Deservedly acclaimed as one of 1998's best films, this sequel to the beloved 1995 live-action fantasy proved a commercial catastrophe and a source of dismay to parents expecting another bucolic, sweet-natured fable. Every bit as sly and visually stunning as its predecessor, Babe: Pig in the City is otherwise a jolting ride beyond the Hoggetts' farm into a no less vivid but far darker world--the allegorical city of the title, which for the diminutive "sheep pig" proves truly nightmarish. Australian filmmaker George Miller (Mad Max, The Road Warrior), who produced and cowrote the first film, this time takes the director's reins, and he ratchets up the pace and the peril as effectively as he did on his influential trilogy of apocalyptic, outback sci-fi thrillers. From the opening scene, Babe: Pig in the City means to disrupt the reassuring calm achieved by the conclusion of the previous film. Babe's prior triumph proves short-lived, and within moments Miller has us literally peering into the depths as he sets up a horrific well accident that nearly kills the taciturn but good-hearted Farmer Hoggett (James Cromwell), Babe's beloved "Boss." Journeying with the equally pink, even plumper Mrs. Hoggett (Magda Szubanski), the young pig finds himself in a city where animals are outcasts, staying in the lone hotel that allows pets. When Mrs. Hoggett is detained, Babe must contend with the suspicions and rivalries of the hotel's other four-legged guests. The film's G status doesn't fully telegraph the shock Miller induces: bad things happen to good animals, and Babe's new acquaintances are a far cry from his colleagues on the farm. In particular, he must contend with a cynical family of chimps given wonderful, dead-pan voice characterisations by Steven Wright and Glenne Headly. Miller's use of effects to transform his animals into "actors" is even more seamlessly integrated than in Babe. The sequel's production design is crucial to the creation of a complete, absorbing world, and purely visual ideas--such as a deluge of blue balloons during the climactic ballroom battle--achieve a splendour and originality that a room full of computer-graphics desktops couldn't muster. Ultimately, though, the film does more than amaze: as Babe's compassion and courage transform those around him, we're moved in ways that purveyors of by-the-numbers family fare can only dream of. --Sam Sutherland
After Lucas Nickle floods an ant colony with his watergun, he's magically shrunken down to insect size and sentenced to hard labour in the ruins.
Mira Sorvino Academy Award winner Anjelica Huston Stephen Dorff and Blair Underwood star in this nail-biting tale of action and intrigue from the pen of Robert Ludlum as members of an elite undercover team Covert One race against time to locate the source of a deadly virus threatening the lives of millions of Americans....
Based on the beloved children's book by E.B. White Stuart Little This is the 13-part animated television show. The series centers on Stuart a 3-inch tall mouse who has been adopted by the Little family. Though on the outside he is smaller and furrier than the rest of the Little family Stuart is bold and daring with an imaginative mind and an adventurous spirit. In his world however mundane objects become fantastically huge props and simple tasks like crossing the street c
Set in 1933 when a naughty ten year old named Archie finds himself being looked after by his inattentive father Charlie who is in debt to mob bosses. The pair flee with a suitcase of money to a town where Charlie gets a job as a teacher but a beautiful widowed mother Ellen decides she wants Charlie to get out of town. Archi realises they are really in love and with the help of his new friends tries to bring them together and save them from the mob!
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