In order to defeat the wicked Grand Duke of Owls, a young boy, transformed into a cat, teams up with a group of barnyard animals to find the rooster who can raise the sun.
Edmond's favorite story is about Chanticleer, a rooster whose singing makes the sun rise every morning until the Grand Duke of Owls, whose kind despises the sun, makes him look like a fraud. The owls drive Chanticleer from the farm and put it under a spell of perpetual darkness and rain. As Edmond's own farm floods, he calls to Chanticleer and summons the Duke himself, who transforms him into a kitten to devour him. He's rescued by Chanticleer's friends, Patou the hound, Snipes the magpie, and Peepers the mouse, and they go on an adventure to the city where Chanticleer has become a rock star.—Grifter Wolf
Chanticleer must sing every morning to make the sun rise. One morning, he is stopped from doing so and the other animals discover that he's a phony--the sun rises anyway. He becomes an outcast and runs away to the city. However, the animals discover that this was a mistake, because the sun stops coming up and rain, which causes a flood, begins instead. A few of the animals decide to go into town to find Chanticleer and ask him to come back. They must hurry because the horrible darkness-loving owls are coming.—Anders E Lundin
At the beginning of the film, the singing rooster Chanticleer (Glen Campbell) sings every morning at sunrise and is credited by the other animals on his farm with the ability to raise the sun. The inciting action occurs when Chanticleer is challenged by another rooster (Jake Steinfeld), and the sun rises without him amid the fight. Horrified, and mocked by the other animals, Chanticleer leaves the farm, which is immediately placed under a never-ending rainstorm by the Grand Duke of Owls (Christopher Plummer).
The foregoing then appears as a bedtime story read to protagonist Edmond (Toby Scott Granger) by his parents Dory (Dee Wallace) and Frank (Stan Ivar), until they are interrupted by a flood on the nearby river (identified in passing with the twentieth-century flooding of the Red River, North Dakota). Left at home by his father and brothers Scott (Christian Hoff) and Mark (Jason Marin), while they join the flood-control party, Edmond calls out to Chanticleer, but is answered instead by the Grand Duke, who changes him into a kitten. Chanticleer's farm-dog Patou (Phil Harris) rescues Edmond, and they, with the other farm animals, set out for the City (possibly Las Vegas, Nevada) to retrieve Chanticleer. The Grand Duke's nephew Hunch (Charles Nelson-Reilly) tries and fails to stop them, and they arrive in the City, where, after some further misadventures, they find Chanticleer, now a singer on stage, under the name of King. Their efforts to speak to him are foiled by his manager Pinky (Sorrell Brooke) and bouncer Max (Jake Steinfeld).
With the help of Chanticleer's new beloved, Goldie (Ellen Greene), the rescue-party reconnect with Chanticleer, fight their way through the Grand Duke's minions, and return to the flooded farm, where they are attacked by the Grand Duke himself. With his friends in danger, Chanticleer crows his loudest, which breaks the owls' curse on the farm, and restores the sunshine. Edmond recovers his human form and returns home; but is seen afterward among the animals, celebrating Chanticleer's return.
