Animation fans will find this worth the wait, though apparently there's no story-generating software that can tap into the dark recesses of a child's psyche as cannily as Uncle Walt once did.

Beyond a cheeky, twisty bit of genre-tinkering, there's more here for the under-tens than over-, but it's still charming, amusing and energetic enough to win you over.

Truly there's no sense of calm to the film, which feels as if it's been assembled with the manic energy of a preschooler trying to fit square-shaped plastic toys into circle-shaped holes.

Kids might see too much silence and thought as something they’d do in a timeout, so the alien frenzy is thrust too far forward. "Chicken Little" still is fun, even if you don’t quite believe all that it’s telling you.