Chicken Little

[Christian]

One thing that bugs me about Chicken Little is the character's names. I mean, come on. Turky Lurky? Foxy Loxy? Goosey Lucy? Ugh! Talk about lack of creativity!

I'm pretty sure those are names from the original story from decades ago.

[Mike Ventrella]

Howl's Moving Castle is way up on my list, too. The one I am most interested in seeing from this list though is Wallace and Grommit.

[Ben]

Yeah, I agree that a farm setting would have been neat (though a little obvious?), but those names are the original names from the original story.

Actually, as my UK friends might back me up on, in the UK older printings of the book named the title character Chicken Licken, which does keep with the rhyming names, but I always felt didn;t really make much sense.

I like the other names, by Chicken Little is the right one (and as it has been passed down recently).

[Meg]

Yeah, I agree that a farm setting would have been neat (though a little obvious?), but those names are the original names from the original story.

Actually, as my UK friends might back me up on, in the UK older printings of the book named the title character Chicken Licken, which does keep with the rhyming names, but I always felt didn;t really make much sense.

I like the other names, by Chicken Little is the right one (and as it has been passed down recently).

Oh. Strange, never read those names in the versions I read...or maybe it's just been way too long. Ugh, I need to go read that again.

I think they could have, if they did it right, made some sort of cross between a town and a farm, like they live on a farm but act like it's a town...or...something. Kind of like Finding Nemo; there were 'human' elements (e.g. going to school, traffic, ect.), but you still felt like you were in a real coral reef (I would know, I've been to one! ). Shark Tale, on the other hand, used a lot of human eliments. Skyscrapers, race tracks, restraunts, the whole shi-bang, so rather than feeling like you just dived into an ocean, you're wondering who was responsible for flooding New York City.

[Meg]

Ugh...and the "In a few seconds, I'm going to scream like a girl" (or whatever he says) Is sort of funny the first time, but just plain annoying afterwords.

[Meg]

You're right, Vi, the 'going to scream like a girl' gag is just so lame. The only trailer I really found funny was the one attatched to Guide to the Galaxy, but the one thing people laughed most at was the fact it was excactly the same trailer for the movie they're just about to see - until the 'Don't Panic' part. It was just so unexpected, which was why it was so funny. A good amount of laughs were raised by the'RUUUN!' part, too, but I'm pretty sure a lot of them were caused by people still laughing at the twist.

[ShyViolet]

Actually, as my UK friends might back me up on, in the UK older printings of the book named the title character Chicken Licken

That actually makes me hungry.

BTW Meg is your avatar Catdog?

I do kind of agree with your sentiments on SharkTale.

[Meg]

BTW Meg is your avatar Catdog?

Nope. That's my character Shrimp, the star in my comic strip of the same name. Well, it's not an official strip (yet!), but heck, I'm only 14! Thanks for pointing that out, by the way.

Here's a sample pic!



Anyway, if Chicken Little is as good as New Groove, I might go see it. Interesting, though, none of my freinds (who love pretty much every movie ever made and call me 'The Critic') don't want to see it; "It looks stupid." Ouch.

[ShyViolet]

You're only 14?! You seem very mature.

[Meg]

You're only 14?! You seem very mature.

Thank you. And now I think I'll quote the Cheaper by the Dozen novel... "Depends on age, yes. Mental age."

How do you think Chicken Little will do at the B.O.?

[Meg]

IT WAS A KIDS BOOK

You might as well say that "cloudy with a chance of meatballs" was stupid because it had food rain from the skies intead of water.

I know it was a book, but in the book it took place on a farm. Maybe I'm being too critical.

"Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" is awsome!

[ShyViolet]

"Depends on age, yes. Mental age."

Oh I totally agree. Being young has nothing to do with not knowing stuff--just because you've spent more time on this planet doesn't necessarily make you "wiser."

How do you think Chicken Little will do at the B.O.?

Hmmmm....not sure. It will probably start off making money because everyone will assume that it's Pixar, but whether or not it will be a "blockbuster" (and to be a blockbuster in animation nowadays you have to REALLY pull in the dough) it dependent on the story, the acting and perhaps most importantly the cultural/social climate when it's released. Sometimes I think these films do well because they were released at the right time, so the public embraces them. Toy Story did well because it ws something completely new and the story was more fast-paced than the ususal Disney fare. If it came out nowadays, however, I don't know how well it would have done. Ditto Bug's Life. Pixar seems to be very in tune with what people want to see, which is why they've been so lucky with all their releases. Hopefully Disney will return to that position.

Well regardless of how 'good' CL turns out to be, I hope it does well because I know people must have worked very hard on and very long on it.

What's weird is that back in the 80's (pre-Mermaid) whenever an animated movie came out no one had very high hopes for it and if it did do well it was a complete surprise. Quite a few animated movies came out in the early and mid '80s, and a lot of them were not successful financially (for example the Last Unicorn). But that doesn't make them "duds' or 'bombs.' Nowadays, however, every animated movie is judged by how much money it made or didn't make. I think that's kind of short-sighted.

[Ben]

I thing age is a state of mind anyway.

When I was 14, I was mostly interacting with much older people. Not saying I wasn't immature in a lot of ways, but when it came to things I was passionate about, it was older folk who really responded to that and that I could bounce ideas off.

Even now, I don't feel over 21. I kind of got to that age and have stuck there!


Funny, but I put on The Rocketeer randomly last night and noticed that the fantastic Nazi animation scene was directed by Mark Dindal. I knew it was WDFA, but had never put a name to it. Interesting!

[Meg]

When I was 14, I was mostly interacting with much older people. Not saying I wasn't immature in a lot of ways, but when it came to things I was passionate about, it was older folk who really responded to that and that I could bounce ideas off.

Yeah...When I get the chance I usually prefer talking with adults. Most kids my age would rather gossip about "Oh my God, Max is going out with Lisa.", and I hate that. I hate gossiping about people in general, as I've been talked about behind my back (in not a nice way) too many times to count (I probably still do, actually). When you're yakkin' it up with adults, they actually listen to what you say even if they don't want to, and if I can't do that, sometimes I'll just listen in to their conversations. Who knows, I might actually learn something other than why I should wear make-up or date or blah.

The Rocketeer? I've never seen that...is it good?

[Ben]

Good for you!

The Rocketeer? I've never seen that...is it good?

Don't go out and buy this, but get thee to a DVD rental store and make sure you see the widescreen edition of this brilliantly underrated and very fun old-style Disney adventure flick.