Randy Fullmer Movies

An old fable gets a high-tech update in this computer-animated comedy from Walt Disney Pictures. Chicken Little (voice of Zach Braff) is an earnest young fowl living in the town of Oakley Oaks who one day starts a panic when a falling acorn drops on his head, and he warns everyone that the sky has started to collapse. Chicken Little was wrong, of course, much to the embarrassment of his father, Buck Cluck (voice of Garry Marshall), and now the young chicken is struggling to live down the incident. While his best friends Abby Mallard (voice of Joan Cusack), Runt of the Litter (voice of Steve Zahn), and Fish out of Water stand by him, the school's star athlete Foxy Loxy (voice of Amy Sedaris) never passes up an opportunity to make fun of the diminutive chicken. As a result, Chicken Little tends to keep his more recent discoveries to himself, but what's a bird to do when he uncovers pseudo-scientific evidence that suggests the sky really is starting to fall, in large hexagonal chunks? Chicken Little was directed by Mark Dindal, who previously helmed The Emperor's New Groove for Disney. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A ruler learns how the other half lives -- the animal half, that is -- in this animated comedy-adventure from the Walt Disney Studios. Kuzco (voice of David Spade) is the young emperor of an Inca nation who takes a self-centered joy in the troubles of others. Not surprisingly, Kuzco's attitudes have earned the enmity of many of his subjects, including Yzma (voice of Eartha Kitt), a sorceress who wants to seize power away from the emperor after he relieved her of her royal duties, declaring she was too old and unattractive to do the job. Yzma and her musclebound assistant Kronk (voice of Patrick Warburton) hatch a plan to poison Kuzco and take the throne, but thanks to a mistake on Kronk's part, Kuzco isn't killed -- he's instead turned into a talking llama. Kronk can't bring himself to kill the llama, and instead sends the former emperor into the jungle to fend for himself. Kuzco doesn't do too well as a llama until he runs into Pacha (voice of John Goodman), a poor farmer whose property Kuzco once planned to take over for a vacation home. Soft-hearted Pacha agrees to help the emperor-turned-llama find his way back home where, hopefully, another sorcerer can reverse the spell, but once they hit the road, they discover Yzma and Kronk are looking for them, with Yzma determined to finish the assassination she started. Pop star Sting composed several original songs for The Emperor's New Groove, which during its long and troubled production had previously been announced as Kingdom in the Sun and Kingdom of the Sun. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Beauty and the Beast is widely considered the best animated Disney feature of the studio's 1980s/1990s renewal of the form. Based on the classic French fairy tale, it tells the story of Belle (voiced by Paige O'Hara), an intelligent young woman scorned by her townspeople for being a bookworm, weary of fighting off the advances of the arrogant Gaston (Richard White), and dreaming of escape. When her father gets lost in the woods and captured by the forbidding Beast (Robby Benson), a once-handsome prince turned into a monster by a witch, Belle goes off to rescue him. Taken with her, the Beast agrees to release Belle's father if she agrees to stay with him forever. Initially repulsed, Belle soon finds much to appreciate in the Beast's hidden, tender nature. The Beast's servants -- a clock (David Ogden Stiers), a teapot (Angela Lansbury), and a candlestick (Jerry Orbach) -- see Belle as their salvation: if the Beast and a woman fall in love before his 21st birthday, he will be free from the curse. The songs are first-class, the tale is told with sincerity but not sentimentality, and the characters of Belle and the Beast, complex individuals who defy stereotyping and change over the course of the story, are more three-dimensional than in most live-action movies. The eye-popping animation is beautifully rendered, and Beauty and the Beast certainly deserves its place amongst Disney's animated classics. In 2002, a special 89-minute edition of the film was released in IMAX theaters with the addition of a newly animated song, ""Human Again."" ~ Don Kaye, Rovi