Stuart Little 2

While I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, I hold with the minority opinion that it isn't up to the standards of the original. The first movie succeeded in being sweet and charming without being the least bit sugary. Alas, the sequel doesn't entirely avoid this pitfall (that "little high, little low" business is just a little gagging). Also, the plot is too predictable, although that probably won't matter much to children, who are, after all, the film's target audience.

These are really minor quibbles, though. "Stuart 2" is a fine movie, both for kids and adults. The special effects are well-done, all the actors do a good job in their roles, and the dialogue has some real gems. Particularly noteworthy is Snowbell, the cat (voiced to hilarious perfection by Nathan Lane). He gets all the best lines, and steals every scene he's in--he even upstages Stuart himself! Verdict: Good movie. Go see.

'Stuart Little 2' is a nice and sweet sequel with the same charms as the first movie. The mouse Stuart (voice by Michael J. Fox) has an adventure in the big city together with the house cat Snowbell (voice by Nathan Lane) because the bird he loves (voice by Melanie Griffiths) is taken by Falcon (James Woods). Of course the family Little (with Geena Davis, Hugh Laurie and son George played by Jonathan Lipnicki) is looking for Stuart.

A movie like this is allowed to be predictable. You know it will end happy and that is the way it should end. A movie like this needs some charming, sweet and funny moments and 'Stuart Little 2' has those moments. Every moment between Margalo the bird and Stuart is sweet and charming and especially the moments with the real characters are sometimes very funny. Another nice thing is the creation of the mouse and bird itself. Since Stuart or Margalo is in almost every scene in the movie there is always something nice to look at. This is a perfect movie for the whole family.

Sure, this is a kid's movie, but it's sufficiently engaging to hold mom and dad's attention, even through repeated viewings. Little touches like having tiny Stuart wear a NY (football) Giants t-shirt and clever, and the highly stylized look of the film is just fun. The costume designer should get an award for making the costumes look sort of contemporary and "Miracle on 34th Street" at the same time. And while the plot is predictable and telegraphs its punches, it's also gentle and doesn't drag out the scary stuff too long, which makes this a good movie for kids. A lot better than a lot of the kids movies you will run across at Blockbuster.

As of present (May 2010), I have never read the E.B. White classic "Stuart Little," however I have had the delightful privilege to see the two films based loosely upon its content. The first "Stuart Little," released in 1999, was a very sweet and charming little family picture that I enjoyed immensely as a kid and still do to this day. I remember I also enjoyed the sequel, "Stuart Little 2" when I was younger, but now having re-watched the film for the first time in a long time, I discover that a rare instance has occurred: I enjoy the movie more now as an adult than I did when I was eleven. Perhaps it's because I now understand the adult humor and Snowbell's hilarious lines better, but overall, "Stuart Little 2" is a very good picture.

In the sequel, Stuart Little (voiced by Michael J. Fox) now has a quintessential relationship to his family. His human brother George has accepted him as a sibling and the cat Snowbell is now his pal instead of his enemy. However, poor Stuart feels a little left-out in the world because of his small size and his lack of real friends. That is until a little bird named Margolo (voiced by Melanie Griffith) literally drops into his life (from the sky), pursued by a vicious falcon. When they are clear of the evil bird's talons, Stuart and Margolo develop a very strong, very heart-warming friendship while teaching to the younger audience members very important lessons about life and friendship.

Those messages were communicated to be very well when I was younger and they still are today. I'm not exactly sure why I like "Stuart Little 2" more as an adult than I did as a kid, but maybe it's because I can understand the full extent of it. The filmmakers made the right choice to film it as a family picture, incorporating elements that children can understand but leaving in great moments of comedy to keep the adults interested. More so than in the first one, the picture is kept upbeat by the hilarious presence of Snowbell the cat, voiced by Nathan Lane, who has one terrific one-liner after another. A favorite moment of mine is when Snowbell is serving as a tool so Stuart can speak into a payphone. Their time runs out and he asks Snowbell for more change. The cat looks at the mouse standing on his head and cackles out: "What do I look like? A fanny pack?" "Stuart Little 2" is a real treat to look at with some gorgeous cinematography and a deliberately over-painted New York City with everybody in the movie wearing extravagant outfits. The special effects used for Stuart, Margolo, Snowbell, the falcon, and the other animated characters in the film is very good, best exemplified by the eyes of Stuart and Margolo. Their eyes are solid black with no visible pupils, but the animators carefully manipulate the characters' expressions to mirror every emotion that could be asked for from a real-life performer.

Perhaps the best element of "Stuart Little 2" is the change of point-of-view from the first one. In the original film, most of the plot involved the Littles' difficulties in adopting a talking mouse as a child and a great portion of the film was people looking down upon little Stuart. Here, the story takes place on Stuart's level, from his point-of-view, and we come to associate and identify more with him this time around. I also really like Hugh Laurie, Geena Davis, and Jonathan Lipnicki as Stuart's adoptive family, who do a really good job at maintaining the illusion that they are communicating to a two-inch mouse adopted as their son and treating him with loving affection.

But the best scenes are the scenes of Margolo and Stuart, particularly a little scene where they are on a date at a makeshift drive-in movie theater: sitting in Stuart's model car in front of a television, watching Alfred Hitchcock's marvelous 1958 film "Vertigo" which we later learn is a poignant choice as there are some parallels in the relationship between Stuart and his avian companion.

"Stuart Little 2" is a wonderful family film. Some may question my judgment and wonder if I exaggerate just a little in shelling out my highest rating for this film. You may ask: maybe it's good, but is it *that* good? Well, maybe not on some critical scales. But the way I review movies, dissecting and analyzing but more or less reporting how I personally responded, than no, not in the least. I enjoyed "Stuart Little 2" so much, every little second of it was a gem for me, and I more than enthusiastically award it ten stars.

Some cartoons, even those aimed primarily at children, are still well worth seeing for adults. I was hoping Stuart Little 2 would be one of those, but it falls just a little short of the mark. It's cute, and it's funny enough to have kept me from turning it off, but it's a kid's movie all the way. If you're a parent who wants to watch something with your kid this is a good choice because it's fairly entertaining, but I wouldn't recommend it to adults without kids. But it's darn cute.