Chicken Licken

Chicken Licken is a 1992 animated-musical-comedy film produced by MacNamara-Pierre Pictures and distributed by Olympus Distribution around the world except in Canada, where it was distributed by Rufus Pictures. The MacNamara-Pierre's 12th animated feature, the film was directed by Loïc Schaeffer and produced by Sara Taylor and Melody McCoy, from a screenplay written by Cameron Roth and Xavier Thatcher. The film is featured by Ellis Murphy, Addyson Rosa, Billy Duffy, Leslie Benjamin, Lizbeth Cote, Memphis Pace, Taylor Booth, Jionni Holland, Mya Cole, Killian Knapp, Elena Welch and Axton Holland. Its soundtrack was composed and scores by Jamaican film score composer Shannel Sowley, who also wrote the film songs.

Set in 1950's Europe, the film is an adaptation of the European folk tale of the same name, and mixes features of the original tale with new plots, including a new ending to the story, where the protagonist matures and creates a sense of the trap he got into, after being easily deceived by the fox Foxy Loxy, who this time is more evil than in the original tale, and even commits kidnappings to prevent other characters from telling Chicken the truth. Foxy Loxy is also more severe in her plan, seeking to kill Licken and her impaled friends and then fry them, and in case of ration, will kill anyone who reacts by suffocating. Loxy tricks Chicken by throwing a nut on his head, and claiming the false rumor that the world would be near the end, and that heaven would fall on everyone, and that he should warn everyone.

was released on June 24, 1992, being welcomed by critics and the public for the mastery with which they adapted and improved the European folk tale, this animation is also the most popular adaptation of the tale to the point of surpassing even the original version. Chicken was the second-highest-grossing film in MacNamara-Pierre history until 1997, when that title was passed to Huusild, which lost the title of top-grossing film in the studio's history to Strange Miracle. However, did not repeat the feat of having a large number of nominations for awards, as well as its predecessor, but still won two Oscars, one of which being a special category, and 4 Golden Globes.

Plot
Foxy Loxy is a wise and deceitful fox who lives in a forest next to a large farm, in this place turkeys, chickens, roosters, geese and other animals such as pigs and even mice live harmoniously and in a life without many worries. There also lives Chicken Licken, who is superstitious and paranoid, as well as quite naive. One day the chicken is resting under a tree, where Loxy is lying on a branch, and upon noticing the presence of the chicken, she has a plan to use it as a scapegoat, so that she can devour all the birds present in the farm, in a plan that has been building for some time.

Foxy throws a nut at Chicken's head (which gives rise to the movie poster, where countless nuts fall from the sky), who naively despairs over the situation, the fox taking advantage of the chicken's reaction decides to tell him the false news that the world would be coming to an end, and that the sky would fall on top from everyone, and says that this was a sign to Licken to save all the friends, and says that the right thing to do on that occasion would be to warn everyone of the "end of the world". Chicken first goes to the lake, where he tells Ducky Lucky what happened, leaving her confused and scared, she then joins Chicken to warn the other animals, but when they arrive at the farm they are contained by running madly, and making the biggest fuss in the yard. Soon afterwards they are questioned by Cocky Locky for making such a ruckus, and they say that they wanted to warn everyone that the sky would fall and the world would come to an end, which leads to everyone bursting out laughing with Chicken and Ducky's report.

The next day, Licken and Lucky are hanging out in the shade of the tree where Loxy tricked the chicken the day before, and are increasingly worried about what to do to alert their friends. They are then Layla Rat about why they are so negative, Chicken then talks about what happened the day before, Layla then counters why it happened to him and while nothing happened to the others, including Ducky. Foxy then appears from behind a bush, and retorts the mouse calling her a heretic, telling her that she should regret doubting what is in plain sight, after sending her away from the place, Foxy asks why that sadness, Licken then replies that no one believed him except Lucky, who was the only one who reached out to help him.

Upon discovering that, the fox then sees that there was no point in deceiving Chicken if he did not deceive others and for that he sends the chicken and the duck to the farm, meanwhile Layla secretly follows Loxy, and discovers that he is the one who threw the nut on Chicken's head. Loxy then decides to throw a nut at the head of Goose Loose, a goose of surprising credibility among farm animals. Goose is in a pasture reading a book, when Loxy throws a nut at Goose's head, and seeing him confused, tells the same news he told Licken. Goose is then completely scared of such a possibility, and upon arriving at the farm, where Licken, upon seeing him, talks about the rumor he was induced to believe. the goose then says that he was also warned by Fozy for this, which makes Chicken celebrate knowing that he can use Loose as his weapon to spread the news of the "end of the world" he received.

So then they go back to meet Cocky Locky, and talks again about the rumor he told the rooster earlier, again Locky refuses to believe the rumor, but Goose then says that the same thing happened to him, the rooster then begins to deposit his veracity about the news after Loose's speech, Cocky then decides to believe it and if what they say is true, he will alert everyone. In the next day, Licken is telling Goose and Locky about the moment the nut landed on his head, Foxy then again throws another two nuts, one at Ducky Lucky and the other at Cocky, who are terrified to personally experience such an "event". Foxy then again introduces herself and criticizes Locky, for having been a denialist until that moment and he tells the same that he should have believed before, and thanks to him the deadline is getting tighter and tighter, and tells to the group they still need to alert a bird, which is the most peaceful and carefree of all, Turkey Lurkey and next to him his inseparable friend Hen Pen. They then desperately go and tell the two friends, while mocking the naivety of each, mainly Licken, he notices that Layla Rat is watching, and then seeing her as a possible destroyer of his plan, he goes up to Laya and kidnaps her, throwing her into a deep hole in the middle of the forest.

When they reach the hills where Hen Pen and Turkey are relaxing, the group formed by Licken, Goose, Ducky and Locky soon insist on shouting the "end of the world". Turkey soon jumps in fright with the screaming and Hen is in a state of shock with the riot, so Lurkey calms the group's spirits and calmly asks Chicken about what happens, the protagonist then tells little by little about what happened until they go tell the turkey. Pen is terrified of such a possibility, while Lurkey, although he remains calm, is thoughtful about the situation.

Layla tries in every possible way to climb the hole where Loxy threw him, until she despairs and starts to cry, her cries are heard by the squirrels Tyrell and Isabel, and also by the good snake Jakey Snakey, who work together to get the rat out of there, and and after saving them she asks them for help to reveal Foxy's rotten plan before he kills his six friends. Meanwhile the fox finds a swan in a lake where it is, and looks at it in a way that scares its prey, and when the bird tries to flee and is surrounded by Loxy, and in an attempt to react it is neutralized and suffocated by Foxy to death, the same swears to himself that he will do the same to the group of birds if they discover the truth and try to fight back.

Days pass, Foxy continues deceiving Chicken and the rest of the group while Layla, Tyrell, Isabel and Jakey try to open their eyes to the truth, one day then Chicken is guided by Tyrell to the woods, more specifically to a burrow that Loxy was digging, when asking what that meant, Tyrell then asks him to listen, Licken then listens and hears what he would never imagine hearing, he discovers that that burrow would be where Foxy falsely sheltered the birds and there he would kill and eat them. Chicken then discovers that all this time, he was a big idiot who let himself be guided by the talk of a fox he had never seen in his life, the squirrel then tells Licken that the best thing to do was apologize to his friends for having made them believe a lie. He does what the squirrel suggested and tells everything he saw to Ducky, Locky, Turkey, Pen and Loose, which makes them all angry, they then decide never to trust him again, under any circumstances. Licken, however, asks Ducky, who was the first one he trusted in his entire life, to follow his side, Lucky thinks about leaving, but because he has already become emotionally attached to the rooster, he decides to stay with him, which makes Licken happy, and ready to put an end to the fox, so that he doesn't deceive them or anyone else again.

Licken then asks for the help of Layla, who was the first to alert him about the deceiving tod, Layla then gathers her companions to help in the final clash against Loxy and so they go prepared for battle, Loxy then notices the movement in front of the burrow and decides to see what was happening, seeing Chicken, Ducky and the others, asks what the protagonist is intending to do, Licken replies by asking what he intends to do creating that burrow, he tries to deceive the chicken again, but Chicken is no longer stupid, and says that he saw and heard everything he said, leaving Foxy with no way out but to demonstrate his true intention, the tod then tries to give a boat to Licken, who dodges and makes him face a rock. Ducky then starts to pinch his head, Loxy reacts by punching Lucky in the face, who is completely unable to fight and is completely dizzy, she then leaves the forest, leaving Chicken curious as to why she left there. Meanwhile, the squirrels bite both of Loxy's hind legs, throwing them towards Jakey and leaving them dizzy, now there's only Licken and Layla left, Layla tries to attack him but is thrown away, and Chicken tries to flee, but the boat the fox is faster and leaves him completely unresponsive, Foxy then asks where Licken's friends are.

What Loxy doesn't expect is that when he plans to bite Chicken, he is surprised by Locky's big crowing, which is accompanied by Goose, Pen, Duckey and Turkey, Loxy then puts himself in an attacking position again, but Licken pinches him on the tail and leaves Loxy off guard, giving space for Turkey to apply a punch, which washes him to the ground, after which the birds gather and begin to incessantly pinch the fox, the tod is then completely dizzy, and then Locky applies a stronger blow to him than Turkey's, making him fall at full speed into the den, but the fox's bad luck does not end there, the blow of his head on the den's wall was so strong that it ends up collapsing, and ironically killing him the way he loved to kill his victims, by suffocating.

after the fight, everyone then gathers and Chicken thanks each one of them for having helped him in his maturation, and he then promises to never believe in a rumor without checking if it is true, and much less if that rumor comes from a fox. The film then passes, and it is revealed to the public that the one who narrates the whole story is actually Chicken Licken himself, already grown up, and he narrates this story to other chicks, after finishing the tale, he joins Ducky Lucky, Cocky Locky, Goose Loose, Hen Pen, Turkey Lurke, Layla Rat, Jakey Snakey and Squirrel Tyrell and Isabel, thus ending the film.

Voice cast

 * Chicken Licken (voiced by Ellis Murphy) is the protagonist of the story, he is a naive chicken, who is easily deceived by Foxy Loxy. He spends the film believing in the untrue "end of the world", a rumor created by Loxy to lure Chicken and his friends into his lair, and thus devour them. Licken goes through maturity at the end of the film, and at the end, he narrates his own story to other chicks, as a sign that he has learned his lesson and wants to teach it to others.
 * Axton Holland voiced Chicken Licken in its fully grown form.
 * Ducky Lucky (voiced by Addyson Rosa) is a female duck, who is the first to believe in the rumor that the sky would fall and the world would come to an end, she is the most faithful of all of the groups formed by Chicken Licken, being the only one who follows by her side even after the even reveal that he spread a lie.
 * Cockey Lockey (voiced by Billy Duffy) it is a rooster who is the third to believe in the rumor spread by Chicken Licken, he at first shows disbelief of the rumor, but with the statements of Goose Loose, who has high credibility among the farm animals, he starts to believe in this lie. His athletic body makes him also seemingly the strongest of the group, as demonstrated when he punches Foxy Loxy in the final battle.
 * Goose Loose (voiced by Leslie Benjamin) is a female goose, he has a high credibility on the farm, for his intellectuality, she is induced to believe Loxy's lie and joins Chicken.
 * Turkey Lurkey (voiced by Memphis Pace) is a completely relaxed turkey, who, even in moments of distress, is unshaken and always remains intact. he also appears to have a great amount of strength, as demonstrated when he beats up Foxy Loxy in the final battle.
 * Hen Pen (voiced by Lizbeth Cote) is a chicken that is a friend of Turkey Lurkey, unlike his friend, he gets stressed easily and is always scared.
 * Foxy Loxy (voiced by Taylor Booth) is the villain of the film, a smart and articulate tod who doesn't waste energy to deceive, kill and eliminate any obstacle in his path, he is the one who induces Chicken Licken to spread lies about the "end of the world", and when unmasked, he doesn't he is afraid to show his true face to the protagonist, in the end, his big lie leads him to death, when he dies suffocated under the pile of earth that was once the burrow where he planned to corner Chicken and his companions.
 * Layla Rat (voiced by Mya Cole) is a rat that already knows Foxy Loxy's tricks and tries to warn Chicken and the others, being ignored at first in this objective.
 * Jakey Snakey (voiced by Jionni Holland) is a good snake that instead of being evil as traditionally portrayed in stories and tales, decides to help Licken in discovering the villain's true intentions.
 * Squirrel Tyrell (voiced by Killian Knapp) Jake's friend and Isabel's husband, the squirrel reveals to Chicken who Foxy Loxy really is, and helps him teach the villain a final lesson.
 * Squirrel Isabel (voiced by Elena Welch) Tyrell's wife, Isabel is a quick and brave squirrel who, despite her size, is not intimidated by Foxy.

Development and animation
The idea of Chicken Licken had been an old constant in the creative department at MacNamara-Pierre Pictures since the 1970s, when the two heads of the company were interested in adapting some folktale as an animation for the big screen, and Chicken was always on the agenda. in 1987, screenplayer Cameron Roth, who thought the idea of adapting Licken to the cinemas, and giving the tale another ending where this time Foxy Loxy is eliminated, decided to give Maximilian MacNamara a storyboard about this possible film, MacNamara he liked the script's premise and then decided to give the film a chance, which for so many years only hovered around the studio's creativity, without ever actually materializing.

On December 3, 1987, just days before MacNamara-Pierre employees were to go on vacation, Roth met with MacNamara and Kian Pierre, Sr., who was still not in agreement with his partner on the idea, Cameron then decided to make some adjustments to the story, making it less dark than originally planned, finally pleasing Kian, but he got sick and did not have time to approve the idea, leaving his son, Kian Pierre II, with the obligation to decide the direction of Chicken Licken. Pierre II approved the idea without major problems, however the production of the project, in addition to having to deal with a medium budget and not being produced by the main batch of animators at MacNamara-Pierre, had to deal with changing animators during the process, since that some were moved to animate Huusild, who had a budget of $23 million more than Chicken and was with the company's "experts", however, with all the obstacles, the film began to be officially produced in June 1988, with a deadline for completion until the beginning of 1992. The film was initially directed by Jasper Newman, who had directed Horos (1984), Loïc Schaeffer later joined the direction of the film side by side with Newman from 1989, Schaeffer was the head of the stories for Republic of the Forest (1983) and Rainbow Escape (1989), Jasper Newman left the production of Chicken Licken in 1991, when he joined the project of Strange Miracle (1997) also as director.

In 1990, Xavier Thatcher joined the screenplay alongside Cameron Roth, Thatcher still did not agree with some parts of the story and decided to change them, including the idea that Foxy would deceive Chicken by throwing a nut on his head. To hone the animators' skills in animating birds such as turkeys, roosters, chickens, and geese, producers Sara Taylor and Melody McCoy decided to spend a few weeks on a farm and record the birds' movements and behaviors. The plan worked and made the animators even more capable of drawing the film's protagonists. In 1991, with Newman's departure from directing the film, Loïc Schaeffer continued to run the project alone, thus letting his script prevail, and so it continued until the end of production. In 1992, the film was fully completed and only the final scenes were enough, for the sequence, Schaeffer decided that it would be a good idea to present Chicken already as an adult rooster who transmits his story to other chicks, which would be a metaphor for the immortality of the tale in people's minds.

Casting
Unlike its predecessor, Chicken Licken did not have such a renowned voice cast, having opted for more "unknown" names. To dub Chicken Licken, numerous newbies were considered, in which the 13-year-old boy Ellis Murphy stood out, and ended up being chosen to dub Licken. To dub Chicken in its adult stage, several names were considered, including Taylor Booth, who had previously voiced Huusild and stood out, but Schaeffer thought that his voice could better fit the villain Foxy Loxy, and so other names were considered, such as Joel Butler (who had voiced the antagonist Adam in Huusild) as well as singer Axton Holland, who ended up voicing the adult form of the protagonist.

Some others were accepted to dub their respective characters at first, as was the case of Lizbeth Cote (Hen Pen), Mya Cole (Layla Rat), Billy Duffy (Cocky Locky) and Elena Welch (Squirrel Isabel), others however needed two auditions or more to get their characters voiced, as happened with Memphis Pace (Turkey Lurkey), Leslie Benjamin (Goose Loose), Jionni Holland (Jakey Snakey), Addyson Rosa (Ducky Lucky) and Killian Knapp (Tyrell Squirrel).

To voice the villain Foxy Loxy, at first Lucas Campbell (Troe's voice actor in Rainbown Escape) was quoted, but he did not accept the role, so Taylor Booth was cast after the tremendous success he had done voicing Huusild, Booth accepted the role and broke a record after dubbing in two consecutive films from the same studio.

Soundtrack
Jamaican composer and lyricist Shannel Sowley was responsible for producing the film's music, having written her own music and composed and orchestrated the incidental score.

Theatrical
The film was released on June 24, 1992 in all US theaters.

The film was released in Latin America on September 19, 1992, in Europe, the film was varied between October and November 1992, in Asia and Oceania, the film only reached theaters in 1993.

Home media
The film was released for VHS and Laser on March 22, 1993, containing an edition that came with a special edition of the original soundtrack plus an oil painting featuring all the characters from the film. The LaserDisc edition also featured the making of and behind the scenes dubbing of the characters, as well as an action figure of each character in the film. The film was re-released on DVD on June 15, 2002, in a special edition of the 10-year anniversary of the original release of the film, this edition came with some reports from the voice actors, animators, producers and others who were behind the scenes about the film since the beginnings of its production, in 1988.

In 2012, it was re-released in a 2-in-1 edition with Rainbow Escape (1989), having been released for the first time on Blu-ray, in 2020, following the trend of other MacNamara-Pierre Picture films, it was released on streaming platforms.