Who knew you could make "Chicken Little" salad out of dim chicken wits?

Only Disney would have the nerve, the imagination and the resources. Only the collective talent currently assembled there could take the prosaic old cautionary tale about leaping to catastrophic conclusions and turn it into the poetic new animated screen gem at hand.

Photographer, Post-Gazette Disney's animated "Chicken Little" (voiced by Zach Braff) "Chicken Little" Rating: G Voices: Zach Braff, Joan Cusack, Steve Zahn, Garry Marshall, Don Knotts. Director: Mark Dindal. 'Chicken Little Web site Post-Gazette Family Film Guide review of 'Chicken Little'

To refresh your formative fable memory: Chicken Little -- operating in some nursery-protection programs under the alias Chicken Licken or Henny Penny -- is a panicky pessimist, quick to declare a calamity based on a misconception. Most memorably, when conked on the head by something from above, he stirs everybody up by his hysterical announcement, "The sky is falling!"

Disney's "Chicken" begins with a furiously funny rendering of that -- with the false alarm's foolish fallout -- in its pre-credits sequence.

Since when does a Disney cartoon film have a pre-credits sequence?

Since now. Since that sets up all the other sophisticated, satirical concepts to follow in the studio's first fully computer-animated feature.

But the key to the successful execution -- and this "Chick's" triumph -- is its terrifically engaging set of characters, the nature and personalities of which are inspired. Chief in importance, of course is C.L. himself, a nerdy, nervous little piece of poultry (perfectly voiced by Zach Braff) with low self-esteem, no mom and rooster-dad Buck Cluck's reputation to live up to at school.

Ah, that school! It provides the film's most hilarious moments, with overachiever classmates like Foxy Loxy dominating gym-class dodgeball games from hell as well as the baseball team, whose bench C.L. is grudgingly allowed to warm.

C.L. is a classic underchicken -- but not a friendless one. He and we are lucky to have a trio of misfit sidekicks who light and lighten things up: Ugly Duckling (Joan Cusack) is concerned that he have closure with his father about that sky-falling incident. Runt of the Litter (Steve Zahn) -- a big pig with anxiety attacks and stereotypical gay tendencies -- is hugely supportive in between freak-outs. (At one point, his sow of a mother threatens to take away his Streisand records.) And Fish Out of Water (Dan Molina) operates as a kind of Harpo Marx, wearing a diver's helmet full of water and miming his unintelligible messages.

(L-R) Runt of the Litter (voice of Steve Zahn), Chicken Little (voice of Zach Braff)

These creatures sound absurd, and they are -- but so cleverly crafted and amusingly scripted as to make nearly all of us smile nearly all of the time. Indeed, the overall achievement of "Chicken Little" is its skillful appeal to kids and adults simultaneously -- the former visually, the latter verbally, or vice versa, from scene to scene.

It is also dazzling to watch, especially when an alien invasion -- suspiciously reminiscent of "War of the Worlds" -- requires C.L. to sound the alarm again. It results in a spaceship sequence that produces the most lovable three-eyed baby alien you'd ever want to see. (Expect a sighting soon in a McDonald's Happy Meal.)

And watch closely for what's going on in the background. Much of the best "grown-up stuff" goes on subtly and in the ironic anthropomorphic details of animal life.

This "Chicken" -- plucky in every way -- is by far the best animated entertainment of the year.