Children's entertainment is always to be welcomed but, though teenies will surely love it, accompanying adults are likely to give a thumbs down to this dumb, dim cartoon feature based on the story of Chanticleer. Cock of the roost on his farm, he's forced to leave when the animals discover that his crow doesn't actually make the sun rise. This is all the work of the owls (led by the Duke of Owls) who love the dark and don't want the sun to come up any more at all. The animals, flooded out by storms, decide to make for the city, and bring Chanticleer back from his career there as a rock star. Despite a good voice cast, director Bluth has failed to create any interesting characters here, with the possible (unintentional) exception of a magpie who seems to think he's a woodpecker. The innovation of owls as villains is at least a novelty, but the rooster hero and his pheasant heroine are particularly unprepossessing, and the effects work in mixing live characters with cartoon pretty unimpressive.

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