Babe (film)

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Babe
Babe ver1.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Chris Noonan
Produced by Bill Miller
George Miller
Doug Mitchell
Screenplay by George Miller
Chris Noonan
Based on The Sheep-Pig 
by Dick King-Smith
Narrated by Roscoe Lee Browne
Starring James Cromwell
Magda Szubanski
Music by Nigel Westlake
Cinematography Andrew Lesnie
Editing by Marcus D'Arcy
Jay Friedkin
Studio Kennedy Miller Productions
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release date(s)
  • August 4, 1995 (1995-08-04) (United States)
Running time 92 minutes
Country Australia
United States
Language English
Budget $30 million
Box office $254,134,910

Babe is a 1995 comedy-drama film, co-written and directed by Chris Noonan. It is an adaptation of Dick King-Smith's 1983 novel The Sheep-Pig, also known as Babe: The Gallant Pig in the USA, which tells the story of a pig who wants to be a sheepdog. The main animal characters are played by a combination of real and animatronic pigs and Border Collies.[1]

After seven years of development,[2] Babe was filmed in Robertson, New South Wales, Australia.[3] The talking-animal visual effects were done by Rhythm & Hues Studios and Jim Henson's Creature Shop.

The film was a box office success and received considerable acclaim from critics: it was nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, winning Best Visual Effects. It also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and the Saturn Award for Best Fantasy Film.

In 1998, Babe producer and co-writer George Miller directed a sequel, Babe: Pig in the City.

Contents

Plot [edit]

After a piglet's mother is taken away by humans to be slaughtered, the piglet, whose name is Babe, is chosen for a "guess the weight" booth at a county fair. Farmer Arthur Hoggett guesses his weight (16 lbs., 2 oz.) and wins the pig. Babe is brought to his farm and allowed to stay with the female sheepdog, Fly (a Border Collie), and her pups. Maa, an elderly resident sheep, tells him to watch out for the dogs. A duck named Ferdinand, posing as a rooster in order to keep from being eaten, wakes the farm each morning by crowing. He persuades Babe to help him destroy the alarm clock because it interferes with his mission. They succeed, but wake the Hoggetts' cat, Duchess, and accidentally destroy the living room, leaving all three covered in paint. Fly's mate and leader of the farm animals, Rex, strictly orders Babe to stay away from both Ferdinand (who is now a fugitive) and the house.

Christmas time brings a visit from the Hoggetts' relatives. Babe is almost chosen for the Christmas dinner but a duck is picked instead after Farmer Hoggett remarks to his wife that they perhaps shouldn't kill the pig, as he may bring a prize at the next County Fair. They instead have Duck à l'Orange for Christmas dinner. Ferdinand comes out of hiding to explain that the duck on the table isn't him, but a female named Rosanna whom he was supposedly friends with. Unable to cope with this injustice, Ferdinand says goodbye to Babe and flies away, hoping to find some place where he will be safe from becoming some human's dinner. The day after Christmas, Babe alerts the farmer to some sheep rustlers who are taking sheep from the top field.

The next day, Hoggett sees Babe sort the hens, separating the brown ones from the white ones. Impressed, he takes the pig to the sheep fields along with Fly and Rex. Rex feels offended by Babe when Hoggett tells Babe instead of Rex to herd the sheep, and is furious with Fly for helping him. Fly advises Babe to be rough and impose his will on the sheep, so he bites one of them, annoying Maa, who advises him to ask politely. The sheep cooperate, and Babe herds them out of their pen, impressing Farmer Hoggett and amazing the other dogs. Rex, however, sees Babe's actions as an insult to sheepdogs, and that night, he confronts Fly for "putting ideas" in Babe's head. Fly's right front leg is injured, and Hoggett's hand is bitten by Rex when he tries to intervene, and he and Mrs. Hoggett glare at Rex, who is then chained to the dog house and sedated. It is now Babe's job to herd the sheep. Hoggett considers entering Babe in the sheepdog trials.

One morning, Babe suddenly hears the sounds of sheep. Babe runs out to the field and witnesses three feral dogs attacking the sheep. He scares them away but Maa has been mortally injured and dies from her wounds. Hoggett eventually arrives to see Babe standing over Maa with blood on his snout and thinks that he killed the sheep. As he prepares to shoot Babe, Fly tries talking to the sheep for the first time to find out what happened. She distracts Hoggett (and spares Babe) by barking long enough for Mrs. Hoggett to come out and tell how she heard from the police and the dogcatcher that neighboring farms had sheep killed by feral dogs.

When Mrs. Hoggett leaves on a trip for a few days, Hoggett enters Babe in the sheepdog trials under the name "Pig" without his wife's knowledge or permission. That evening, it is so wet outside that Hoggett lets Babe inside the house along with Fly. But the Hoggetts' hostile cat scratches Babe when he attempts to speak with her, and she is thrown out onto the porch. Ferdinand returns from his self-imposed exile and laughs to see Babe inside resting by the fire and the cat outside in the rain. Duchess sneaks back into the house and takes vengeance on Babe by feigning contrition for scratching him, but then devastates him by revealing that humans eat pigs. Fly also confirms this, and the next morning discovers that Babe has run away. Rex and Fly alert Hoggett, and the three go searching for him; Rex eventually finds him in a graveyard and Hoggett brings him back home. Babe refuses to eat, despite encouragement from Rex, who has now softened his attitude toward the pig, even calling him his son. Hoggett gives him a drink in a baby bottle and sings "If I Had Words" to him, and eventually jigs for him. This restores Babe's faith in the farmer, and he begins eating.

At the trials the sheep refuse to listen to Babe, and Rex runs to the farm to find out what to do. The sheep give Rex a secret sheep password only for Babe's use and make Rex promise to treat the sheep better. The crowd laughs at the farmer showing a pig for the sheepdog contest, but using the password, Babe convinces the sheep to do what he asks, and they perform flawlessly. After getting perfect scores and the cheers and adoration of the crowd, Rex and Fly lick each other in victory, while Babe sits next to Hoggett, who tells him, "That'll do, Pig. That'll do."

Cast [edit]

Voice actors

Reception [edit]

Babe was very well received critically; it currently holds a 98% "Certified Fresh" approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[4] It was also a box office success, grossing $254,134,910 worldwide.[5]

It was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture.[6] It won the award for Best Visual Effects, defeating Apollo 13.[7] In 2006, the American Film Institute named Babe #80 on its list of America's Most Inspiring Movies.[8]

Due to its title, Babe was initially banned in Malaysia, although the ruling was overturned almost a year later and the film was released direct-to-VHS.[9]

Accolades [edit]

American Film Institute Lists

Box office [edit]

Babe grossed $36,776,544 at the box office in Australia.[19]

References [edit]

  1. ^ Chanko, Kenneth M. (1995-08-18). "This Pig Just Might Fly | Movies". EW.com. Retrieved 2010-05-31. 
  2. ^ "Interview with Chris Noonan", 9 September 1999 accessed 19 November 2012
  3. ^ "Robertson – New South Wales – Australia". theage.com.au. 2008-04-10. Retrieved 2008-07-20. 
  4. ^ "Babe Movie Reviews, Pictures". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on 21 June 2010. Retrieved 2010-05-31. 
  5. ^ "Babe (1995)". Boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved 2010-05-31. 
  6. ^ Siskel & Ebert week of February 16, 1996 Part 1 Part 2
  7. ^ ":: rogerebert.com :: Reviews :: Babe (xhtml)". Rogerebert.suntimes.com. Retrieved 2010-05-31. 
  8. ^ a b AFI's 100 Years... 100 Cheers. American Film Institute. Retrieved March 20, 2013.
  9. ^ Gogoi, Pallavi (2006-11-05). "Banning Borat". Businessweek.com. Retrieved 2010-05-31. 
  10. ^ "Academy Awards, USA: 1996". awardsdatabase.oscars.org. Archived from the original on 27 February 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-08. 
  11. ^ "The 68th Academy Awards (1996) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 2011-08-05. 
  12. ^ "Award Search". www.goldenglobers.org. Archived from the original on 5 July 2011. Retrieved 2011-08-01. 
  13. ^ AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies Nominees
  14. ^ AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs Nominees
  15. ^ AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains Nominees
  16. ^ AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes Nominees
  17. ^ AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) Ballot
  18. ^ AFI's 10 Top 10 Ballot
  19. ^ Film Victoria - Australian Films at the Australian Box Office

External links [edit]

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