Babe: Pig in the City

Review by Jason Donner

Babe's one busy hunk of ham these days. No sooner does he win that sheep herding thing then he has to go off to the big city and save Hoggit Farm. Fortunately, all is not lost for when our favorite piece of sausage is left to fend for himself, he saves the life of the Godfather's dog and becomes a mob boss... Don Babe!

I have a feeling the guy who owns Pepperidge Farms is gonna be sleeping with the fishes tonight!

First off, let me get this out of the way. Yes, I loved the first Babe movie. It was cute, imaginative, funny, and even though it was basically a kids movie, it had a deep-seeded message that all ages could appreciate and understand.

So now you know where I stand with Babe, the most adorable slab of bacon on the planet, what about the sequel Babe: Pig in the City? Well, let's just say that if Babe was a earthquake, Babe 2 would be a barely noticeable aftershock.

Don't get me wrong, I liked Babe 2, but it just seems so dull and melancholy than the first one and never seems to recapture the vibrant magic that made Babe so enjoyable.  Part of me likes the movie while the other sees it as the unnecessary sequel that it is.

It takes place in a strange imaginative city that is both everywhere and nowhere... That has the Hollywood sign, the Statue of Liberty, and the Eiffel Tower in the same skyline. This is the world seen through the eyes of a child. But the overall theme to the movie is so dark! There's one sequence where animal control raids a house full of animals that just goes on for too long and will give children nightmares (the damned thing almost gave me nightmares!)  I'm not sure how kids will react to this movie where the recurring theme is "it's a dog eat dog world so be sure not to wear milk bone boxers", but I don't think it's going to be pretty.

It still smacks of an unnecessary and ill-themed sequel.  It's not a terrible movie, but it's a movie that has trouble justifying its own existence.