Product: Bebe, Un Coninito Va Muy Lejos (Babe -- Spanish edition) [VHS] (1995)
Rating: 4.0
Flawless Film, Flawed Product
I don't like schmaltz. I like a movie with a chip on its shoulder. Case in point: I think "Fight Club" is one of the best and most important films to come out of Hollywood in a decade. I thought I'd get wasted and see "Babe" because it seemed like a good afternoon's diversion.But "Babe" is not shallow fare. From the opening images it begins to draw you into a world of awe and innocence -- but this film has a dark streak, too. It's the brainchild of George Romero ("Night of the Living Dead"), and you know you're in for more than a kiddie movie when a pig, apparently promoted out of the pen and sent to some supposedly utopian paradise, is carted away in a meat truck. The secret is this: unlike kids' movies, "Babe" doesn't try to convince us that all is right in the world; instead it speaks to us in the innocent tones of the farm animals while it allows us to see the dark corners.And the characters! Neurotic ducks try to find their backbones. Mother dogs mourn the loss of their litters to adoption. And a bitter old sheep dog, perfectly voiced, swallows his pride and begins to deal with a tormented past. Some of the internal dramas are of Shakespearian depth and power.Parents, do not fret. Kids will love this movie in the way you loved "Charlotte's Web" or "Bambi". I loved it like "Animal Farm" or "Beauty and the Beast". There's something here for everyone.Unless you're one of those people who wants to see all of the movie as it was shot. Why is this masterpiece not letterboxed in its DVD release? Because the studio considers it a kids' movie and kids have an aversion to the widescreen aspect ratio? I saw this film 10 times in the theaters; it would be my first DVD purchase if the studio didn't insist on lopping off the sides of the frame to fill a stupid, outdated (HD is coming) TV format. For this reason alone, I'm holding off on buying the DVD until this travesty is corrected.