THE QUALITY IS FALLING IN `CHICKEN LITTLE'.

Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Critic

FOLLOWING THE commercial and critical disappointments of ``Treasure Planet,'' ``Brother Bear'' and ``Home on the Range,'' Disney Animation announced that it would no longer make movies in the traditional, hand-drawn way. The way of the future was computer-generated animation.

But with its first film in the new format, the shockingly mediocre ``Chicken Little,'' Disney has just again proved what animators have been saying all along - it's not the format, it's the story, stupid.

Given the importance Disney was placing on this film, particularly in light of its on-again, off-again negotiations with Pixar Animation, it is remarkable that the studio has delivered a movie so plainly derivative and uninspired as this one.

Rather than use ``Chicken Little'' to establish its own identity in the CG arena, the filmmakers have cobbled together elements of competitors DreamWorks (the numerous pop-culture references and use of parent-friendly ``oldies''), Pixar (a shallow stab at character development) and Nickelodeon (''Jimmy Neutron,'' ``SpongeBob SquarePants'') to create a product that feels like yesterday's news. It's not painful, just completely unnecessary.

The movie begins promisingly enough, outlining the day when Chicken Little (nicely voiced by Zach Braff) became a laughingstock by telling the denizens of his Main Street America town that the sky was falling. There's a good comic bit that manages to squeeze a little more life out of that rolling boulder from ``Raiders of the Lost Ark'' and an opening-credits sequence that nicely establishes Chicken Little's ingenuity in the face of a series of misfortunes. The kid can make lemonade out of lemons.

But he can't get past that one mistake. Chicken Little's dad (voiced by Garry Marshall) tells him it would be best for him to ``disappear,'' prompting a lot of psychobabble about ``closure'' and a montage set to Jimmy Webb's sorrowful anthem ``All I Know,'' which tries to jerk tears at a point when the characters have barely been established. Chicken Little's best friend, the ugly duckling Abby Mallard (Joan Cusack, fine as always), tells her feathered friend that he'll never find redemption until he resolves his father issues. (Maybe Chicken Little will hold onto his resentment, grow up and make ``The Squid and the Whale.'')

What follows is an odd pastiche of ``Bad News Bears,'' ``E.T.'' and ``War of the Worlds.'' The sky does, indeed, fall. Chicken Little gets his closure - and a movie deal. The film's final sequence shows how Hollywood glamorized the truth of Chicken Little's big adventure, delivering a slick ``movie-by-committee.'' It isn't clear whether the filmmakers were aware that they were parodying their own formulaic creation. One thing is certain: Pixar's bargaining power just got stronger.

Glenn Whipp, [phone]

glenn.whipp(at)dailynews.com

CHICKEN LITTLE - Two stars

(G)

Starring: Voices of Zach Braff, Garry Marshall, Joan Cusack.

Director: Mark Dindall.

Running time: 1 hr. 17 min.

Playing: In wide release.

In a nutshell: Disney's first CG movie feels like its last traditionally animated offerings - uninspired. Not painful, just unnecessary.

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Photo:

Runt of the Litter snarfs down a doughnut as Chicken Little lifts weights and Abby Mallard checks out of the action in Disney's new all-CGI ``Chicken Little.''