Babe: Pig in the City (1998)
Time: 1h 37mins
Director: George Miller
Quick Summary: Babe, fresh from his victory in the sheepherding contest, returns to Farmer Hoggett's farm, but after Farmer Hoggett is injured and unable to work, Babe has to go to the big city to save the farm.
Well, this got morbid.
While I do like this one, it's nowhere as perfect as the first one. This time around, it feels very overwhelming as they cram in 50 different characters and several different elaborate events for this little pig to go through. Sure, it looks a ton better and the set pieces are so good, but did they really need to shove this much into one film. However, I can say it doesn't try to recreate the previous story or try to bring back everything we knew from the first in an attempt to get us to like this. It does its own thing, which wasn't brilliant, but I still liked it.
I did like the addition of the chimpanzees. This family of apes are fully dressed in clothes and talk as if they're from New Jersey, getting saying and words constantly wrong. I found them to be really enduring and brought some nice family elements.
The strange thing about this one is that it's really dark and honestly kinda morbid. There are a lot of death and unsettling moments thrown in which could upset kids a bit. Don't get me wrong, I think they should see this kind of moment to learn but watching a dog almost drown was a bit much for me. That said, there were a lot of scenes I did love. Like the farmer's wife trying to catch the pig whilst being in a clown costume, bungee jumping from a chandelier, or when the duck tries to catch up to a plane the pig is on.
I don't think this has the same themes as the first one did, and I also don't think it manages to convey the themes it does have very well. Lots of them get lost in the frantic jumping from scene to scene, or various hectic chase scenes. What I did manage to pick up was community and being kind to everyone, but mostly I was trying to teach us to be kinder towards animals which I think is really nice. Shame it was kind of difficult to pick these up.
Sadly, this isn't as good as the first one but it is definitely watchable. Though I'd recommend it for older kids as the story is really upsetting at times.
7/10
"Babe: You're very kind, but...
The Pitbull: No, no, I'm anything but kind. In fact, I have a professional obligation to be malicious.
Babe: Then you should change jobs."
"The Narrator: Something broke through the terror - flickerings, fragments of his short life, the random events that delivered him to this, his moment of annihilation. As terror gave way to exhaustion, Babe turned to his attacker, his eyes filled with one simple question...
Babe: ...why?"
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