Stuart Little 2

Stuart Little 2
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Rob Minkoff
Produced by	Douglas Wick Lucy Fisher
Screenplay by	Bruce Joel Rubin
Story by	Bruce Joel Rubin Douglas Wick
Based on	Stuart Little by E. B. White
Starring	Geena Davis Hugh Laurie Jonathan Lipnicki
Music by	Alan Silvestri
Cinematography	Steven Poster
Editing by	Priscilla Nedd-Friendly
Studio	Franklin/Waterman Productions Red Wagon Productions
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	July 19, 2002 (2002-07-19)
Running time	76 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	US$120,000,000
Box office	$169,956,806

Stuart Little 2 is a 2002 American live action and CGI animated film, directed by Rob Minkoff and starring Geena Davis, Hugh Laurie and Jonathan Lipnicki and the voices of Michael J. Fox, Nathan Lane, Melanie Griffith, James Woods and Steve Zahn. The film is a sequel to the 1999 film and includes characters from the children's book by E. B. White such as Margalo.

The film was followed by a direct-to-video sequel, Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild in 2006.

Plot

Two years after the first film, Stuart Little (voiced by Michael J. Fox) questions his ability after a grueling soccer match alongside George (Jonathan Lipnicki), who kicked him with a soccer ball. He becomes even more downhearted after George's toy airplane gets broken in an accident because of him. However, Stuart's father, Frederick Little (Hugh Laurie), tells him that for every Little, there is a "silver lining," a good thing that comes out of an apparently bad situation.

On his way home from school, Stuart saves a female canary named Margalo (voiced by Melanie Griffith) who is being pursued by a peregrine falcon (voiced by James Woods), and they become friends. But she is secretly working with Falcon to case and steal from households. When he presses her to find and take an object of value, or lose the sanctuary he promised her, she can't seem to concentrate on her assignment, as she is beginning to have tender feelings for Stuart. Falcon eventually loses patience and threatens to kill him if she doesn't deliver. Worried for his safety, she takes Eleanor Little (Geena Davis)'s diamond ring.

When the Littles see that the ring is missing, they think it has fallen down the sink. Stuart offers to be lowered down the drain on a string to get it, and nearly succeeds. When it breaks Margalo saves him, and his thanks to her only makes her feel even more guilty, so she decides to leave. When he can't find her, he assumes she has been kidnapped - and that Falcon is somehow involved. He leaves on a quest to rescue her with the household's reluctant cat Snowbell (voiced by Nathan Lane), but not before setting up a plan with George.

Stuart and Snowbell decide to get information on Falcon's whereabouts, so they enlist the help of Monty, an American Shorthair (from the original film) (voiced by Steve Zahn), who tells them that Falcon's lair is at the disused observation deck of the nearby Pishkin Building (in reality a heavily-modified CGI version of the Chrysler Building). They hatch a plan to use balloons to get Stuart to the top, where he finds out that Margalo is Falcon's slave, and was forced to take the ring. He tries to save her, but Falcon captures him, and drops him from an immense height to his presumed death; however he lands on a soft trash bag in a garbage truck. Margalo and Snowbell are unaware of this. So when he goes to the top and asks her where Stuart is, she tells him that Falcon killed him.

On a garbage scow where he has ended up, Stuart blames himself for everything, and has almost lost all hope. But suddenly, he finds George's broken plane, fixes it up, and flies to save Margalo, who, having been freed by Snowbell, just fled from Falcon. The Littles, who have discovered his absence, (and that the plan Stuart made with George earlier was to lie to his parents) follow him by taxi as he begins an aerial adventure through the park, with Margalo at his side. Eventually, they lose Falcon, but he catches up and makes an attempt to kill Stuart, when he detaches the plane's upper wing, damaging the main one and causing it to enter a steep nose dive, which fails when Stuart recovers from the dive, nearly missing the Littles. He then realizes he can't run from Falcon, and lets Margalo off. He turns and flies the damaged plane in a kamikaze run while Falcon goes into an attack dive. He uses Mrs. Little's ring to temporarily blind him, and jumps out using a bandana as a parachute. The kamikaze attack works and Falcon is struck head on and defeated. Although he survives the attack, he falls out of the sky and lands in a garbage can that Monty is scavenging in, and is presumably eaten by him, but not before Stuart falls when his parachute is sliced apart by the propeller of the shattered plane, and then is rescued by Margalo.

Stuart is congratulated by his family, and Margalo, who gives Mrs. Little her ring back, and Snowbell reunites with them as well. That evening, Margalo leaves with the other birds to migrate south, but not before saying goodbye to her friends. Stuart says the "silver lining" is that she'll be back in the spring, and his baby sister, Martha, says her first words: "Bye bye, birdie."

Soundtrack

Songs

• "I'm Alive" - Celine Dion
• "Put a Little Love in Your Heart" - Mary Mary
• "Top of the World" - Mandy Moore
• "Another Small Adventure" - Chantal Kreviazuk
• "What I Like About You" - The Romantics
• "Hold On to the Good Things" - Shawn Colvin
• "Count On Me" - Billy Gilman
• "Smile" - Vitamin C
• "Alone Again (Naturally)" - Gilbert O'Sullivan
• "Born to Be Wild" - Steppenwolf
• "Little Angel of Mine" - No Secrets
• "For Whom the Bell Tolls" - Bee Gees

Original score by Alan Silvestri

• "Falcon Finito"
• "Silver Lining"

Cast

• Geena Davis as Eleanor Little
• Hugh Laurie as Frederick Little
• Jonathan Lipnicki as George Little
• Anna and Ashley Hoelck as Martha Little
• Marc John Jefferies as Will, George's friend
• Jim Doughan (who voiced Lucky in the first film) as Stuart and George's soccer coach

Voice Cast

• Michael J. Fox as the voice of Stuart Little, the main protagonist of the film.
• Nathan Lane as the voice of Snowbell
• Melanie Griffith as the voice of Margalo
• James Woods as the voice of Falcon, the main antagonist of the film.
• Steve Zahn as the voice of Monty

Reception

The film has received generally positive reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes has reported that 83% of critics gave the film a positive review. It also holds a 66|100 on Metacritic.

Video game

Stuart Little 2 (2002) is for the Playstation, Game Boy Advance, Windows 2000, Windows Me, Windows XP and 32-bit and/or 64-bit personal computers.

External links

• Official website
• Stuart Little 2 at the Internet Movie Database
• Stuart Little 2 at Rotten Tomatoes
• Stuart Little 2 at AllRovi
• Stuart Little 2 at the TCM Movie Database