Babe: Pig in the City (DVD)

Description: Genre: Children's DVDs / Theatrical Release: 1998 / Director: George Miller (II) / Actors: Magda Szubanski, James ... more

Babe: Pig in the City (DVD) ... Cromwell ... / DVD released 04 May, 1999 at Universal Studios / Features of the DVD: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Colour, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC, Widescreen / Deservedly acclaimed as one of 1998's best films, this sequel to the beloved 1995 live-action fantasy proved a commercial catastrophe and a source of dismay to parents expecting another bucolic, sweet-natured fable. Every bit as sly and visually stunning as its predecessor, Babe: Pig in the City is otherwise a jolting ride beyond the Hoggetts' farm into a no less vivid but far darker world--the allegorical city of the title, which for the diminutive "sheep pig" proves truly nightmarish. Australian filmmaker George Miller (Mad Max, The Road Warrior), who produced and cowrote the first film, this time takes the director's reins, and he ratchets up the pace and the peril as effectively as he did on his influential trilogy of apocalyptic, outback sci-fi thrillers. From the opening scene, Babe: Pig in the City means to disrupt the reassuring calm achieved by the conclusion of the previous film. Babe's prior triumph proves short-lived, and within moments Miller has us literally peering into the depths as he sets up a horrific well accident that nearly kills the taciturn but good-hearted Farmer Hoggett (James Cromwell), Babe's beloved "Boss." Journeying with the equally pink, even plumper Mrs. Hoggett (Magda Szubanski), the young pig finds himself in a city where animals are outcasts, staying in the lone hotel that allows pets. When Mrs. Hoggett is detained, Babe must contend with the suspicions and rivalries of the hotel's other four-legged guests. The film's G status doesn't fully telegraph the shock Miller induces: bad things happen to good animals, and Babe's new acquaintances are a far cry from his colleagues on the farm. In particular, he must contend with a cynical family of chimps given wonderful, dead-pan voice characterisations by Steven Wright and Glenne Headly. Miller's use of effects to transform his animals into "actors" is even more seamlessly integrated than in Babe. The sequel's production design is crucial to the creation of a complete, absorbing world, and purely visual ideas--such as a deluge of blue balloons during the climactic ballroom battle--achieve a splendour and originality that a room full of computer-graphics desktops couldn't muster. Ultimately, though, the film does more than amaze: as Babe's compassion and courage transform those around him, we're moved in ways that purveyors of by-the-numbers family fare can only dream of. --Sam Sutherland

Newest Review: ... landmarks pot the landscape: the Hollywood sign, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Eifel Tower, the canals of Venice etc. ... more

... Spiritually and morally, also, it is faceless, oppressive. Miller's contempt for the urban environment is evident in most every frame. His compositions evoke, sometimes all at once, The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari, Delicatessen and Brazil. From every corner leers threat, from every cobble rises catastrophe. For the most part, Pig In The City plays less like a family film than an apocalyptic horror. Only in the final third, the weakest portion of the picture and the only section wherein one might detect a whiff of studio ...more

Price Comparison for Babe: Pig in the City (DVD)

	Babe: Pig in the City [DVD] [1998] Deservedly acclaimed as one of 1998's best films, this sequel to ... Last Update 19.12.2009 05:49	£ 3.00
	Babe - Pig In The City [VHS] [1998] Deservedly acclaimed as one of 1998's best films, this sequel to ... Last Update 19.12.2009 05:49	£ 0.98
	Babe/Babe 2 - Pig in the City [DVD] Release Date: 2006 - 08 - 28, Rating Universal, suitable for all, Last Update 19.12.2009 05:49	£ 7.38
	BABE - Pig In The City [DVD] [1998] Deservedly acclaimed as one of 1998's best films, this sequel to ... Last Update 19.12.2009 05:49	£ 2.19
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Babe: Pig in the City (DVD): An underrated masterpiece. (332 words)
by - written on 06/08/08 (Very useful, 20 readings)
Rating:

George Miller (still best known for his Mad Max trilogy), co-writer of Babe, delivered in Pig In The City one of the bravest, bleakest, most distinctive "family" films in recent memory. Gone are the whimsical, pastoral hues of the first film - the sequel exists in a black, expressionistic netherworld, presenting a post-modern city that is at once nowhere and everywhere - chards of geographically adrift landmarks pot the landscape: the Hollywood sign, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Eifel Tower, the canals of Venice etc. Spiritually and morally, also, it is faceless, oppressive. Miller's contempt for the urban environment is evident in most every frame. ... Read the complete review

Best That Pig Stayed At Home !!!! (298 words)
by - written on 13/01/01 (Very useful, 25 readings)
Rating:

After watching Babe,I honestly thought that Babe "pig in the city"would be just as good,it wasnt to be. I think it would have been better if Babe had stayed at home,but hang on,it wasnt all bad. The story begins when farmer Hoggett is involved in an accident,that nearly kills Him.The farm is in trouble financial wise so Mrs.Hoggett decides to take Babe to the city,hoping that the pigs talents will earn them money to ease the already building debts. There is trouble ahead when Mrs.Hoggett gets arrested at the airport accused of drug smuggling.This leaves Babe alone in the city,He eventually ends up at a hotel that takes animals,but the other animals ... Read the complete review

Babe: Pig in the City (DVD): That Will Not Do. (177 words)
by - written on 30/12/00 (Very useful, 31 readings)
Rating:

In the first film – Babe, the farmer (Arthur Hoggett) had a phrase every time he and the pig finished a task and it was: “That will do Pig”. What a pity somebody didn’t say “That will do” to the writers before they made this sequel. I thoroughly enjoyed Babe, but this film with Babe, Pig in the City it is very disappointing. The story is based around saving the farm, which is in financial difficulties, by using the pig’s fame to raise money in the big city. That is it, from that point on there is no story, just a collection of events that are supposed to string together and be funny. It does not work. I ... Read the complete review

Animal Actors are great! (388 words)
by - written on 02/01/02 (Useful, 63 readings)
Rating:

Sorry to disagree with the other opinions but I really enjoyed this film.We have just watched the video after buying it cheap in the sales!Husband was not keen to get it but laughed all the way through it. Okay I admit the plot was not brilliant.But the farmer getting hurt down the well due to Babe trying to help was an hilarious set of events.(Watch it to find out)The farmers wife was a very humorous character.She could not run the farm on her own, so it was up to her to save the day and take Babe on a journey to earn appearance fees at fairs. But of course it all goes wrong when the farmers wife gets arrested for drug smuggling at the airport! (Due to a ... Read the complete review

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Babe: Pig in the City (DVD) : Animal Actors are great!
from Lyndylou48
02/01/2002