Chicken Little (2005) is a computer-generated imagery (CGI) animated film and the forty-fifth animated film made and produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures and Buena Vista Distribution on November 4, 2005. It was written by Mark Dindal and Mark Kennedy with the screenplay by Steve Bencich, Ron J. Friedman, and Ron Anderson and directed by Mark Dindal. The film was animated in-house at WDFA's main headquarters in Burbank, California. Chicken Little is the 45th animated feature in the Disney animated features canon.
This is Disney's first all-CG picture since ceasing production of traditionally-animated films. (Pixar's films were distributed but not produced by Disney, and Dinosaur was a combination of live-action and computer animation).
It is loosely based on the fable Chicken Little, otherwise known as The Sky is Falling. In the small suburban town of Oakey Oaks, Chicken Little (voiced by Scrubs star Zach Braff) rings the school bell and cries for everyone to "run for your lives!" This sends the whole town into a frenzied panic; eventually they calm down enough to ask him what's wrong, and Chicken Little explains that a piece of the sky shaped like a stop sign had fallen on his head when he was sitting under the big oak tree in the town square. He's unable to find the piece now. His father, Buck Cluck (Garry Marshall), ashamedly assumes that this "piece of sky" was just an acorn that had fallen off the tree and had hit him on the head. Chicken Little becomes the laughing stock of the town.
A year later, Little's only friends are outcasts like himself: Abby Mallard (Joan Cusack), who is called "Ugly Duckling"; Runt of the Litter (Steve Zahn), who is extremely large despite being the smallest in his family; and Fish Out Of Water, who wears a helmet full of water and does not speak. All have been mocked and teased by neighborhood bully Foxy Loxy (Amy Sedaris) and her friend Goosey Loosey.
During a dodgeball game (the coach pits the popular vs. the unpopular), Abby tells Little to talk to his dad, when Little wants his dad to be proud. While Little, Abby and Fish are dodging, Runt is getting hit by every ball thrown at him. To help Chicken, Abby hands Little magazines about talking to your parents, but he hands them to Fish, who immediately starts ripping pages out of each one, making a miniature building and airplanes. Fish then proceeds to pull a King Kong impersonation. Foxy and Goosey bully Little and Friends soon after.
Chicken Little joins his school's Little League baseball team in an attempt to recover his reputation and his father's pride, but is unfairly made last, while Foxy Loxy impresses spectators and the newspapers with her pitches and "miracle catches" -- until the ninth inning when Chicken Little, reluctantly called to bat by the coach, scores a home run after two strikes.
But that night back at home, he is hit on the head by what appears to be a hexagon-shaped chunk of the sky with a glowing star on it, only (after narrowly avoiding telling his father about it) to find out that it is not a piece of the sky, but something else. It has chameleonic characteristics- it's not invisible, but it blends into the background. He summons his friends to help figure it out.
When Fish pushes a button on the back of the octagon, it flies back up into the sky, taking Fish with it. It turns out to be part of the camouflage of an invisible alien spaceship, apparently part of an invading force. It is up to Chicken Little and his friends to save the day.
The invasion is actually a misunderstanding, as two aliens are looking for their lost child (whose name is Kirby) and attack only out of concern. Little realizes he must return the lost alien to save the planet. At first he tries to do it covertly but once the aliens attack, he's forced to confront his father and regain his trust first.
In the invasion, Buck Cluck, now regaining his pride and trust in Little, defends Little from the aliens, even going as far as deflecting an incoming vaporisor ray with a garbage can lid, throwing the lid at the creatures, and punching them away at the top of town hall. Abby, Runt and Fish also aid Chicken Little in his little quest to return the child to the alien invaders. After the aliens get the kid, the aliens return everything to normal, and Hollywood makes a heavily dramatized film about Chicken Little.