Schweinchen Babe in der großen Stadt

Babe: Pig In The City is captivating; a triumph. It's right up there with other subversive, surreal masterpieces like Delicatessen and The Cook, The Thief, His Wife And Her Lover, but in spite of what you might have heard Babe 2 isn't too dark for children, or for any older human. It's full of many wonderfully melancholy moments but it's not nasty. Above all Babe: Pig In The City is a triumph for gentleness and a plea on behalf of the marginalised; the weak in our community. It's one of the best films yet made and an ideal film for children to see.

What did Hollywood expect? Writer/director of Babe: Pig In The City, Australian George Miller couldn't be expected to roll over and produce a sweet (read merchandisable) sequel to the original Babe. He's far too human and thoughtful for that.

George Miller for heaven's sake has been intimately involved with The Mad Max Films, Lorenzo's Oil, Flirting, Dead Calm, Bangkok Hilton (TV), The Year My Voice Broke and The Dismissal (TV) a list that has no hint within it of a thoughtless panderer to the consumer society. The Witches Of Eastwick was the only aberration and Miller reportedly hated that experience, swearing to never work with Hollywood again, not on their terms anyway.

But then there was the phenomenon of Babe which made a fortune. Miller consented to do a sequel but demanded final cut and dismayed the toy makers when they found that Babe 2 didn't fit in with the money machine. So Babe: Pig In The City was dumped, with bad reviews generated probably from people who haven't even bothered to see it.

Babe: Pig In The City sees James Cromwell as Farmer Hoggett dumped (down a well) early in the film and the famous sheep-pig heading off to the city with Mrs Hoggett (Magda Szubanski) to earn some money to save the farm. The Pig gets separated from Mrs Hoggett and becomes aligned with a set of urban frightened animals who are threatened with being evicted from their homes. Babe saves the day by means of his sweet, giving nature.

This film looks wonderful. The same digitalised mouth movements to match speech are used as in the original movie. Similarly amazing animal training has the stars doing wonderful things as they tell the story and the sets are simply superb. The city is a composite of Sydney, New York , Paris, London and others with the copperplate ETERNITY graffiti well known by older Sydneysiders sitting gently above it all; an appropriately sensitive emblem for the world Miller has created.

Babe 2 is about innocence; about children. Some would say that the film is concerned with Animal Rights but I don't think it's drawing too long a bow to say that the film is commenting on the loss of power and self determination many millions are feeling in the western world as their jobs are disappearing. The lost, threatened animals in Babe have an aura of hopelessness, or at least helplessness before the bright and brave Babe shows them the way to assert themselves.

Babe: Pig In The City is also often very funny, very human, even if animals are the stars. It's an absolute must see for all animal lovers, of any age. And if you think it's too dark, well grow up. That's life.

Talk about a major disappointment! First time George Miller has ever made a dog. From Road Warrior and Dead Calm to Lorenzo's Oil and the original Babe, this guy has turned everything to gold. Nothing lasts forever. The only thing this film managed to show is that animals can be as ugly as humans. Gene Siskel actually picked this as one of the 10 best films of the year.Thumps down...

I would just like to thank Gene Siskel for all the tribute he gave to this movie. He ranked it as the best movie of 1998!! I would have to agree with him! This has got to be one of the funniest, wildest, best films of all time!!! The first "Babe" is pale in comparison to this movie! Anyway, it's about how Mrs. Hoggat is in debt, so she takes Babe to live in the big city with her. When Babe gets there, he meets tons of new animal friends, cats, dogs, monkeys, you name it! I also remember how the one monkey lady would always call him "the pig whitey thing". There were so many animal characters, but yet it worked because they were all each in some way important to the story. The duck was funny, too! Give us more of the duck! It was also cool how the bulldog wanted everyone to obey Babe, and it was like he was Babe's protector. What was also satisfying was how at the end, they told about what happened to all of the animal characters. It makes you realize how these animals all have their own communities and such. That's why I adore movies like this and "Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey".

I'll never forget my favorite part, the scene at the end where Mrs. Hoggat was flying in those big trousers and everyone was in a frenzy to get Babe. And they made cute references, like the part where Babe was giving the jellybeans ("Thank the pig") was probably a reference to the pope, I believe. I can't believe this movie has no quotes! Please don't listen to the Leonard Maltin review. I personally think the first "Babe" was darker than BPITC. Anyway, this is truly a wonderful film. I've only seen it once (I think) so rent it today! A perfect 10/10.

Fresh from sheep dog trials success, Babe and Farmer Hogget are the toast of the land. However an accident puts Hogget in traction and leaves the farm dangerously close to being repossessed. Mrs Hogget sets out to America with Babe to attend a major Fare with a large appearance fee, however a misunderstanding at customs results in them missing the fare and being stranded in the city. The pair go to a hotel that illegally takes animals of all sorts but Mrs Hogget's arrest and the capture of the animals leads Babe to once again show determination against the odds.

At the end of the film Babe, Farmer Hogget says `that'll do pig, that'll do'. It is a wonderfully touching moment that is fitting for such a charming story that was told without malice or clumsy humour – just one warm moment after another. However the studio didn't hear Hogget's words and pumped out a sequel that will have all but the least demanding child clambering to watch the original to wash away the bad taste in their mouths from this. The plot is nothing like the original in theme – it tries to set out it's stall (sorry) as being a tale of how the brave heart overcomes etc but it is nonsense, instead it is more like Home Alone with monkeys than Babe.

The humour comes with things falling etc and the plot is far too dark and cruel to have anything like the original's charm. It is just plain dull to be honest and I never found myself involved in the hectic going-ons that were occurring before me. Worse still are the characters. On one hand we have a few famous (read American) voices added to the cast (Wright, Rooney and a few I couldn't place) but they don't ever get close to being as good CHARACTERS as the original had. Where the original had animals that we knew or grew to care for as Babe did, here we have comedy monkeys (one alarmingly dressed as an `Nu Yark' hussy!) and dogs that barely get a line. These are animals played for laughs (oh, look at the monkey getting dressed!) and not played as characters as in the first film.

Overall this is not awful it is just very poor and difficult to enjoy. Kids will laugh at the animals chasing humans etc but adults will be unmoved and uninvolved. For me this film was worse than it actually was as it traded on the name of that charming film Babe. It slightly ruined the memory of the original for me with a sour taste and I shall never wish to see this thing again. If you loved the original and were interested in seeing this – don't. Just don't.

Many people just don't get it. They may tell you this movie is too dark for children. Don't believe them. This is a great movie for children. Didn't "Snow White" have an old hag try to kill her with a poison apple. Death is darker than any "dark tone" laid out in this gorgeous piece of cinema, but "Snow White" didn't get as many negative comments as this movie. The kids that watched the original "Babe" have grown up, and so did the franchise. Sure the movie may have a few adult moments than the original; for instance, most kids won't understand the whole Mrs. Hoggett cavity search incident. But overall this movie presents the great moral that everyone should be good to each other over everything else, even to someone who might have done something wrong to you. That is a message that everyone, adults and children, should hear and consider. In the end, "Babe" achieves respect and gains a whole new group of friends from his good deeds, and everyone is happy including the audience. I think this movie will be considered a classic sometime in the future, as it should be.