Chicken Little

GeorgeC · Post by **GeorgeC** » February 26th, 2005, 5:25 am

As much as people don't like the fact that the powers-that-be at Ratville (the new name for Mouseville) dumped the old animation department, it's a bit too early to jump to conclusions and assume Chicken Little WILL be a failure.

If its biggest competition is a new Zorro film, then it has a good chance of STILL being a hit unless it has the worst story, animation, and acting. The Shrek series apparently proved that you CAN have mediocre comedy AND mediocre animation but the general public won't care as long as the final product strikes some contemporary fancy.

Heck, Shrek 1's trailer DIDN'T look half as competent as the recent Chicken Little trailer I saw and there's no question that I felt the Chicken Little trailer was a lot more appealing than anything I've seen of Robots so far.

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Zorro's got Banderas in it. So what? His biggest success has been voicing a cat in a film where he was part of an ensemble!

(I say as a Hispanic that frankly it escapes why some people think Banderas is a good actor... He's mediocre at best.)

As good-looking as Zeta-Jones is, she's not a big draw for me, either. I care more about the STORY of the film and whether THAT INTERESTS me than the people playing the parts unless the lead's a really bad actor -- I'm talking Keanu Reeves or Ben Affleck-caliber BAD...!

Zorro really hasn't been big for decades now. The character's biggest moment in the sun was the Guy Williams' Disney TV series and that was the late 1950s! Given a choice between a B-level actor in a film about a half-forgotten character or a CGI paranoid chick, I think the chick's going to get the bigger part of the box office opening weekend.

We all complain and moan, but the fact is that even Eisner's worst days on the job haven't completely erased the Disney brand-name. Again, unless Chicken Little is completely awful, parents WILL be dragged along BY THEIR KIDS to see this film. The CGI fad hasn't faded yet...

Post by **Macaluso** » February 26th, 2005, 9:06 am

Wait... There's another Zorry movie with Antonio Bandaris in it?

Post by **Uli** » February 26th, 2005, 10:29 am

Post by **PatrickvD** » February 26th, 2005, 10:55 am

Disney will do crappy in theaters all year untill Chicken Little and Narnia come around. Sort of like National Treasure and The Incredibles this year. Zorro doesn't have the same audience though. Both will do fine.

Post by **Macaluso** » February 26th, 2005, 12:09 pm

Uli wrote:Who Banderases about Antonio?
It's the adventure that matters after all !!!

...what?

Post by **askmike1** » February 26th, 2005, 1:02 pm

Disney really didn't have a choice. The whole summer period is flooded with big movies. Week after week another big movie is out. They had two choices.
1) Leave it in June so it has the whole summer...yet it would be in competition from Madagascar and a new big movie every week.
or
2) Move it to Novemeber where big movies are fewer and farther between. Of course this isn't to say that the winter is less competative...it still will have to face Harry Potter and Disney's Narnia.
I think Disney made the right decision though. Besides I'm expecting WotW to be bigger than Zorro. I know what WotW is but have not a clue who Zorro is (except that he's from Mexico).

Post by **Ben** » February 26th, 2005, 4:12 pm

The first Zorro was a hoot! Took me right back to being a kid in the 1980s and sitting through a slick, Amblin-produced actioner, like Back To The Future or InnerSpace.

It was just...FUN!

Looking forward to this one, but do believe that there is room for both - as much as Zorro has a built in awareness, audiences might want to try something new!

Post by **AniMan** » February 27th, 2005, 10:34 am

GeorgeC, you're killing me here! Shrek -- mediocre comedy and animation?? Woo-hoo! Wow! I gotta say, you people who hate Shrek seem to be on some kind of mission to try and tear the film apart. Reality check: the film was so successful because it had an original story, funny, appealing characters, and incredible animation. Millions of people agree.
That said, I do look forward to Chicken Little. I think the story sounds great and I like the child-like look of the animation (look at Chicken Little's house --- I love it!

) In the trailer I have seen, some of the animation looked a little too simplistic in spots (like Jimmy Neutron simple) but that won't matter if the story is as good as it sounds. As far as how well it will do against a new Zorro film: give me a break. While I loved the first Zorro film, I do not believe it will be nearly the box office hit the first one was. I think Chicken Little will beat out Zorro and open at number one when it's released. Mark my words

Post by **askmike1** » February 27th, 2005, 12:04 pm

I also like Chicken Little's animation style. Disney's the first studio to bring a real toon-ish quality to CG.

As for Zorro, I guarantee that almost no one in CL's target group know who Zorro is.

Post by **Josh** » February 28th, 2005, 1:36 pm

For those of you who didn't know about The Legend of Zorro, here are some pics: http://latinoreview.com/films_2005/sony ... /tloz.html.

Post by **Dacey** » March 1st, 2005, 6:34 pm

I don't know how many kids are really going to be seeing "Zorro". They're going to be flocking over to see "Chicken Little" that weekend.

Post by **Josh** » March 1st, 2005, 7:57 pm

I hope you are right. But what about the teenagers and fans of the old Zorro who will be flocking to see The Legend of Zorro? Their tickets will cost more than the kiddies', meaning even if Chicken Little sold as many tickets as Zorro, Zorro would still win at the box office.

Post by **Uli** » March 2nd, 2005, 11:52 am

Post by **Uli** » March 2nd, 2005, 11:54 am

Post by **AniMan** » March 2nd, 2005, 12:33 pm

Uli wrote:
Mickey A wrote:... if Chicken Little sold as many tickets as Zorro, Zorro would still win at the box office.
I don't know. That "mature" element in the story sounds kinda disturbing...

Huh? What "mature" element are you talking about, and in which movie?