Babe - Pig in the City

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining
Review: I didn't like this one as much as the first one, which I tend to watch again after a year or so. The first one is definately on the "need to own" list, but I don't feel as strongly about the second film.
It's still a fun to watch family movie, and I do recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Stop worrying about the kids
Review: Forget any preconceptions about this franchise that may have been established with "Babe." While that film was indeed a masterpiece, this is a sequel with its own agenda and purpouse. Try to reach back, dear ones,to your first experience with the tales told by the Brothers Grimm. That's the tone this film embraces. Like those dark tales of yore, "Babe- Pig in the city" establishes a universe wherein the innocent are victims, and only the truest and most noble of hearts can conquer the adversity the world often presents us with. The plot: after the sheep-pig inadvertently causes a disastrous accident that leaves Farmer Hogget unable to provide for his farm, Babe and Mrs.Hogget travel to the big city to earn money in an effort to keep the farm afloat. There is violence in this film, and many moments that are darker and more mean spirited than in the first film. And I say "bravo" to this decision- becuase what director George Miller has provided is a wonderful parable about the need for each and every one of us to retain that sense of decency and compassion that defines our humanity (porcinity?) , even in the face of the most dire of circumstances. Stop asking yourself if the kids will be okay with this movie, and instead ask yourself if you enjoyed it. This is the definitive family film - it has enough to entertain the tykes, but it is squarely aimed at the adults who will sit through this with them. With impressive visuals, a terrfic story and - ultimately- a message that needs to be heard in this day and age,"Babe - Pig in the City" is a masterpiece of a fable. A cautionary tale that both engages and enlivens. There is love, laughter and hope to be found within this film. Don't miss this picture by any means. You'll be better for the experience.

Rating:
Summary: "Ferdinand the Duck - Witness to Insanity!"
Review: Just before he passed away, Gene Siskel made this his best picture of the year. I just watched this movie again and enjoyed it more this time than I remembered. Babe has a unique visual quality that this movie takes to another level. The representation of the Metropolis is fairly amazing.

In this movie we get a fable more about the animals than the people. Farmer Hoggett appears only in the beginning and end and Mrs. Hoggett has the job of delivering the pig to the city and taking him back home while providing some determined comic relief (as she did in the first movie). Mickey Rooney has an amazingly touching almost-a-cameo role, as well.

I think the fable with the animals showing how a good heart (Babe) can turn a harsh and hopeless situation into something livable and meaningful. Ferdinand seeking out Babe to be with his Luck Pig is a very neat sub-story that provides some great laughs as well. I found the scene where Flealick is thrown hard from his bite on the captors' truck and ends up in a broken heap to be quite touching. His semi-conscious dream of being whole again and leaping for butterflies is just right.

You either like Babe's sweetness or you don't. I do. When he is sent to face his doom with the Doberman and the Pit Bull because he is told they are sheep he tries to handle it with what he knows and what he is told. Still, when it all goes bad he does his level best to survive and when he does, he goes back to rescue his tormentor. Nice stuff.

Probably the lackluster reaction to the movie came more from its split character as a slapstick comedy (when Mrs. Hoggett reclaims Babe at the formal dinner in the clown suit) and as a somewhat grim morality play (when the animals struggle to survive on their own and their capture and escape from the authorities). Such intensity mixed with a stack of champagne glasses at risk can confuse.

Rating:
Summary: A GRIM FAIRY TALE
Review: This sequel to the unabashedly charming "Babe" is once again a fairy tale, but a much grimmer one indeed. Right away we're plagued with the near fatal accident of beloved farmer James Cromwell and Babe the pig is off to the city with Cromwell's wife, played with intense gusto by Magda Szubinski. Once in the city, Babe finds himself counted amongst the other animals in a strange hotel run by Mary Stein and Mickey Rooney, in a rather short but effective performance. Seems like animals are nothing but outcasts in a society plagued with unfeeling and insufferable humans.
Needless to say, George Miller has helmed a flawless gallery of animatronic animals, who become almost human in their plight. There are some brilliant scenes, particularly the balloon sequence; the finale in the ballroom; Babe's rescue of the previously malicious pit bull. And once again, those delightful mice act as the Greek chorus, singing a plaintively moving version of "Are You Lonesome Tonight."

Although this might be too much of a downer for kids, this adult found it charming and brilliant.

Rating:
Summary: Chaotic, unabsorbing and cruel -- a loser.
Review: "One of the best of 1998"? Please. Babe: Pig in the City is a crushing disappointment, full of show-offy camera work, animal torture, and jarring elements that never even come close to becoming a story.

George Miller may have co-written the original Babe, but his work on this sequel only proves that Babe director Chris Noonan deserves more of the credit on the success of the original. In Noonan's hands, Magda Szubanski was a lovable buffoon and comic relief; in Miller's, she becomes an over-acting victim. In Noonan's film, the piglet Babe was a polite, not very bright, yet thoroughly lovable character with loves, fears and flaws; in Miller's, Babe becomes an entirely passive character, and his experiences and emotions are kept from us at arm's length by Miller's messy scripting. Most grievously, there is not a single likeable character in this film. The "cynical chimps" have overwritten lines, the dogs and cats never go beyond facetious posing, and the farm animals that the first film painstakingly set up for us are reduced to a handful of lines in the beginning. Even Babe himself, still adorably voiced, doesn't generate much pathos, because the story is so outlandish and unfocused that we have no basis for feeling for Babe's experience of them. Miller was simply so busy trying to make this a "darker" film that he forgets to make it into an engrossing one. While he shoots some interesting visual gags, these never form a coherent sequence of events, let alone an engaging story. If Miller had had the good sense to retain James Cromwell's crucial Farmer Hoggett character, he would have still had some chemistry to play with.

And yes...there's the animal cruelty. A drowning dog, dangling by its foot on a chain; the pig being brutally assaulted by guard dogs...I for one don't find this stuff entertaining at all, nor does it make any kind of statement other than that the filmmakers are desperate to impress us with more animal stunts. The first film had moments of danger, but these were always handled sensitively and within the confines of the animal world, making them naturalistic and emotive rather than manipulative and cruel. I can literally feel the hand of the director at the end of that chain dangling the dog into the river, and it's a downright nasty feeling. Miller makes me even more incensed because he tries to cloak the cruelties in false moments of exaltation, but it's futile. The characters are so poorly drawn and our sympathies so indifferent to any of them that there's nothing to justify what Miller puts these poor animal actors through.

I give this film two stars because this film does have some complex blocking of animals into dramatic contexts. Unfortunately, these are also more impressive than engaging, for the characters just don't generate much interest because we have no sympathy for any of them. I marvel at the technical achievement of the technical teams, matching complex dialogue to animals' mouths and training them to touch each other, high-five, and kiss, while remaining unmoved by the dramatic situations. The first film achieved much, much more with less dazzling effects, just by making you attached to the animals. If Pig in the City only had one character like Rex, with a complex and touching back story and emotional motivation, it would not be such a bust.

George Miller may have co-written the first Babe, but here he single-handedly strangled a nice movie franchise with his "dark" sensibilities and need to dazzle with camera tricks and "breakthrough" animal manipulations. I'm as big a fan as you'll find of the world of Babe, but I'd say skip this one. The box office results, for once, are an accurate gauge of quality.

Rating:
Summary: Holy Crap!
Review: I can't believe how bad this movie was. I was gald when it was over when I saw it in the theater for the first time. Worst sequel ever made. Creepy, boring, and just plain sad. Take my advice, don't ever see this freakin' movie!

Rating:
Summary: I'd just like to say...
Review: ..that three and four year olds SHOULD see this film! I can't believe so many parents use DVDs and tapes as babysitters. There's nothing scary about this film at all--it's a fable, not real life. In a country where war footage is censored by the news media, it's no wonder people are unwilling to accept dark or challenging story material. If you're the type of person who'd be offended by "Babe: Pig In the City," then you've got SERIOUS problems. Unbelievable!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent; has all the charm, humor & heart of the original.
Review: "Babe: Pig in the City" deserves all the rave reviews it got when it first came out. Standing on its own, it is good enough. But as a sequel, it is stupendous! The storyline is a bit bizarre, for it begins on the farm; with Fly, Ferdinand, Farmer Hoggett, and even those singing mice! But when Babe accidentally sends his master tumbling down a well and getting seriously injured, the farm is put in jeopardy. Mrs. Hoggett takes Babe to the city, hoping to have him perform his famous sheepherding for a financial reward. What city this is is never specified; however, upon seeing the skyline we can tell that it is all the big cities of the world mashed into one! A metaphor for how intimidating and new it is for the little pig? Perhaps. But since the farm is in New Zealand, we can safely assume that if the city MUST be just one, it would likely be Sydney, Australia.

The movie has a great deal of humor in it; and not just an occasional chuckle. Some of it is real rip-roaring, side-splitting laughter. For instance, Mrs. Hoggett (who does provide most of this humor, come to think of it), bouncing around an elaborate banquet hall in an overinflated rubber clown suit. Or, speaking rapidly about the "blessed pig" to a pig-nosed judge. Or, losing Babe at the airport because a "sniffer beagle" pretended to alert his people that Babe was carrying illegal substances. (You see, the dog doesn't know WHY he sniffs, only that he gets rewarded when he barks.)

Now, before I get into the charm of the story and characters, I'll address the pressing issue of "darkness" in this film. Perhaps it isn't the happy, cheery, sunshiny childrens' story everyone hoped for, or found in the original "Babe." But let's face it: there IS evil and tragedy in the world. This movie IS NOT a gruesome, grotesque, overly-strange nightmare, as some have described it. Kids can certainly enjoy this without getting disturbed. Adults are being too sensitive. There are scenes of fear and danger; such as the goldish flopping on the floor (and getting tossed into the water by Babe), the Bull Terrier (not pitbull, as stated in the movie!) hanging by his leash from the bridge and almost drowning (ALSO getting resuced by Babe), Zootie's baby falling from the ceiling (and getting caught by Thelonius), the cancer-stricken children being entertained by Uncle Fugly Floom (hey, people, cancer exists! Instead of shielding kids, make them aware and let them learn to care!), and Flealick, the wheelchair-bound Jack Russell Terrier who gets thrown from a truck and almost dies. It is a very sad moment. My kid brother was touched, but not deeply disturbed. The dog was alive and peppy, anyway, within moments. It wouldn't have hurt too badly if he actually HAD died; it just would have been sadder (because we ALL know that we always care more about the animals than the humans in moves, right?). But I knew they just couldn't have anyone die in a kids' movie. So please, people, quit your whining. This is FAR from "rated-R" material.

The waterfront neighborhood in the city which Babe visits is adorable. The characters he meets, both human and animal, are very endearing. Mrs. Hoggett takes him to the only hotel in the area that allows animals (and is therefore despised by the neighbors and must keep it a secret that they have animals.) There he meets a family of monkeys, who are VERY good actors, I must say! They are waiting for "Himself," whom we find out in the end is the name for their master. Sadly, "Himself" dies, because he is a very old man. "Himself"'s niece is Miss Floom, the kindly landlady with a habit of asking questions and then answering them in order to tell people things. A real animal lover, she is devestated when Babe invites a Southern belle pink poodle, the Bull Terrier (who, after being rescued by Babe, turns into his personal bodyguard instead of hunter), and a huge array of other homeless animals into her hotel. The neighbors contact the police, and the entire place is invaded, with the animals being taken away in cages. The chase scenes surrounding this part are VERY impressive and thrilling. It's up to Babe, of course, and Mrs. Hoggett (the funniest person in the movie) and Miss Floom (possibly the most likable person in the movie) to save the animals and, hence, the day.

The ending is a real charmer. Miss Floom moves to the country with Mrs. Hoggett. The hotel is converted into a loud but legal dance hall to annoy the neighbors even more. The animals all move in with "Herself" (Mrs. Hoggett.) And the Bull Terrier has pups with the pink poodle. The sets in this movie are absolutely adorable. And the movie itself is incredibly insightful; I once watched it and wrote THIRTEEN ENTIRE PAGES of notes on all the "underlying messages" and interesting things I noticed in it & its characters! I find myself longing to watch it every day and never tiring of it. On the whole this is one of the most adorable, thoroughly enjoyable movies you will ever see.

Rating:
Summary: This is not for kids!!!
Review: My 3-year-old son loved the first "Babe" movie. We have watched it countless times. Even though I have read it was darker than the first, I thought it would be OK. Sadly, I was very wrong.

I will NOT let my son watch this movie again. He does not need to see women parading around it bras, the near deaths of both humans and animals (he was really freaked out when the fish flops around on the ground for a while after his bowl breaks or countless other things that dismayed both my wife and I. There were several times where we just looked at each other in disbelief at what we were seeing.

For all of the parents who think this is a good movie for their kids to watch, I strongly advise against it.

Rating:
Summary: the trippiest kids movie Ive ever seen...
Review: let me start off by saying this movie is weird. It is a very edgy, surrealistic "kids" film and is also too intense for a g rating, considering its violence, which is sometimes a bit scary for kids. It is also one of he more original, dakrk and provocative kids movies ive ever seen and probably has sparked alot of controversy. The movie is almost like an adaption of joseph conrads heart of darkenss with animals and set in the present day city. But the characters are so bizzar and yet also so real that they will grab you. the fact that the animals talk does not seem at all corny in this movie, sometimes it is sort of creepy. overall bravo and i would definitely see this movie again especially to for the scene where he meets the monkey in the hotel.