leaves after his presence woke him up from his sleep. When the four friends reunite, Runt finds a map of the solar system that looks like the aliens want to invade Earth after they invaded most of the other planets. They flee with them running into two aliens that chase them down at their heels at the assumption that they took the small alien Chicken Little saw, unaware that he is following them.
Eventually, Chicken Little, Abby, Runt, and Fish manage to escape, albeit with the aliens attacking them. While hiding in a cornfield, Abby tells Chicken Little, Runt and Fish they need to go to the school bell at the top of Oakey Oaks Middle School to warn all the townsfolk about the alien invasion. Chicken Little then tells Abby, Runt, and Fish that he needs a bottle of orange soda to reach the school bell (just like what Chicken Little did to get to school when he was running late). Reaching the school bell, Chicken Little remembers trying to warn the town about the sky falling from the sky, the people accusing him of being insane and Buck's embarrassment of his son's actions and becomes afraid to ruin his reputation again, but then he sees his friends being corned by the aliens, so he rings the school bell to save them and warn the citizens. However, due to being extremely bothered by the noise and retreating so quickly that the other townsfolk don't see the UFO before it vanishes, he is left with no proof. After despite desperately trying to explain it in detail and how it connects to being hit with a piece of the sky, everyone doesn't believe him, including his own dad, putting his reputation in jeopardy once again.
The next day while Buck is busy making responses to phone calls from everyone in Oakey Oaks, Chicken Little feels depressed over what happened and is too discouraged to talk to his father despite Abby's encouragement, feeling it's too late. However, the friends soon discover the small alien, who has been left behind the previous night by the aliens. Chicken Little, Abby and Runt become scared of him until Fish tells them to be quiet and talks to the alien that reveals his name to be Kirby as well as his situation. Fish communicates his message to the others, so Chicken Little tells Kirby he and his friends will do everything they can to help him get back home. Just then, dozens of UFOs invade Oakey Oaks in an effort to track down Kirby and rescue him, mistakenly believing that he's been kidnapped and proving that Chicken Little was right about the sky falling all along. Kirby then desperately tries to get back to his parent's ship by running off on his own, with Chicken Little having to protect him from the pandemonium, including an oncoming truck. He and Kirby end up in a movie theater after this, as do Buck and Abby, where Chicken Little finally takes Abby's advice and talks to his dad, calling him out for never being there for him when he needed it ever since he thought the sky fell. This causes Buck to realize what a bad parent he's been, and he subsequently apologizes to Chicken Little and vows to try to be there for him. Chicken Little takes a quick moment alone with Abby to tell her he always finds her "extremely attractive", giving her a kiss that leaves her in a temporary dreamy daze.
After leaving the movie theater, the ground troopers spot Buck holding Kirby, they get the wrong idea and attack the trio. Thankfully, they manage to escape, after which Chicken Little explains to his father that they need to take Kirby to the alien mothership where his parents are in, which is above Town Hall, since the whole thing is a misunderstanding, and Kirby's parents will call off the invasion if he is returned to them. With the help of Runt, Abby, and Fish, who commandeer a fire truck, the trio manages to get through the ground forces, reach the Town Hall, and Chicken Little and his dad make it to the top of the building where Chicken Little tells the aliens that he has their son and they can stop the invasion. He and his father then get beamed up into the UFO.
They appear floating in a black area where Foxy, the Mayor and some of the townsfolk, property and other things that have been zapped by the aliens are in. Kirby's father angrily accuses the Clucks of taking his son and threatens to tear them into pieces with many weapons. Thankfully, both his wife and Kirby verify to him that the Clucks are telling the truth about Kirby accidentally being left behind, so his father puts away the weapons, puts the Clucks down and has them returned along with all the other citizens and property that were beamed up. The alien couple, whose names are Melvin and Tina, then reveal that they only meant to come by to Oakey Oaks to pick their acorns due to the town's sign claiming "they're the best in the universe", and the object that hit Chicken Little last night (and likely last year) is a malfunctioning panel of the alien couple's ship that falls off it every time the alien family drop by at Oakey Oaks. They then depart on amiable terms, and having witnessed all of this, the other townsfolk finally realize that all of the details of Chicken Little's story make sense and become grateful for his efforts to save the town.
A year after the aliens left, Chicken Little, his friends and his father, along with the citizens of Oakey Oaks, watch the movie depicting an extremely fanciful retelling of the events that transpired, portraying Chicken Little as an action hero also named "Ace"; it is implied that production for Crazy Little Chicken: The Movie was canceled after the townsfolks realize that Chicken Little isn't insane after all. While watching the movie with some popcorn, Chicken Little and Abby eventually hold hands, which signifies them in entering a romantic relationship with each other. When the movie ends, everyone cheers for Chicken Little.
During the end credits, Chicken Little and some of the townsfolk sing "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" where Chicken Little and his father dance along together. When everyone is done with the song, Chicken Little waves goodbye to the audience.
Once Upon a Studio
In the short, Chicken Little, appears in the men's restroom of the Disney Animation Studio with The Headless Horseman, Gaston, Happy, Milo Thatch, Thomas O'Malley, and Prince John. Chicken Little then joins all other Disney characters in a group photo to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Walt Disney Animation Studios beside his best friends.
Wish
Chicken Little was among the Disney animated characters that appeared during the credits.
Video games
Kingdom Hearts II
Chicken Little is a Summon that appears in Kingdom Hearts II. He is obtained by talking to Merlin after visiting the Land of Dragons and Beast's Castle (or Olympus Coliseum if Sora skipped either of the aforementioned worlds). To summon him, Sora uses the Baseball Charm he receives from Merlin.
When Sora, Donald, and Goofy return to Hollow Bastion they reunite with old friends and Sora's magic instructor Merlin who re-teaches Sora some magic attacks, he then gives Sora a special baseball charm to help him along his journey. The charm summons Chicken Little who teams up with Sora and throws baseballs at enemies to stun them. Chicken Little also has a limit called FPS (First Person Shooter) Mode, which allows Sora to shoot firecrackers or baseballs at enemies through a scope in a first person shooter style.
Disney Heroes: Battle Mode
- “An impulsive cockerel that, what he lacks in size he more than makes up in sheer willpower. Wait a minute... hasn't there already been an action movie based on his heroics?”
- ―Chicken Little's in-game Hero description.
Chicken Little in Disney Heroes: Battle Mode
Chicken Little is a playable character in Disney Heroes: Battle Mode. Introduced in Update 6.6., Chicken Little is a Back-line Damage role hero on the Yellow Team. His addition to this game marks a debut for Chicken Little as a playable character in a crossover game. Chicken Little's skills are: "Batter Up!", "The Sky is Falling!", "Soda Surge", "Special Eyes", and "The Acorns". These skills allow Chicken Little to (in the order):
- Chicken Little pulls out a baseball bat and hits a baseball across the battlefield removing all Hardy stacks, dealing Normal Damage and applying a stack of Weakness to enemies hit. As the baseball reaches the edge of the battlefield it bounces back, dealing True Damage and applying a stack of Corruption to enemies hit by the bounce back. Chicken Little has a maximum of baseballs on the battlefield.
- Chicken Little points to the sky and shouts as a space panel falls giving all allies Precise and Energized for a few seconds. While Energized all allies gain extra Energy each time they Basic Attack. Space panels target the enemy with the highest percent of remaining HP dealing Normal Damage and Stunning all nearby enemies for a few seconds. Enemies that prevent this Stun in any way, are instead dealt bonus Normal Damage and Chicken Little gains Energy. Chicken Little can only receive energy this way once for each panel.
- Chicken Little uses a soda bottle to rocket through all enemies dealing Normal Damage. As Chicken Little returns to the battlefield he launches the soda bottle at the Most Wanted enemy, dealing Fantastic Damage per second for a few seconds, Stunning for a few seconds and reducing his Armor for a few seconds. If there is no Most Wanted enemy, Chicken Little will target the enemy with the most Armor.
- At the beginning of each wave, Chicken Little and all enemies are Blind for a few seconds. Chicken Little Gains Basic Damage and a percent of Attack Speed every time his attacks or skills Miss. These buffs cannot be removed and last between waves. Chicken Little can gain up to a certain amount of Basic Damage and Attack Speed this way.
- Chicken Little and allies become stronger, based on their role, everytime a panel falls from “The Sky is Falling!” for a few seconds. These buffs cannot be removed or stolen. Tanks: Deal a percent of the damage mitigated by Armor and Reality to nearby enemies as Normal Damage. Damage: Heroes ignore a percent of enemies’ Armor. Control: Enemies that block Disables with Hardy are dealt bonus Normal Damage. Support: A percent of direct healing is dealt as bonus Normal Damage to enemies near the healed target. Every few Basic Attack misses from Chicken Little, add some extra panels to the next time “The Sky is Falling!” is cast to a maximum amount of panels. Each extra panel deals Normal Damage. Amount of Panels reset on cast of “The Sky is Falling!”. After Chicken Little lands from “Soda Surge”, he becomes Blind for a few seconds. Every time Chicken Little or allies Cleanse or Block a Blind effect, his next Basic Attacks will Miss. Chicken Little is immune to Precise.
Additionally, when Chicken Little misses a basic attack, it splits into 2 acorns that ricochet into the closest enemies dealing Normal Damage. Acorns can only split once.
Chicken Little has friendship campaigns with Daisy Duck and Mulan. He also has friendship campaigns with Candace Flynn and Abby Mallard.
Disney Parks
Chicken Little posing for a photo at one of the Disney Parks.
Chicken Little and Abby used to have appeared as figures in Disney Parks. Afterwards, Chicken Little has not been seen in the US parks for a few years, except for special events such as the Easter parade. Anyone's best bet to meet him is at Disneyland Paris; however, even there he is a rare character.
Gallery
Trivia
- Before Zach Braff was cast as Chicken Little, Michael J. Fox, Paul Walker, Robin Williams, Drake Bell, Josh Peck, Shia LaBeouf, Nathan Lane, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Kenny, Keanu Reeves, D.B. Sweeney, Matthew Broderick, Justin Long, Jon Heder, Steve Carell, Steve Martin, John Travolta, Jack Black, Ben Stiller, Dave Foley, Matt Damon, Jason Lee, and David Spade were all originally considered for the role.[2]
- Incidentally, Broderick collaborated with Amy Sedaris in the live-action film Strangers with Candy, which was also originally released in 2005.
- Chicken Little is the first protagonist to come from a fully CGI-animated Disney film; not counting Aladar, since Dinosaur is more of a hybrid film (i.e. blending CGI with live action).
- Ironically, D.B. Sweeney was one of the proposed actors for Chicken Little himself prior to Zach Braff.
- Chicken Little's inclusion in Kingdom Hearts II has been seen as a way to promote his titular film in Japan, as the film was not yet released in Japan at the time of the game's Japanese release.
- Chicken Little bears some resemblance to Honker Muddlefoot from the show Darkwing Duck.
- Also, he is partially similarly with Eggbert from the animated "Looney Tunes" shorts, because both characters are chickens, both characters are boys and both characters are designed as childrens/teenagers.
- In the Japanese versions of the movie and Kingdom Hearts II, Chicken Little is voiced by a woman instead of a man. Incidentally, the original vision of the film itself has Chicken Little being female who's supposed to be voiced by Holly Hunter.
- Chicken Little makes a small cameo appearance in Big Hero 6. He is seen in the sliding pictures of the San Fransokyo tower.
- Chicken Little has 250,000 feathers on his body.
- In a deleted scene during the "Cooking With Klaus" alternate opening during the part where the reporters tell Chicken Little to know what actor should play him in his movie, there are three actors whose names are puns on real-life actors and animals: Sean Penguin (pun on Sean Penn and Penguin), Brad Pitbull (pun on Brad Pitt and Pit Bull), and Russell Crow (same pronunciation of Russell Crowe).
- He is the second main protagonist of a Walt Disney Animated Classic film who wears glasses, following Milo Thatch. Coincidentally, Michael J. Fox was one of Chicken Little's proposed actors.
See also
References
- ↑ "Interview: “Once Upon a Studio” Directors Trent Correy and Dan Abraham Geek Out Over Disney Animation History". Laughing Place (June 17, 2023).
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Hischak, Thomas S. (2011-09-15). Disney Voice Actors: A Biographical Dictionary (in en). McFarland. ISBN 9780786486946.
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