Babe: Pig in the City

Babe: Pig in the City
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	George Miller
Produced by	George Miller Doug Mitchell Bill Miller
Written by	George Miller Judy Morris Mark Lamprell Dick King-Smith (characters)
Narrated by	Roscoe Lee Browne
Starring	Magda Szubanski James Cromwell Mary Stein E.G. Daily Danny Mann Steven Wright
Music by	Nigel Westlake Randy Newman (songs)
Cinematography	Andrew Lesnie
Editing by	Jay Friedkin Margaret Sixel
Studio	Animal Logic
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	November 25, 1998
Running time	95 minutes
Country	Australia / United States
Language	English
Budget	$90 million
Box office	$69,131,860

Babe: Pig in the City is a 1998 sequel to the 1995 film Babe. It occurs in the fictional city of Metropolis. Due to the unexpected darker and more mature subject matter (the film includes a scene in which a dog almost drowns while hanging from a bridge), the film was not received as well as the first Babe film was, as it flopped at the box office and reviews were generally mixed.

Plot

Shortly after the events of the previous film, Farmer Hoggett is injured and unable to work. Facing foreclosure, Esme Hoggett resolves to show Babe at a faraway fair for an appearance fee. On the way to the fair, Mrs. Hoggett and Babe are unexpectedly detained and forced to stay in an unfamiliar and hostile city. They find the only hotel in town that secretly accepts pets but soon become separated from each other.

Babe is taken by the Landlady's uncle Fugly Floom, a clown who performs with a troop of chimpanzees and Thelonius, his loyal orangutan. He tells Esme that Babe has escaped and she leaves to search for him but is arrested after she causes an uproar with a motorcycle gang. Babe chooses to perform for the local children's hospital with the apes, hoping to earn money to save the farm but the show ends in disaster and Floom is taken to the hospital. The concerned Landlady stays by his side and leaves all the animals alone in the hotel unprotected. This quickly arouses the suspicion of a meddlesome neighbor across the street.

As Thelonius broods over his ailing master, the three chimpanzees leave to find food. Babe follows them and mentions his sheep herding skills. The leader of the chimpanzees uses Babe as a decoy to distract two malicious dogs guarding an alleyway while continue their search. Frightened, Babe runs away, but the spike keeping the dogs chained up breaks free and the dogs give chase throughout the city. Babe loses one in a junkyard but chooses to rescue the bull terrier from drowning. This earns him the respect of all the animals and the loyalty of the once-dangerous bull terrier.

Babe allows the strays into the hotel and one of the chimpanzees, Zootie, goes into labor and gives birth to twins. Babe sings to the newborns and the other animals join in. Ferdinand the duck, who has been trying to find Babe after he left the farm, is finally able to reach him. The neighbor realizes that the hotel is filled with animals and calls the officials to dispose of them. The animals are taken away. Babe and Ferdinand escape, as well as a wheelchair-using dog called Flealick.

Meanwhile, Esme Hoggett tells her story before a judge and is set free. She returns to the hotel and finds it empty except for the Landlady mourning her uncle's death and loss of the animals. As Esme's only dress is ruined, the Landlady lends her the only clothes that fit her — her uncle's clown costume — and they confront the meddlesome neighbor Esme asked "Where are the animals?".

Both women and Babe and his friends make their way to the institute, where a banquet is in progress. Babe frees the animals. Esme and the landlady burst into the banquet shooting fire extinguishers to keep the guards away. Esme then ties the elastic straps from the suit to the chandelier and swings from it trying to catch Babe. As she is swinging, she bumps one of the waiters off a ladder while he is trying to keep a tower of champagne glasses from falling over. As Esme is regaining her balance, she hears a strange noise and looks down and sees that beneath the suit,an inflatable flesh-colored, balloon is rapidly expanding. The waiter gets up and sees this and looks into his hand and sees that as he was falling he accidentally pulled off a tab on the suit marked "DO NOT PULL". Esme then begins to bounce around the room using the balloon as a cushion. She eventually retrieves Babe, but pulls down the chandelier due to their height, causing all the balloons to fall that were being held up by a banner. Zootie realizes one of her babies is missing and desperately searches for it. Babe sees it clinging to the broken chandelier cord and about to fall. He alerts Thelonius just in time to catch it. The chimpanzees are grateful to Thelonius, but he repeats the bull terrier's earlier words--"Thank the pig"--as a show of his newly earned respect for Babe. Esme than rolls over to Babe and says, "Pig, You get here now!"

The Landlady moves near the Hoggetts' farm, which was saved by the money from the hotel. The animals join them as well—the chimpanzees live freely in the trees, Thelonius shows his loyalty to Mrs. Hoggett by helping her with chores, the bull terrier tries to raise his puppies (whom he fathered with a pink poodle from the hotel who left the farm with another dog ) to be tough, and Flealick chases trucks that pass by clinging to them. Farmer Hoggett recovers and is successful in repairing the well. As the film comes to a close, he turns to Babe and says, "That'll do Pig. That'll do."

Cast

• Magda Szubanski as Esme Cordelia Hoggett
• Mary Stein as the Landlady
• James Cromwell as Arthur Hoggett
• Mickey Rooney as Fugly Floom
• Paul Livingston as the Hot Headed Chef
• Julie Godfrey as Hortense

Voices

• E.G. Daily as Babe
• Danny Mann as Ferdinand and Tug
• Roscoe Lee Browne as the Narrator
• Glenne Headly as Zootie
• Steven Wright as Bob
• James Cosmo as Thelonius
• Stanley Ralph Ross as The Bull Terrier/The Doberman
• Russi Taylor as The Pink Poodle, and a Choir Cat
• Myles Jeffrey as Easy
• Adam Goldberg as Flealick the Jack Russell Terrier
• Eddie Barth as Nigel and Alan
• Bill Capizzi as Snoop
• Miriam Margolyes as Fly
• Hugo Weaving as Rex
• Jim Cummings as a Pelican
• Katie Leigh as a Hungry Kitten
• Charles Bartlett as a Cow
• Michael Edward-Stevens as a Horse
• Nathan Kress as Easy, and a Tough Pup
• Al Mancini as a Fish
• Larry Moss as a Fish

Production

Christine Cavanaugh, who played Babe in the first film, was Offered to reprise her role, but declined due to the Low salary. Her Rugrats co-star, Elizabeth Daily, took the Role instead.

Prior to the film's theatrical release, it was originally rated PG by the MPAA. The TV spots for the film's theatrical release mentioned this rating. When the film was released in theaters, it was re-rated G by the MPAA, so the TV spots for the film's theatrical release currently mentioned this rating instead of its original rating. The reason why the final cut was rated G by the MPAA was because most of the dog violence was cut, leaving a shot that shows the bull terrier pushing down Babe into the river. Some people thought it was rated PG by the MPAA as they saw the poster mentioning the film's original rating. The home video release still has a G rating from the MPAA. This was Universal's last theatrically released feature-length film to be rated G by the MPAA until 2006's Curious George. It was also Universal's last theatrically released live-action film to be rated G by the MPAA until 2007's Mr. Bean's Holiday. However, when the film aired on Superstation WGN on November 18, 2007 and AMC on December 9, 2007, the shot that shows Ferdinand almost getting shot by humans was removed.^{[citation needed]}

The film takes place in an imaginative fantasy-like Metropolis. It notably resembles Oz, but in modern day form. The city has various styles of architecture from around the world. It also has a variety of waterways, noticeable by the hotel at which Babe stays. The downtown area appears to be situated on an island not dissimilar to Manhattan Island. The Downtown Skyline features various skyscrapers such as the World Trade Center, Sears Tower, Chrysler Building, Empire State Building, IDS Center, MetLife Building, Sydney Opera House, the Hollywood sign, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Fernsehturm Berlin, Big Ben, Red Square, the Statue of Liberty,and the Tour Eiffel and many other landmarks.

The DVD covers feature a similar but different skyline, keeping the World Trade Center, Golden Gate Bridge, Big Ben, Sydney Opera House, and Red Square. Several skyscrapers added include 40 Wall Street (Two of them), Empire State Building, 500 5th Avenue, the Flatiron Building, World Financial Center, and several Los Angeles Skyscrapers including the U.S. Bank Tower. The river near the hotel is similar at the canal of Venice, Italy or Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Deleted Scenes

Babe: Pig in the City had to be edited due to some intense scenes and for some special effects due to adverse reaction to a test screening. This led to a rumor that Babe Pig in the city was rated PG 13. This was proven false and it was given a PG rating. Some of these scenes can be seen in the trailer and the novel.

An extended scene with Farmer Hoggett's accident (from the novel).

Esme Hoggett being striped searched. In the theaters it showed the guard put on the rubber glove, but this was not in the DVD or VHS version (junior novel).

Extended city scene after the bucket of glue fell on Mrs Hoggett's head. Her purse was stolen and she tries to fight her way to it, which let to her striking an officer, resulting in her getting arrested. Evidence of this scene remains in the final film with the Police officers being bandaged up (junior novel).

A scene where Babe is hungry and wants food, from watching Fugly Floom eating. Then Babe's snout gets stuck in a jar. The chimps build a tower of trash which leads to Babe climbing it, resulting in Babe falling out of the hotel window. Afterwards, the Chimps steal Fugly's candy, followed by Thelonius taking it back. Babe, Angered by him not getting his reward, yells at Thelonius (The sound clip can be heard on the Soundtrack), leading to him Throwing babe out the window again. (scene from the trailer). The Trash falls on Fugly, injuring him which is why he was taken out on a stretcher. This whole scene was cut (junior novel).

An extended scene with the Animal Control: they originally used more force on the animals. An officer Grabs Ferdinand, and Babe tries to rescue him by charging, but gets caught himself. Then the Pit Bull attacks the Officer, freeing the two, and Gets his Muzzle. Evidence in the Final cut is where The man who caught the Dog is helping the injured officer, while taking it downstairs (from The novel).

Scenes with Esme Hoggett in jail in which she was booked and forced to sleep in a windowless cell with a snoring cellmate (junior Novel).

A scene where Fugly dies with his niece the landlady by his side.

Extended scene with Esme Hoggett arriving back at the hotel.

Extended ballroom rescue: someone pulled the piece of fabric on Esme's clown suit causing it to tear, and a shot of the chef and a waiter pulling on Esme's clown suit trick stockings and slinging her around the room. Babe dashed into their knees knocking them down (Trailer). Evidence of this scene remains in the final film where Esme is suddenly barefoot and looking out of breath.

Reception

The film received mixed to generally positive reviews. Audience response was polarized, with viewers either finding it great, or disliking it strongly^{[citation needed]}. The movie has a 60% "Fresh" rating from Rotten Tomatoes, and a 56% "Rotten" rating from "Top Critics." Most of the negative reviews came from people who enjoyed the first Babe, as well as those who were expecting a more family-oriented film, like the first installment. Like its predecessor, the film was banned in Malaysia. However, the film has developed a cult following, and film critic Gene Siskel named it as his choice for the best movie of 1998 and claimed it to be better than its original. Roger Ebert also praised the movie, saying it was "more magical than the original 'Babe'." The film was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1998. Tom Waits is apparently a fan of the film, as he expressed in a recent feature in Mojo Magazine.

The film was a box office failure. It grossed only $69 million worldwide from a $90 million budget, compared to the first movie's $254 million globally.

Soundtrack

The score is again by Nigel Westlake, it also includes sound clips taken from the film. There is also a big band classic "Chattanooga Choo Choo" by Glenn Miller, and "That's Amore" by Dean Martin. More tracks including "That'll Do", the Academy Award-nominated theme song, and a song at the end sung by Babe's voice actress.

1. That'll Do - performed by Peter Gabriel - 3:51
2. Babe: A Pig in the City - 1:22
3. The Returning Hero - 1:16
4. Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien - performed by Edith Piaf - 2:19
5. Chattanooga Choo Choo - performed by Glenn Miller, Tex Beneke, and the Modernaires - 3:14
6. Scram, This Is Not a Farm - 2:27
7. That's Amore - performed by Dean Martin - 3:07
8. Three Blind Mice - 0:41
9. A Pig Gets Wise - 1:17
10. Are You Lonesome Tonight? - performed by The Mavericks - 2:59
11. Protected by Angels - performed by the Chieftains and Black Dyke Mills Band - 3:39
12. The Big City (Two Step Nadya)- performed by the Terem Quartet - 3:12
13. Babe's Lament - 2:38
14. A Heart That's True - performed by Elizabeth Daily and Pat Metheny - 3:58
15. The End - 1:26
16. That'll Do (Instrumental) - performed by the Black Dyke Mills Band - 3:57

Home media

• May 4, 1999 (VHS, DVD, and laserdisc) (Note: This DVD was in both widescreen and pan and scan formats.)
• May 22, 2001 (DVD - 2-Pack with Babe)
• September 23, 2003 (DVD - The Complete Adventure Two-Movie Pig Pack, this DVD box set was released in separate widescreen and pan and scan formats, due to the DVD re-release of the first film)
• February 1, 2005 (DVD - Family Double Feature, this contains Babe) (Note: This DVD shows pan and scan versions of both films and the widescreen version of this film.)

Both Babe movies are available on Netflix and Netflix Canada.

External links

• Babe: Pig in the City at AllRovi
• Babe: Pig in the City at the Internet Movie Database
• Babe: Pig in the City at Box Office Mojo