Babe: Pig in the City (1998) E.G. Daily, Magda Szubanski, James Cromwell, Mary Stein, Steven Wright, Mickey Rooney, Matt Parkinson, Eddie Barth, Bill Capisci, Glenne Headly, Danny Mann, David Warner, Adam Goldberg. Produced by Bill Miller, George Miller and Doug Mitchell. Written by Mark Lamprell, George Miller and Judy Morris, based on characters from the novel by Dick King-Smith. Directed by George Miller. Rated G, 2 stars (out of five stars)
Review by Ed Johnson-Ott, NUVO Newsweekly www.nuvo-online.com Archive reviews at http://us.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Edward+Johnson-ott To receive reviews by e-mail at no charge, send subscription requests to pbbp24a@prodigy.com
They should have called it "Babe: Pig in Gotham City." This dark sequel to the 1995 hit has virtually none of the bucolic charm displayed in the original. Instead, we get a grim parade of unpleasant characters, ugly imagery, overlong chases and numerous scenes of animals in distress. While imaginative and technically impressive, "Babe: Pig in the City" is one of the most depressing family films I have ever seen. What in the world were the filmmakers thinking?
The original "Babe" won the hearts of audiences around the world with its simple tale of a little talking pig with a big heart. The delightful Australian film introduced Babe, a porcine youngster adopted by dogs after the death of its mother. The story followed Babe's adventures on the farm; getting to know Farmer Hoggett (James Cromwell) and his wife (Magda Szubanski), interacting with the other animals, and achieving success as the world's first shepherding pig.
"Babe: Pig in the City" takes a wrong turn in its opening moments, with a slapstick well accident that is too realistically filmed to be funny. The accident sidelines Farmer Hoggett for most of the film, shifting the human focus from the kindly, soft-spoken man to his fussy, easily flustered wife. Bad move.
With the farm in financial trouble, Mrs. Hoggett accepts a lucrative offer for Babe to appear in a shepherding demonstration and the pair takes off for the big city, with Babe's pal, a neurotic duck, frantically attempting to keep up with the airplane so he can watch over his friend. Hoggett and Babe miss a vital plane connection when a drug-sniffing dog's barking, an attempt to show-off for Babe, results in Mrs. Hoggett being hauled off by authorities for a full-body search.
Stranded in the city, Hoggett and Babe end up at a picturesque flea-bag hotel, where the pig meets a number of hardened city animals, including a surly group of performing monkeys, owned by a gross, ill-tempered clown (Mickey Rooney). When Mrs. Hoggett gets arrested in yet another mix-up and the clown dies (are we having fun yet?), the animals are left to fend for themselves. After a nasty encounter with some attack dogs, Babe saves a pitbull from drowning and forges an alliance between the animals.
Almost as quickly as everyone makes friends, animal control agents storm the hotel, capturing most of the terrified creatures and hauling them away. Will Babe survive? Will Mrs. Hoggett be able to rescue the critters? Will your children be able to get through all of this without crying?
Thankfully, there are at least a few sunny, clever images in "Pig in the City" to lighten the harsh proceedings a bit. An aerial shot of a duck hitching a ride in the roomy mouth of a seagull is witty. An elaborate set piece involving two characters springing around a large room on elastic bands is fun (it also serves as a lively homage to another film from director George Miller -- "Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome"). Distant shots of the town, an amalgam featuring landmarks from many different cities, cast a nice storybook feel and, of course, there's the inherent charm of watching cute little animals talk.
There are far more talking animal scenes here than in the first film and, for the most part, they are even more convincing. Christine Cavanaugh, the voice of Babe in the original, wanted more money than the producers were willing to pay, so E.G. Daily of "Rugrats" fame takes over the vocal chores and does good work, making Babe sound just as adorable this time around. If only the rest of the film was as sweet.
Instead, in addition to the aforementioned disturbing images, audiences are treated to the spectacle of a dog dangling from a bridge with its head under water, flailing desperately to avoid drowning. Another scene shows a disabled pup on a small cart, dragged at high speeds behind a truck, then released to flip over and over on the sidewalk. It's a shocking image likely to traumatize children, even though the dog is shown alive a few moments later.
A press junket and premiere for "Babe: Pig in the City" were canceled at the last minute, supposedly to allow more time to complete special effect shots for the film. Insiders report that, in fact, a test screening drew extremely negative reactions from the audience and the film underwent an emergency edit to make it more family friendly. It's scary to realize that the film I saw is the toned-down version.
The big question, of course, is why? Why did the filmmakers all but remove James Cromwell from the movie? Why did they surround an enchanting little pig with foul-tempered characters and repulsive imagery? Why did they take one of the most creatively substantial fairy tales in years and crank out a garish sequel with violence and chases substituting for wit? "Babe" was one of the nicest surprises of the '90s. "Babe: Pig in the City" is also a surprise; a disappointing, depressing one.
© 1998 Ed Johnson-Ott
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