Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild

Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild
iTunes poster
Directed by	Audu Paden
Screenplay by	Bob Shaw Don McEnery
Story by	Douglas Wick
Produced by	Douglas Wick Lucy Fisher Leslie Hough Rachel Shane
Starring	Michael J. Fox Geena Davis Hugh Laurie Corey Padnos Wayne Brady Kevin Schon Virginia Madsen Tara Strong
Edited by	Michael Dowding Robert Gordon Bruce King David Tilgner
Music by	Atli Örvarsson
Production companies	Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Mainframe Entertainment Red Wagon Entertainment
Distributed by	Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Release dates	October 11, 2005 (2005-10-11) (Brazil) February 21, 2006 (2006-02-21) (United States)
Running time	75 minutes
Countries	United States Canada
Language	English

Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild is a 2005 American-Canadian animated film directed by Audu Paden, created by Mainframe Entertainment and distributed by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. It was released on DVD in other countries in 2005, until it was eventually released in North America on February 21, 2006. It is the third and final installment in the Stuart Little trilogy, but unlike its two predecessors, it is entirely animated and released direct-to-video. In the film, Stuart and his family spend their vacation in a cabin near the fictional Lake Garland. During the vacation, Stuart befriends a skunk named Reeko and the family cat Snowbell is kidnapped by a mysterious beast.

A majority of the cast from the previous installments returned for the film such as Michael J. Fox, Geena Davis and Hugh Laurie reprising their roles as Stuart Little, Eleanor Little and Frederick Little, but Snowbell, George and Monty are now voiced by Kevin Schon, Corey Padnos and Rino Romano instead of Nathan Lane, Jonathan Lipnicki and Steve Zahn who previously played them in the live-action films.

Plot

Sometime after the events of the previous film, Stuart, Snowbell, the Littles and Monty, who had stowed away by sneaking into their car unnoticed, leave New York City to go on a camping trip near the fictional Lake Garland. Upon arriving at the lake, Stuart and George stumble upon and join a group called the "Lake Scouts" with their father Frederick watching over them.

George excels at scouting while also developing a relationship on a fellow Scout named Brooke, but Stuart has trouble keeping up due to his small stature. However, he meets Reeko, a smooth-talking skunk who is generally disliked by the local forest animals of Lake Garland and is secretly on a mission to give food to his boss "The Beast", a ferocious and ruthless cougar who is feared by the animals because she terrorizes them every night.

Down on his luck with the Scouts and with Troopmaster Bickle looking down upon him, Stuart makes a deal with Reeko that will enable Stuart to learn the ways of the forest. After being invited to dinner with Stuart’s family, Reeko ultimately befriends Stuart. Soon after leaving and deciding that the food given to him isn't enough, Reeko finds Snowbell and tricks him into thinking there is a party by entering the forest that night, but Snowbell ends up getting captured by The Beast. Soon after witnessing Snowbell getting taken, Stuart attempts to tell his family and the Scouts the truth about his friend getting kidnapped the next day, but they refuse to believe him as they think Stuart was only telling stories.

With no choice, Stuart goes off to rescue his friend alone, but upon meeting Reeko, he learns that the latter was responsible for Snowbell's disappearance and continues to go off into the wilderness since he knows Reeko was working for the Beast the entire time. Meanwhile, Snowbell is taken to the Beast's cave where she notices his fur and decides to make a rug out of him so that she would have something warm to lie on in the winter. She only refuses to eat him when Snowbell suggests that she can fatten him up first by feeding him grubs in order to have a bigger rug. Shortly afterward, Stuart's mother Eleanor finds out Stuart is missing upon finding a note he left to his family and rallies a search party with Frederick and the Scouts.

Meanwhile, Stuart reaches the Beast's cave, where he is able to sneak past the Beast and manages to rescue Snowbell. On their way out, Stuart and Snowbell find themselves cornered by the Beast, whom Stuart was able to overwhelm with salt and pepper before he and Snowbell escape and build a trap covered with leaves and sticks, which they had hoped to trick the Beast into falling into just as she catches up to them. However, upon noticing the trap after Snowbell accidentally exposes it and attempts to devour Stuart, the Beast is confronted by Reeko, who, having realized the error of his ways, shows up with the forest animals after they decided to help Reeko upon having a change of heart. Reeko blinds the Beast by spraying liquid at her, allowing Stuart, Snowbell and the forest animals to distract and trick her into falling into the trap, whereupon she is finally captured before Stuart is found and reunited with his family and the Scouts.

While the Beast is taken away to a zoo, Stuart earns a gold kerchief from Troopmaster Bickle. As Stuart’s family is packing up ready to leave Lake Garland, Reeko apologizes to Stuart for his actions and behavior towards him and the forest animals, telling Stuart that he was wrong to betray him. Stuart then bids farewell to Reeko before he, Snowbell, Monty and the Littles head back home to New York City.

Voice cast

• Michael J. Fox as Stuart Little
• Geena Davis as Eleanor Little
• Hugh Laurie as Frederick Little
• Corey Padnos as George Little
• Wayne Brady as Reeko, a friendly skunk whom Stuart befriends, but is disliked by the forest animals and serves as The Beast's former assistant
• Kevin Schon as Snowbell
• Virginia Madsen as The Beast, a vicious cougar and Reeko's boss who resides in a cave and terrorizes the forest of Lake Garland by forcing the animals to give her food every night
• Peter MacNicol as Troopmaster Bickle, the leader of the Lake Scouts
• Rino Romano as Monty
• Tara Strong as Brooke, a female Scout and George’s crush and later love interest
• Charlie Adler as Beaver, one of the forest animals of Lake Garland who dislikes Reeko

Forest animals and additional scouts are voiced by Garry Chalk, Tom Kenny, Sophia Paden and Kath Soucie.

Reception

Unlike the first two films, which were positively received, this film received generally negative reviews. James Plath of Reels.com rated it 2.5 out of 4, saying "Kids will still like it because the storyline is engaging, the color palette is bright and cheery, the songs are upbeat and pleasant enough, and the messages about good behavior, perseverance, and belonging are worthwhile." Sloan Freer of Radiotimes.com rated it 2 out of 5, saying, "The quality plunges drastically in this uninspired direct-to-video sequel. Gone is the charming mix of live action and CGI used in the original two films, replaced by full animation whose flatness and simplicity is symbolic of the entire tale. Surprisingly, the core voice talent remains the same with Michael J Fox, Geena Davis, and Hugh Laurie wasting their efforts on a weak plot that sees boy mouse Stuart demonstrate his bravery when Snowbell the family cat is kidnapped during the Little clan's lakeside vacation. Undemanding humour, a sprinkling of mild peril, and the obligatory life lessons offer enough substance to keep the very young happy, but only the short running time will impress anyone older."

Home media

The film was released on VHS and DVD. One DVD also came with a Stuart Little key chain^{[citation needed]}. It is also available to download on iTunes.

Continuity

The events of the previous Stuart Little movies are not mentioned in Stuart Little 3. Stuart’s girlfriend, Margalo the bird, does not appear. It is implied that Stuart quit soccer sometime after the events of Stuart Little 2.

External links

• Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild at IMDb
• Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild at Rotten Tomatoes