Babe: Pig in the City

Plot synopsis:
Months later, Babe and his master Arthur Hoggett are given a welcome home parade after Babe's success as a "sheepdog". One day, Babe inadvertently causes an accident and Arthur ends up in a hospital. Esme is unsuccessful tending the farm by herself. Soon, two men from the bank arrive to inform Esme that she and Arthur have not paid their rent on time, and they will soon be evicted at the end of the month. Esme locates a letter from a fan saying that if she enters Babe in a sheepdog herding contest, held at a fair far away, she will win a large amount of money. She decides to enter Babe and they leave the farm together.
At the airport in the city of Metropolis, a sniffer dog falsely detects that Babe and Esme are accused of carrying illegal substances. Airport security officers interrogate them, causing them to miss their connecting flight. An airport cleaner informs them about a hotel that is suitable for accommodating animals, so Esme and Babe go there. While Esme runs an errand, Babe chases a black and white capuchin monkey named Tug after he steals Esme's suitcase. Fleeing into a hotel room, Babe follows it and meets three clothed chimpanzees named Bob, Zootie and Easy, as well as Thelonius, an orangutan butler for the landlady's elderly uncle Fugly Floom (Mickey Rooney), a clown who kidnaps Babe to use in his act. Babe initially refuses, but accepts when the chimps mention a reward he will receive after doing the act. When Esme returns, Fugly tricks her into thinking that Babe ran off into the city. Esme leaves to look for Babe, but ends up getting arrested after causing an uproar with some thugs. Fugly performs his clown act in a hospital, but Babe accidentally trips him and he throws a flaming torch into the stage curtains which catch fire, forcing everyone out.
The next morning, Fugly goes to the hospital in a food coma escorted by the landlady. Babe is in his room, hungry and waiting for Esme to return. That night, the chimps try to steal food from a store and use Babe to distract two dogs, who chase Babe around the city. Babe falls into a river and swims away, but returns and saves one of the dogs from drowning. The dog becomes friends with Babe, and Babe invites him and the other homeless animals into the hotel. They share the food around and then sing, alerting the duck Ferdinand who was searching for Babe. Zootie gives birth to twins, and the animals celebrate. Animal control officers are called to capture all the animals and seize them, except for Babe, Tug, Ferdinand and Flealick. Esme is released from jail by the judge after explaining her situation. That night, Babe, Tug, Flealick, and Ferdinand sneak into animal control and open their friends' cages. Esme returns to the hotel and reunites with the landlady, who is mourning her uncle's death, and tells Esme that her neighbor Hortense was the one who got the animals taken away. Esme and the landlady confront Hortense to find out where the animals have been sent, then set off to find them.
Esme and the landlady track the animals to a charity dinner in the hospital's ballroom, where they battle the chefs and waiters with fire extinguishers. In the epilogue, the landlady sells the hotel and gives the money to Esme so she can save the farm. The landlady and the animals come to stay at the farm, where Arthur has recovered from his injury. Arthur proudly watches Babe saying, "That'll do, pig. That'll do."

Tags: comedy, dark, allegory, cult, cute, humor

Review:
Yes, the animals are cute, Babe is a charming creation, and the movie looks like a million (or 90 million) bucks.
I wasn't hoping for a mere rehash of the first film (in fact, I was hoping it wouldn't spawn a sequel at all), but "Babe: Pig in the City" follows the standard blueprint for sequels: bigger, faster, louder, MORE!
While not many professional critics quite shared their level of enthusiasm (although the film received generally decent reviews) the film nonetheless developed a kind of cult following who did, among their number being acclaimed musician Tom Waits and popular "internet personality" the Nostalgia Critic.I saw Babe: Pig in the City upon its UK television premier when I was 13; not really, in my opinion, still a child, yet not at an age where I feel I had fully developed critical facilities that might appreciate the nuances and qualities the film's strongest advocates see in it.
About the only likable animals who have considerable screen time are Ferdinand the Duck, and Babe himself (adorably voiced by singer Elizabeth Daily, ironically perhaps best known for voicing Tommy Pickles from the Rugrats), both of whom can be enjoyed in the vastly superior first film.Babe: Pig in the City is well intentioned and in some areas well executed, but if you want to be charmed or entertained you're probably better off watching Peppa Pig!.
It's so technically well executed and gorgeous to look at (obviously George Miller asked for and got a huge budget this time around) but almost every thing that happens to these cutest-of-cute animals is *mean-spirited*.
In my opinion one of the year's best films, I cannot help but pity poor Universal and director George Miller for the loss of the sequel to "Babe." Kudos go to them for making a film so original and daring, so out of place in the family film market today, as it defies almost everything that stands for these days: you don't forget the entire movie within a few hours; rather, it stays with you, filling your head with bold and imaginative images that rival those of the best children's books out there."Babe: Pig in the City" is much like many other great sequels ("The Empire Strikes Back," "Aliens") in that it is superior to the original but so different from it, that it is not even worth making a comparison of the two.
There is no place for a THOUGHT-PROVOKING family film in this day and age, with the exception of perhaps "The Prince of Egypt."The thing that makes me laugh here is, teenagers and adults alike are commenting on how violent "Babe 2" is, yet if I remember correctly few or no animals at all die in the film.
Most people over that age however should be able to follow it well, and understand that the things happening in it are no worse than what kids (and especially teens) see everyday, whether it's on TV's "The Simpsons" (my favorite show) or something at the multiplex (a whole ARMY of people gets drowned in "The Prince of Egypt"- a PG rated film).In the end I am truly hoping that "Babe: Pig in the City" is given at least some Oscar nominations, especially for the art direction, cinematography, and visual effects- all of which were superb.
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.
Not to mention completely pointless.And in the first movie, Babe the pig had a unique mission, making his triumph truly sweet and heartwarming.
Many critics have accused Babe: Pig in the City of being too dark and violent for children.
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.
So many people will not be able to discover that "Babe: Pig in the City" is truly a remarkable and totally unique achievement in film.
How exciting is it to watch a crippled dog smacked across a dark street, left to die.It might be artistically fun and ok to try to emulate Fellini, but not riding on the coat-tails of a very good kids' movie.
Everyone knows the majority of sequels are rarely more than a pale imitation of their predecessors, and in 'Babe: Pig In The City' we have a textbook case in point.Maybe it's not fair to compare good and bad apples, regardless of how similar they look on the skin.
But an exception might be considered when the follow-up actually tarnishes the memory of what made the first movie so distinctive.In this case the original 1995 feature was one of those all-too rare children's films that everyone except the most jaded adult could watch without shame, and as close to a genuine classic as any movie can get in our strictly disposable, video-devalued 21st century entertainment culture.
James Cromwell and Magda Szubarski are back, playing farmer and Mrs. Hoggett (the former in a sadly diminished walk-on designed to simply tie the two movies together), and the same teams responsible for editing, photography, music and production design are for the most part reunited.But director Chris Noonan is conspicuously absent, his position usurped here by producer George Miller, the man behind the auto-apocalypse 'Mad Max' trilogy in the 1980s.
Apparently none of them had the time or inclination to study the original story very closely, settling instead (in classic sequel fashion) for an over-plotted, underdeveloped action adventure, too complex for its own pre-teen target audience, and supported by necessity on the usual crutch of voice-over narration.The film opens immediately after the last scene of the earlier feature, with Babe's triumphant return to the Hoggett farm after his stunning victory at the National Sheep Dog Trials.
It's the same nebulous threat facing every farm on the Hollywood back lot: the rural property owner's analogue to whatever killed Ali McGraw in 'Love Story', and in this case providing little more than a thinly contrived excuse for getting Babe lost (never mind how) in the big city, at which point the save-the-farm crisis immediately sinks below the narrative radar.Lost in all the subsequent heavy spending is the innocent, organic charm of the original film, re-imagined by Miller and company as a novelty animal act straight out of a Ringling Brothers circus tent, with the title character reduced to just another sideshow attraction in a menagerie of real and robotic talent.
These include, in no special order of importance: a pack of wild urban dogs (who naturally become allies after Babe rescues their leader from drowning), a family of performing monkeys, assorted other wayward pets, and a gratuitous cameo by Mickey Rooney in heavy-duty clown drag.A cast like that doesn't really need an actual plot, leaving not much else to look at besides a lot of frantic, pointless (and surprisingly violent) action, with an acrobatic, mock big-top demolition derby climax.
However, this film is a huge break from the original "Babe."While the first movie was pastoral, this is a dark urban tale.
Great way to start a kids movie--see a character we like getting seriously hurt.
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.
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.
There were numerous plot problems, and even kids will sense when things don't follow.Worse: in all honesty, the animated talking mouths are creepy, rather than cute as in the original.Sorry to say: really disappointing.
It just didn't work, it would have been better as just an animation but unfortunately the director wanted to make it a 'grown-up' kids film, not a great idea.
I'd hate to say it but I didn't find Babe: Pig in the City to be as good as the first movie.
"Babe: Pig in the City" is just one string of dark, depressing, anxiety-inducing scenes that puts it "just a little left" of Peter Jackson's "Meet the Feebles." At least THAT film (Feebles) doesn't present itself as anything other than adult fare.What surprises me even more is the number of glowing reviews this nightmarish picture received.
Sequel to "Babe" picks up after the first one ends, with a triumphant babe returning home to Hoggett farm, but disaster awaits as farmer Hoggett(played by a sidelined James Cromwell) is injured in a freak accident, forcing his wife to take babe on a trip to the city to make money, only to be separated in an increasingly tragic set of circumstances, as neither of them may make it home again...Disastrous sequel is a complete botch from top to bottom, containing none of the charm and warmth of the first, instead contains an unappealing, unbelievably contrived story that goes nowhere, and an ending that is nothing but a bloated cartoon-like slapstick fiasco.
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.
I, too, have been shocked by the many critics who condemned "Babe: Pig in the City" as mean-spirited and "too dark" for children.
I found 'Babe: Pig In The City' more uplifting than the first movie.
Of course I was excited to be on the film in the important crew position I took, we did our best and I will always be forever happy with the results.However today when I watch and enjoy "Pig in the City" I can't but help remember my feelings that day in February 1997.
Now the animals are on their own and continue to try to help Babe.Babe: Pig in the City is over all not a bad film at all, but it's just a very strange film for children.
I went to see Babe: Pig in the city with a friend who had loved the original Babe movie.
Recently I watched it again on DVD (because it came with the original Babe movie so I watched both together).The story involves Babe going to the big city with Mrs Hoggett.
Great adult movies.So he though he could create the definitive children's movie, but unfortunately it overloads the audience with far too many characters, is too dark for young children and is just an unending story of bad things happening to Babe and friends.
Just wacky characters....yawn.In essence it covers the big topics of children's story telling, birth, death as well as modern social issues, community, poverty and so on.But without a compelling story this movie contains too little to see it through.Nice try George....I am still waiting for Mad Max, Beyond Hoggetts farm.
I enjoyed Babe, I thought it was well made, told a worthwhile story in a way that didn't patronise adults (too much) and had a nice feelgood ending.Babe: Pig In The City just felt like a pointless exploitation of a successful brand, the story was slow to kick in and not worth the wait, the characters were generally unconvincing and somehow unloveable (which was one of the strongest parts of the original), the action was, more often than not, exhausting and hard to watch and most of all it didn't seem to appeal to the child in me and certainly didn't appeal to the child WITH me.A sad way to treat a potentially great childrens character - gets a 4 from me and only that high because of the look of the film which was it's only redeeming feature..
What a shock when my wife and I ventured out for the new Babe Goes To The City.The sight of Mr. Hoggett getting beat to a pulp in the opening scenes as he was trying to repair his well was nothing to seeing a dog drowning.Thinking back I questioned how anyone could 'do' a poor Babe sequel.
The first Babe movie was not nearly as violent as this one, I think that children would be very uncomfortable watching this one.
Not perfect like the original movie and a disappointing sequel to a great family film.
Sadly, its sequel BABE PIG IN THE CITY is not perfect like the original and it's a bit disappointing when compared to the original.
It's darker (not surprising since it's directed by George Miller), depressing and twisted.The movie begins with the final scene of the first movie when Babe and his master Arthur Hoggett return to the farm with a welcome parade, but after an accident forces Farmer Hoggett in bed, his wife has to go to the big city with Babe for saving the farm from being sold, and then all hell breaks loose: Mrs. Hoggett is arrested, Babe remains alone in a hotel that it's inhabitated by various animals (fish, dogs, cats, monkeys, etc.) and the landlady's grandpa, played by Mickey Rooney.
This is real emotion and pure film magic without the treacly manipulation and saccharinity of another (terrible and sickeningly manipulative) 1998 box office hit Patch Adams.Sadly, Babe Pig in the City suffered poor marketing and terrible timing, released in competition with Disney's A Bug's Life (which I admit to seeing on the first opening weekend).
The audience reaction was overwhelmingly negative because they expect the same from the first movie but were so surprised and appalled by the dark elements in Babe Pig in the City they were upset - overprotective parents and emotionally sensitive children and even close-minded/ignorant moviegoers - and spread bad word of mouth, thereby ensuring the failure of the second film at the box office.
Read Ebert's amusingly jubilant and overly enthusiastic review - he said this film is even better than the original because it IS original, albeit a second in the series, and did not follow the sequel formula which makes it daring and groundbreaking in terms of originality AND sequel being *better* than the first (Toy Story 2 aside).Despite the flaw of the second film due to the heavy editing, we owe the great ingenuity of George Miller for Babe Pig in the City's awe-inspiring magic and hard-hitting emotion pertaining to the theme of life, redemption and death, not to mention fantastic production design, visual effects and cinematography by Miller's creatively talented crew..
So when my sister rented Babe: Pig In The City out, I thought I might as well give it a shot and I sat down to watch it.Unfortunately, it seems as though everything that happens in the film, every vaguely funny or amusing bit, it put into the trailer.
Personally, I have nothing against family films that are willing to get a little sombre every now and then (moreover, I usually applaud them), but 'Pig in the City' tackles this in overkill, and with a fist too ham and a hand too heavy for its own benevolence.True, the original film had its sprinkling of darkness, which the viewers, if not Babe himself, could easily pick up on, but more than enough lure and feel-good merriment to balance things out.
A VERY unusual film, especially since (by accident) I hadn't viewed the original "Babe" before seeing this sequel.
I think renting Babe: A Pig In The City was the best movie I could have rented.
It's sad to see Babe: Pig in the City lose out to such movies as the thoroughly lame and pitiful A Bug's Life, but it should really come as no surprise.
Then she loses Babe and then is arrested while looking for him and so on.It may be seen as a bit dark by some, but I will mention that my little brother did not seem to be bothered by it, nor did any of the other children in the audience.George Miller is a great director and does a marvelous job.
Babe: Pig in the City however-no pun intended- is a different kind of animal all together.
In that way, I think it is better than the original, Babe: Pig in the City's story is just as thin as the original but it contains the same sense of humor only amplified to 11.
Babe and Ma Hoggett are in town to earn enough money to save the farm from the Bank and put up at a cheap hotel which takes animals.This is a kid's picture, but it is not for viewers who have difficulty distinguishing film fantasy from reality.
But the clear message is that cities are not very nice places.Sadly, Farmer Hoggett (James Cromwell) who added so much to the original "Babe" appears only at the beginning and end of the movie.
Babe: Pig in the City capitalized off of the first film's popularity.
Babe seems to be like some hybrid human-pig breed.) Sending the farm animals off to look for the city life just seemed to be like the next step from showing them on the farm.
"Babe: Pig in the City" takes a more adventurous approach, and the film comes off almost like an art-house movie for kids.
"Babe: Pig In The City" was a smart film that took a while to get into.
This is the story about a talking pig named Babe who went into the city to save his owner's farm; a heart-felt gesture and plot.
"Babe: Pig In The City" is an endearing film that everyone will enjoy..
There's a certain freedom in George Miller's "Babe: Pig in the City" which is unlike many another movie aiming for that same one-word plateau.