An overlooked classic as Nick Clement gives us his Babe Pig in the City (1998) Review
Instead of lazily attempting to replicate the exact same type of movie magic as the original Babe, director George Miller, who fully took over the creative reigns for the darker but no less spectacular sequel Babe: Pig in the City.
George Miller and his brilliant team of craftspeople devised an exquisite yet wildly different chapter in the Babe universe. One that didn’t fare anywhere near as well with critic and totally flopped at the box office, which was a mega-shame considering the lavish expense that Miller required to create this grand, sweeping vision of animal-centric madcap lunacy.
The final sequence alone — worthy of comparisons to Charlie Chaplin and Busby Berkeley — can only be described as a tour de force of filmmaking, choreography, ideas, and execution.
Seriously, if only every movie had half the wit and visual sophistication that Babe: Pig in the City contains — we’d be immensely better off for it. The seamless blending of real animals, limited CGI/digital effects, and animatronics helped to allow the filmmakers to capture amazing and deeply adorable shots of all of the four-legged (and in some cases two and three-legged) friends.
All of the creative and technical elements came together in a special way, and it’s remarkable to consider all of the various moving pieces as a cohesive whole.
This is that rare sequel that’s as good, if not better than the original. Precisely because it refuses to play anything safe and has no intention of being a stale retread of what previously worked. The overwhelming visual design which incorporates key landmarks from all over the world to create one Mega City for Babe, in classic pig out of soil fashion, to traverse and explore.
The film is a feast for the eyes, a sumptuous blending of this and that from all the planet’s major cities. Representing an almost hallucinatory landscape for the increasingly frantic and clever action to unfold over.
In an opening doozy of a set-piece, Farmer Hoggett (James Cromwell) gets injured on the farm, which sends Babe and Ms. Hoggett (the fully committed Magda Szubanski) to the big city in an effort to win large prize money at a new sheepherding contest so that they can save the farm from the bank.
After Mrs, Hoggett is mistakenly arrested for possible drug smuggling at the airport(LOVED explaining these plot developments to Owen…!), Babe is left to fend for himself in the scary city, eventually making his way to an animal hotel which is populated with one of every type of critter.
I refuse to spoil anything further as this film is filled to the brim with adventure, surprises, chases, and hilarity, all of which flies at the audience at a fast and furious pace thanks to Miller’s extraordinary directorial energy. Babe: Pig in the City, as is customary of most sequels, was more expensive, darker in visual appearance and thematic ambition, and allowed for even more subversive humor and commentary to brew under the surface.
And let’s not forget the plethora of animals on display; not one to forget fan favorites such as Ferdinand the Duck, Miller populates his sequel with a wide variety of animals, who far outweigh the very-game human performers. I can’t imagine the patience and discipline that went into making this film.
Miller is a master engineer of expertly framed cinematic madness (look no further than his Mad Max films and his work on Happy Feet), and he’s got a unique vision that’s its own brand of lunatic. And without his expert hand in the middle of all of the playful chaos we would potentially have been left with an ungainly mess. Thankfully, that’s not the case.
Babe Pig in the City (1998) Review by Nick Clement
Our Rating
Summary
Cinematographer Andrew Lesnie, editors Jay Friedkin and Margaret Sixel, and production designer Roger Ford worked overtime on this elaborate production, which truly deserves as much acclaim as the beloved original. It’s available on Blu-ray/DVD and via various streaming providers, including HBO HD platforms.
