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77 MINUTES | BOSTON COMMON + FENWAY + FRESH POND + CHESTNUT HILL + SUBURBS The childhood staple gets a big-screen spin. Unfortunately, the folks at Disney (and director Mark Dindal and the plethora of writers) rely on the "wow" factor of 3-D computer animation (which 10 years after Toy Story has lost its "wow") rather than old-fashioned storytelling. The amiable little chick (Zach Braff) becomes the laughing stock of Oakey Oaks after crying wolf about "the sky falling." Even his widower dad (Garry Marshall) doesn't buy it. A year later, Little sounds the alarm again, but this time it's an alien invasion (ripping off E.T. and War of the Worlds). What’s at the core of Chicken Little — standing by the ones you love? a "how to" bully survival guide? a warning to Homeland Security about terrorist alerts? — is hard to discern. Little and his posse of outcasts (Ugly Duckling, Runt, the fat pig, and Fish out of Water) endear, but the rest of the film is derivative and uninspired. Most offensive is the poor selection of songs — it’s a sensory invasion that falls disharmoniously flat.
BY TOM MEEK
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