Chicken Little 3D

An insane little chicken who cried wolf one too many times soon has reason for the town to believe him. A year after creating widespread public panic in Oakey Oaks, Chicken Little has really worked hard at earning the trust of the town once again. But when the sky really does fall in the form of an alien invasion, Chicken Little has a bigger excuse than an acorn to alert the other Oakey Oaksters. (Suzanne Hodges)

Special features include an interactive Filmmaker Q & A, where you are given the chance to ask the filmmakers questions at any time during the movie; audio commentary with Director Mark Dindal, Producer Randy Fullmer, and Visual Effects Supervisor Steve Goldberg; a movie showcase; an Alien Invasion Game; eight deleted scenes with optional introductions; The Cheetah Girls "Shake Your Tail Feather" music video; the Barenaked Ladies "One Little Slip" music video; the "One Little Slip" karaoke; the "One Little Slip" sing along; the featurette "Hatching 'Chicken Little': The Making Of The Movie" (SD 18:05); two Easter Eggs: "Runt Of The Litter" (HD 01:07) and "Foxy Loxy" (HD 00:57); and up-front ads. The three-disc set includes a Blu-ray™ 3D, a Blu-ray Disc™, and a DVD.

First reviewed in Issue 120 as an anamorphically enhanced 1.78:1 DVD, the picture certainly looked fantastic, with the vividly colored computer animation popping from the screen. Images were sharp and detailed, with exceptional dimension. Even "shadow detail" was nicely rendered. The picture was exceptionally clean, with no bothersome edge enhancement or pixelization. This was a solid visual experience in all aspects. In Issue 120 the reviewed 1.78:1 Blu-ray Disc looked surprisingly natural, with well-balanced colors, good dimensionality, and well-resolved details in the many different textures. While black levels were not overly deep, details in the shadows were easy to make out. The new 1080p MVC 3-D picture is tremendously enhanced visually, even in the numerous segments of dark or "low-lit" renderings that should be viewed in a darkened, preferably black room with a 3-D display capable of excellent contrast. Color fidelity here is excellent and exhibits rich and warm hues. Resolution as well is first rate. Overall, the 3-D visualization is reserved, with a mostly natural positive parallax "window" depth perspective. However, dimensionality can be impressively realistic and exciting visually, such as during the alien attack. A few times visual effects actually come out of the screen, for an effective dramatic play. Slight crosstalk ghosting is evident in a few places but never is the artifact distracting. Of course, the degree of crosstalk one experiences will largely depend on the capabilities of your display device and 3-D glasses. Overall, while an earlier 3-D production, this is a well-executed 3-D experience that really delivers added energy to a very fun animated tale. (Gary Reber)

Although the DVD's Dolby® Digital 5.1-channel soundtrack was rather subdued, it used an impressive mix that really energized the listening space. Pans across the front stage and the side walls were believable, but pans across the surroundfield were limited in their effectiveness. The LFE channel was used sparingly to heighten the intense scenes, with some deep bass present in each of the full-range channels when needed. As with the uncompressed linear PCM 5.1-channel encoding, the new remastered DTS-HD Master Audio™ 5.1-channel soundtrack provides pristine fidelity and superb dynamic range. Dialogue can still sound slightly forward, as often is the case with animated titles. The mix is lively and exciting, and phantom imaging around the room is delivered well with an aggressive directional presence. The music score, at times, slightly overpowers the other elements, which may be annoying to some. Overall, this is a great soundtrack experience with lots of energy and great dynamics. (Gary Reber)