History WesternAnimation / ChickenLittle

** For every bad day, there's always a new day.

** There's also "Today is a new day".

* FantasticAesop: If you see a danger coming to your hometown, don't bother to warn anyone, because they will make fun of you endlessly.

!!{{Trope}}s in the 1943 short:

* ReferenceOverdosed: Nearly every scene has a reference to some other film, including a few seconds of ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing'''s intro in the beginning.

* SheCleansUpNicely: Foxy Loxy after being brainwashed by the aliens into being girly and nice. And she is kept that way.

* {{Mondegreen}}: While everyone is running from the aliens in the cornfield, Runt loudly eats an ear of corn and says, "Sorry, nervous eater." Because he speaks quickly, it sounds like, "Sorry, nervous here."

* Mondegreen: While everyone is running from the aliens in the cornfield, Runt loudly eats an ear of corn and says, "Sorry, nervous eater." Because he speaks quickly, it sounds like, "Sorry, nervous here."

* NotWhatItLooksLike: Aboard the alien spaceship, Chicken Little and his pals discover a map of the solar system that has several planets ominously crossed out in red, with a circle drawn around Earth and a bunch of arrows pointing to it, and assume, "We're next!" [[spoiler:The aliens actually crossed out those planets because they visited them, but didn't find any acorns there.]]

* NotWhatItLooksLike: Aboard the alien spaceship, Chicken Little and his pals discover a map of the solar system with every planet ominously crossed out in red except Earth, and assume, "We're next!" [[spoiler:The aliens actually crossed out those planets because they visited them, but didn't find any acorns there.]]

* NoRespectGuy: Chicken Little functions as the OnlySaneMan in town, continually being villified for saying "The sky is falling" and reporting the existence of aliens -- until the end of the film, when they discover he was right.

** Don't neglect your own kids to solve their own problems. Talk to them, deal the problem and help them moving on.

* Abby constantly keeps telling Chicken Little to "Stop messing around and deal the problem" about his father. Although in the third time, she meant the Alien Invasion.
* There's also "Today is a new day".

* AdaptationalHeroism: Foxy Loxy is not the culprit behind the film's conflict.

* ArcWords: Abby constantly keeps telling Chicken Little to "Stop messing around and deal the problem" about his father. Although in the third time, she meant the Alien Invasion.

** Don't neglect your own kids to solve their own problems. Talk to them, face the problem and help them moving on.

* AdvertisedExtra: Despite appearing on the DVD cover, the front of the DVD itself and in much of the marketing for the film, Morkubine Porcupine only appears in about 3 scenes in the film and has exactly three words: 'Yo', 'Whoa', and 'No.'

* CallingTheOldManOut: Chicken Little eventually calls out his father for never being there for him (aside from the ball game) ever since the sky falling incident. Buck sees the error of his ways and apologizes.

** One of the rejected openings is the very first scene from ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing''.

* SouthernBelle: Foxy Loxy gets [[MindRape mindraped]] into one in the ending, and she stays that way.

* AliensSpeakingEnglish: Averted by Kirby (who does not speak Engligh), but played straight with his parents (who do).

* GoryDiscretionShot: Once the panic-stricken flock has fled into Foxy Loxy's cave, he wraps a napkin around his neck and shoots inside, blocking it off from within with a boulder. The next scene shows Foxy Loxy sucking a final wishbone clean before planting it in the ground next to the others, deliberately reminiscent of a wartime cemetery.
* IneffectualSympatheticVillain: Deconstructed completely. Foxy Loxy acts and schemes like a standard goofy wise guy predator in a Golden Age cartoon, even falling victim to a bit of slapstick early on. Despite the narrator's predictions however, [[NotSoHarmlessVillain his plan]] ''[[NotSoHarmlessVillain works]]''. Of course, unlike most cases, Foxy Loxy was smart enough to target dumber prey than himself.

* WrongGenreSavvy: After Foxy Loxy captures the flock in his cave, the narrator assures the audience that he knows how the story folds and TheGoodGuysAlwaysWin. He is then dumbfounded to find Foxy Loxy has successfully eaten the entire flock the next scene. Made even more so given that this is (aside from the wartime additions) the actual ending of the original story.

** {{Defied|Trope}}, {{lampshade|Hanging}}d, and mocked Disney's use of it. It was to open the movie, but Buck couldn't deal with it.
-->'''Buck Cluck:''' Oh, no, no, not the book. How many have seen "opening the book" before? Close the book. We're not doing that.
** Also ironic, as [[WhatCouldHaveBeen it was to have one before it got rejected]], as featured on the bonus features for the DVD of the film.

* ThemeNaming: The characters names either rhyme with the species of animal they are (as in the original story), or form an animal-related idiom.

* TheUnintelligible: Fish, who wears a water-filled helmet and communicates through bubbling sounds. Justified since the water makes it hard for others to understand him, and he needs the helmet to breathe.
** IntelligibleUnintelligible: "You want me to do WHAT?!"
* VengefulVendingMachine: Chicken Little asks Runt to get him a soda from the vending machine to [[ItMakesSenseInContext rocket himself to the school bell]] to warn the town about the invasion. When the machine won't take his dollar, Runt goes into a ferocious rage, thrashing and pounding the machine, much to the astonishment of the others. The machine reluctantly spits a single soda bottle out.

* VoiceOfTheLegion: The alien leader's. [[spoiler:It was just a trick.]]
* WellDoneSonGuy: One major point of the movie is Chicken Little trying to do something heroic or amazing so Buck, his father, will finally be proud of him.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: Kirby the alien's parents were so desperate to find their lost son that they brought the Galactic Armada to Earth.
* WorldOfFunnyAnimals: With a unique [[AvertedTrope Aversion]] of NoCartoonFish.
* WorldOfJerkass: Almost every character aside from Chicken Little himself and his friends are self-serving assholes.
* YouHaveToBelieveMe: Chicken Little says this ''a lot''.
* YouWereTryingTooHard: Runt does a good job avoiding dodgeballs for such a large target just by running around in fear. It isn't until he copies Fish's moves at Abby's suggestion that he starts getting pelted with balls.

* BalloonBelly: Foxy Loxy sports a notably distended stomach in the short's ending.
* CunningLikeAFox: Foxy Loxy's intelligence allows him to play all the fowls for saps.
* DarkerAndEdgier: Though it's still all PlayedForLaughs, this is definitely one of the more bleak and cynical of the usually merry WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShorts.

* GoryDiscretionShot: Once the panic-stricken flock has fled into Foxy Loxy's cave, he wraps a napkin around his neck and shoots inside, blocking it off from within with a boulder. The next shot is of Foxy Loxy sucking a final wishbone clean before planting it in the ground next to the others, in a shot deliberately reminiscent of a wartime cemetery.

* WrongGenreSavvy: After Foxy Loxy captures the flock in his cave, the narrator assures the audience that he knows how the story folds and TheGoodGuysAlwaysWin. He is then dumbfounded to find Foxy Loxy has successfully eaten the entire flock the next scene.

** Made even more WrongGenreSavvy by the fact that this is (aside from the wartime additions) the actual ending of the original story.

* HollywoodChameleon: The chameleons posing as stoplights put forth colors not usual for their species and do so in a manner appropriate for use.

* MerchandiseDriven: A claim constantly lobbed at the film, as it existed more to be lucrative like ''Franchise/{{Shrek}}'' while milking products in a way that Pixar wouldn't.
* MissingMom: Chicken Little's mom died at some unspecified point before the start of the film, and Buck Cluck still hasn't learned how to be an effective single parent to his son.
* MobileFishbowl: Fish Out of Water wears a scuba helmet filled with water in order to interact with Chicken Little and the others. The film's editor, Dan Molina, performed the "voice" for Fish by vocalizing through a tube into a water cooler tank full of water.
** There is also a background fish character driving a fishbowl car, which begs the question of how he gets out and goes about his day.
* MoodMotif
* [[ShowWithinAShow Movie Within A Movie]]: At the end of the film, a movie is made of Chicken Little's exploits in saving the town and the world from the aliens. Instead of telling it faithfully, the movie is a cross between Star Trek and Star Wars and stars Creator/AdamWest.
** Also at the start, the characters watch ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk''.

* MurderIsTheBestSolution: [[spoiler:The aliens are actually peaceful acorn gatherers; but when their son disappears, they immediately decide the best solution to the problem would be to blow up an entire planet.]]

* NoRespectGuy: Chicken Little, when it turns out he was sort of right about the sky falling.

* OverprotectiveDad: Kirby's father, definitely.

** Threatening to wipe out a whole planet to find your missing son? Yeah.
** Buck Cluck also gets shades of this during the last part of the film, wherein he starts smacking around aliens, yelling, "Get away from my boy!"
* ParentalNeglect: Buck Cluck. Granted, he sees the error of his ways towards the end, but for the vast majority of the film, he only cares about what the egotistical self-serving townsfolk want, over the well-being of his own flesh and blood. Whenever his son embarrasses him, Buck distances himself from Chicken Little as much as possible.
* PairTheSpares: Runt with the newly feminine and girly acting Foxy Loxy.

* ShoutOut: [[ChickenJoke When trying to cross the road]], Chicken Little uses a daisy stem to climb up a telephone pole and press the button in a similar fashion to WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}} and her weights.
** Also, when Runt is having a FreakOut about Fish being taken to the ship, he clearly references ''Film/{{Alien}}''.
** One of the openings that were rejected was the very first scene from ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing''.

* SouthernBelle: Foxy Loxy gets [[MindRape mindraped]] into one in the ending, and they keep her like that.
* StorybookOpening: {{Defied|Trope}}, {{lampshade|Hanging}}d, and mocked Disney's use of it. It was to open the movie, but Buck couldn't deal with it.

* TrailerSpoof: See above.

* EndOfAnAge: The film was one of the last to come out of Disney's DorkAge and followed a long string of films that were either financial flops or critical failures, which saw Disney's financial shares and appeal drop dramatically following the close of the Renaissance Era. It was ''Chicken Little'' among other such films that prompted Roy E. Disney to oust Michael Eisner from the studio, ushering in Eisner's second banana Bob Iger and lifting Disney out of its long slump.

* FishOutOfWater: LiteralMetaphor
* FootPopping: Done by Abby when kissed.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: The aliens use a hexagon consistently as a shape - most notably, the first sign of them is a hexagonal-shaped piece that falls out of the sky, and the entrance to their space station is hexagonal-shaped. This is foreshadowed by Chicken Little's blanket as shown in the scene (in which he bonds with his father in his room) just preceding the entrance of the aliens: it has a hexagonal-shaped pattern, as shown [[http://imgur.com/bf5jWYz here]].

* FurryReminder: Various animals are shown doing things that pertain to their species from time to time.
* GangOfBullies: Foxy Loxy and Goosey Loosey.
* GentleGiant: Runt of the Litter.

* HandOrObjectUnderwear: Little loses his pants in one scene, and covers himself with his schoolwork.
* HeelFaceBrainwashing: Foxy.

* HollywoodChameleon: The chameleons posing as streetlights.
* HyperventilationBag: Runt does this so hard he accidentally swallows it.

* ImprovisedJetpack: Combined with SodaCanShakeUp, Chicken Little often uses a bottle of soda in order to propel himself to himself to high places. His movie version takes this UpToEleven by using a jetpack powered by soda bottles.
* JerkJock: Foxy Loxy is unusual in that she is a female one, rather than being the AlphaBitch.
** In one scene before her brainwaves got scrambled, she showed shades of JerkWithAHeartOfGold.
* JumpScare: Strange that it's in a kid's movie.
* LighterAndSofter: While still a cynical movie, it's nowhere near as bleak as Disney's take on the material back in 1943, complete with a much more happier ending than the original short's DownerEnding.

* MaliciousMisnaming: Abby's nickname of "Ugly Duckling", as given to her by Foxy.

* AdaptationPersonalityChange: InUniverse. The FilmWithinAFilm of ''Chicken Little'' completely twists all of the main characters. Adventurous CloudCuckoolander Fish is a Mr. Spock expy, panicky Runt is a stalwart boar, UglyCute but helpful Abby is stunning but helpless and nerdy Chicken Little is an rugged ActionHero.

* AliensSpeakingEnglish: Averted by Kirby, but played straight with his parents.
* AllCGICartoon: The first completely computer-animated film not by Pixar for both the Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon and to Disney as a whole.[[note]]The 2000 film ''WesternAnimation/{{Dinosaur}}'' has dinosaur characters rendered in CGI, but the backgrounds in that film are mainly live-action.[[/note]]
* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: With the exception of Abby, Runt and Fish out of Water, Chicken Little is shunned by everyone, including his father.
* AlternativeForeignThemeSong: The theme song for the Japanese dub is [[http://vuighe.net/mp3/nghe-bai-hat-vuighe-1073792015.html "Itsuka Kitto"]] by Mayo Okamoto. For the Latin American dub there was [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-XGGm48rWg "Todos Tenemos A Alguien"]] (We All Have Somebody) by Alejandro Lerner.

* BarefootCartoonAnimal: Most of the cast.
* TheBenchwarmer: When Chicken Little decides to sign up for baseball in hopes of redeeming himself to the public, he is treated the same way as before with the team not even giving him a chance to go up for bat and just keeping him on the bench for all the games. In the one game where he finally does get to go up for bat, he is told not to swing and go for a walk by the coach while the audience complains that he's going to lose the game. Not only does Chicken Little ignore the coach's demand, he manages to score the winning run for the team.

* TheBigDamnKiss: Chicken Little does one on Abby during the invasion.

* BrickJoke: Chicken Little's Origami pants, which his movie counterpart wears at the end when he and Movie!Abby fly off.

* ButtMonkey: Chicken Little.
* CallingTheOldManOut: Chicken Little eventually calls out his father for never being there for him (aside from the ball game) ever since the sky falling incident, making Buck see the error of his ways and apologize.

* CloudCuckoolander: The Mayor, though he has moments of lucidity.

* ContagiousCassandraTruth: When the title character finally succeeds in convincing his friends that "the sky is falling" [[spoiler:(in other words, an alien ship was visiting)]], when they try to back him up, the rest of the town don't believe them either.

* CuteMute: Fish Out of Water.

* DisasterDominoes: Chicken Little has a habit of creating more than a few of these, some intentionally, some not.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: The tomboy school bully Foxy Loxy being held captive by the aliens. Only to return home brainwashed and rather feminine and girly in both mannerisms and appearance than was normally. Very similar to one having gone through a successful gay conversion therapy against their will.

* EarlyBirdCameo: The titular character appeared in Japan in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' before the film was released in theaters. Ironically, Little is quite useful, and you get him very early in the game, after completing two Disney worlds.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: Chicken Little repeatedly struggles with derision and mistrust from friends, family, and all who know him. Also, his mom is dead. But in the end, his "crazy talk" is vindicated, he becomes a hero to the town, he gets a better relationship with his dad, and he and Abby become a couple.
* EasilyForgiven: Chicken Little and everyone else in Oakey Oaks let the near-destruction of the planet in response to their missing child slide.

* EndOfAnAge: In a sense; the film was one of the last to come out of Disney's DorkAge and followed a long string of films that were either financial flops or critical failures, which saw Disney's shares and appeal drop dramatically following the close of the Renaissance Era. It was ''Chicken Little'' among other such films that prompted Roy E. Disney to oust Michael Eisner from the studio, ushering in Eisner's second banana Bob Iger and lifting Disney out of its long slump.