Chicken Little

Story quality, not animation skill, is where Disney falls short of Pixar | Andrew Coffin

Most computer-animated feature films released these days are judged against the gold standard for computer animation, Pixar. With Chicken Little there's a particularly good reason to make the comparison. It is, after all, Disney's first attempt to duplicate the unrivaled success of Steve Jobs' animation studio after severing the long-standing distribution relationship the two companies enjoyed.

What we already knew is that the wizardry at Pixar goes far beyond the artistry of its geniuses' computer animation. That technical skill, as Chicken Little proves, can be approximated. It's story quality, though, that really separates Disney from Pixar. Chicken Little is entertaining, occasionally clever, but almost instantly forgettable.