Babe: Pig in the City Review
by James Brundage (brundage AT alltel DOT net)January 8th, 1999
*Babe: Pig in the City*
Directed by George Miller (Babe)
Written by George Miller, Judy Morris (Luigis Ladies), and Mark Lamprel
Starring: James Cromwell (LA Confidential), Magda Szubanski
With the voices of: Elizabeth Daily (Babe), Danny Mann (Babe), Steven Wright (Deep Rising)
As reviewed by James Brundage
The problem with sequels is that they try too much to be like the original. Sure, there are a few exceptions. I can't think of any right off the top of my head, but rule #665 in The Critic's Bible: there are exceptions to every rule. Babe, by all accounts, was an intelligent, thought out movie. Babe II: Pig in the City, tries and tries but can't quiet do it.
Sure, the humor is moderately intelligent and the narration includes things like a mention of the chaos theory, but when it boils down to it, Babe II was just like every other sequel: an attempt to carbon copy the original. But, friends, the great copy machine known as Hollywood is broken, and has never gotten a repairman, so we are doomed to watch screwed up attempts at copying, remakes gone wrong, and things screwed up.
Babe II disappoints. It disappoints so much that I'll give you the plot summary and then leave you be because talking about it makes my relive the relative boredom of sitting in front of the screen with talking animals on it.
Babe comes back from winning the sheep-herding contest he won last movie and, when the farmer is injured and the farm goes into debt, Babe has to go to the city. Of course he's separated from his human and of course he saves the day for man and animal alike. There's really nothing that's anything but simplistic about it. It's a movie void with laughs.
Now I promised I'd shut up so I will, but if you see Babe II, don't come to me complaining about it.
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