Product: Stuart Little (1999)
Rating: 1.0
A truly horrible fauxdaptation
Parents, do yourself and your children a favor and DO NOT SPEND MONEY ON THIS HORRIBLE FILM and instead, spend the SAME money on buying the BOOK.Then, READ THE BOOK to your children. It will take about an hour and thirty minutes, approximately the same running time as this film.The result? Your child will have an invaluable touch with a piece of classic American children's literature and a precious memory of time spent with you reading the story.If you plop them in front of the TV and watch this dreck you will have rotted their minds.My wife and I pre-screened this film and immediately THREW IT IN THE TRASH.(Full disclosure: we are very conservative politically and observant Catholics).The good things: Geena Davis delivers her usual good performance in a limited role (she was hilarious in "Earth Girls are Easy"), and pretty much all the performances were solid.The visuals and animation, the pristine New York City settings, spot-on costumes, and characters (apart from the cats) are also very well done, the art direction is excellent.The bad things (and there are lots so bear with me): the cats use gutter mouth and in contrast to the book this is a gigantic pity party for Stuart throughout. His pathetic loneliness undo all the positives.In contrast to the book, Stewart is found in an orphanage, and he is abandoned by parent figures three times in the course of the movie! Once by his real parents, once by the Littles, and once by some mice posing as his real parents. Horrible!Stuart's new brother George does not like Stuart (in the book he is sort of a cloddish benign older brother), until Stuart is a big winner, THEN he is interested in Stuart. The transition from love to hate in a single scene is jarring (nice message).Horrible, horrible horrible rock music (and I like *punk rock*) during chase and slapstick scenes.The whole Little family's sweetness to Stuart is cloying (but then they abandoned him, go figure).Stuart's "innocence and cuteness" boarders on diabetic shock sweetness of "Hello Kitty."I completely agree with a review here titled "Have we no shame" when they wrote: "It's a crime and a sin what was done to E.B. White's classic children's novel. Heartless Hollywood got hold of it, ripped its guts out, threw in some snazzy effects, irrelevant slapstick, and rock music, and dared to call it "Stuart Little." All in the name of money. I'm not saying some six year-olds won't have fun watching it, but for the love of integrity, someone please read them the book."So read them the book.E.B. White's original "Stuart Little" is the story of a mouse born to a normal human family who lives on the upper east side of New York. Stuart must overcome challenges as a small being in a normal sized world and his interactions with his normal family and their care for him make for lively reading. One day Margalo, an injured bird, enters Stuart's life and they become friends. One day the family cat, Snowbell, and an alley cat come up with a plan to kill Margalo. A pigeon overheard the plan and sent a note to Margalo, and so Margalo leaves. Stuart sets out to search for Margalo and the story ends with him still searching. The story appeals to children because of fine balance of a blend of fantasy and reality. Children relate to the obstacles Stuart encounters because of his size and encourages children to learn to use determination to overcome obstacles in life. It also concludes with the bittersweet ending that we must keep searching and trying, even when we do not find.Do not buy this movie. Buy the book. Read it to them. Give your children the gift of life and literature, not Hollywood tommyrot.