In the past few years, Disney has turned out some of the funniest and best computer-animated movies, such as “Monsters, Inc.,” “Finding Nemo” and “The Incredibles.” Those movies, however, were all made using Pixar’s magic touch. “Chicken Little” is the first computer-animated movie Disney has embarked on sans Pixar – and it shows.

This movie picks up where the original British story leaves off, showing what happens after Chicken Little, voiced by Zach Braff, “mistakenly” believes the sky is falling. The story became a little commercialized along the way, however. His dad’s humiliation after the incident only increases when a studio decides to make a movie out of his son’s mistake.

Of course, the audience knows Chicken Little is indeed telling the truth. Not only is the sky literally falling on his head, it is succumbing to gravity because of aliens that look like animated versions of Steven Spielberg’s creatures from “War of the Worlds.”

The movie mainly plays off a child’s desire to please a parent. Not only is Chicken Little scrawny, slightly crazy and part of the unpopular crowd, he is also untalented when compared to his father, the town’s former baseball star, voiced by Garry Marshall.

It is a familiar and important family dynamic, and it has been seen many times in many movies. It’s funny here because, quite honestly, how many parents would believe a child who was convinced a stop sign-shaped chunk of sky fell to Earth? Chicken Little is willing to do anything to earn his dad’s favor, including facing one of his greatest personal challenges – baseball.

The animals and town make “Chicken Little” amusing because they are given very human and mundane characteristics for being in a very unusual situation. The voice talent is very entertaining and the reflexivity of the movie is also quirky. Not only is it a movie about a geeky little chicken who has to save the world from impending alien doom, it’s a movie about a geeky little chicken who is getting his own movie about saving the world.

The main problem with the story, however, is that although it has its endearing moments, it is not as engaging for the audience as it could be. Its cute moments have been seen before, particularly in Disney fluff, and although it makes people smile and laugh in some places, the movie doesn’t delve any further into the emotions. It also doesn’t challenge the audience’s intelligence, but that’s not what it’s meant for – it’s meant to be the next great addition to Disney animation.

Sadly, Disney without Pixar just isn’t what it should be. “Chicken Little” is a good animated film, but it lacks the creativity of “Finding Nemo” or the humor of “The Incredibles.” It is an appealing concept, and the movie tries its hardest, but there is just something missing. It is hard to pin down what it is, but perhaps it’s just missing that little bit of magic.