YMMV / Chicken Little (1943)

• Magnificent Bastard: Foxy Loxy desires to eat all of the birds from a nearby farmhouse. Prevented from getting in by force, he turns to a psychology book to manipulate the foolish Chicken Little into thinking the sky is falling. When his plan is foiled by Cocky Locky, the birds' leader, Foxy uses disguises and rumors to make the others think he's unfit to lead, then encourages Chicken Little to declare himself leader. Foxy uses another piece of "sky" to discredit Cocky Locky and tricks Chicken Little into luring the birds to his cave, where he successfully eats them all. Foxy Loxy stands out as one of the shrewdest Disney villains in this cautionary tale of hysteria.
• Nightmare Fuel: The very disturbing ending where the fox devours every chicken, duck, goose, and turkey alive. We then cut to the aftermath with countless bones and an extremely fat fox who is more than pleased with his giant meal. When the narrator says, "Hey, wait a minute! This isn't right! That's not the way it ends in my book!", the fox just smugly tells him not to believe everything he reads.
  • Made more disturbing when you think about what it would be like to be in their shoes, panicking, crowded, trapped in a dark cave with a large (to them) carnivore that's going to kill and eat them all, and they can't do a damn thing about it, and no help is coming. As the fox made his way through their ranks, the remaining ones would have to watch the fox get fatter and fatter from eating their friends and neighbors alive - and all they can do is wait for the end.
• Older Than They Think: Though the narrator in the original version of the short is shocked by Foxy Loxy winning, most versions of the fairy tale actually end up with everyone (except, in some cases, Chicken Little) being eaten; only the most "Disneyfied" versions have them all get away safe. This may be why Jiminy Cricket's narration is far more resigned about this somber conclusion.
• Values Resonance: Though this was originally made in the context of World War II, as a cautionary tale about believing the enemy's propaganda, it's just as relevant today as a warning about how any sort of unreliable news or "alternative facts" can lead you into trouble if you don't verify said news or facts for yourself.

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