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5.9/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 5.9/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. The Lost Chick remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you like the hyper-kinetic, rubbery movement of 1930s shorts, sure. It’s a total sugar rush. But if you’re looking for a plot that makes sense, keep walking. This is for the animation nerds who want to see how they layered those backgrounds back in the day.
Seriously, who loses a baby that easily?
The whole thing starts with a mother hen doing a headcount and coming up one short. It’s Eggbert. He’s the one with the personality, obviously. The others are just kind of… there. Little yellow blobs with feet.
There’s this weird, frantic energy to the way they animate the mother’s panic. She’s stretching and squashing like a piece of taffy. It made me think of The Sour Violin, which also had that same frantic, slightly exhausting pacing.
The music is constantly hitting these high notes that make your teeth ache. It’s Happy Harmonies, so they really commit to the 'happy' part until it feels almost aggressive. It’s not quite as grim as Scrooge, but there’s a tension here that feels out of place for a story about a chicken.
Eggbert gets into some trouble, naturally. He’s a curious little thing. Watching him wander into danger reminded me a bit of the aimless dread in Lost at Sea, though with significantly more beaks.
Maybe it’s just me, but the rhythm here feels slightly off. Like someone edited the film with a pair of rusty garden shears. Scenes end just when they’re getting somewhere. Then we’re back to the mother hen pacing around. 🐣
It’s not a masterpiece. It’s barely a story. But if you’ve got seven minutes and a strange craving for vintage ink-and-paint, you could do worse.
Just don't expect it to change your life. It’s just a cartoon about a chicken. And that's fine.