The original Babe was a surprise hit when it first came out, and although I postponed my viewing of it, I came to like it quite a lot, much more than I thought I would. The sequel, Babe: Pig in the City, is much less well-loved but it is, in fact, a much better film. Although it makes me sad to think that such a good movie has missed out on a great number of people I can understand why it didn’t get the box office numbers it deserved: it was VERY dark. I’m a big fan of dark, but even I got chills at times watching this movie. I’m not one of those people who think that children be shielded from all possible instances of ugliness and death in their movies, but children watching this one should definitely be seated beside their parents, in case they need a hand to hold or a lap to sit in. This movie has some of the best sets I’ve ever seen, and the cinematography is just great. And the story of Babe’s adventures in the massive Metropolis is epic: grand and scary and fantastic, just like any child’s first encounter with a truly big city would be. Sequels are rarely better than the originals, but if you liked Babe, and can handle the shift in tone, this is unmissable.

I don’t know what disturbs me more: the fact that I had to watch this in a college class or that fact that I really enjoyed it.
I’d previously seen the original waaaaaay back in the day when it was first released on video and even though I was about nine years old and much closer to the film’s demographic, I hated it at the time and never watched it again. I never had plans to watch the sequel and never thought of it again.
Then this year I’m taking Story in Fiction and Film International, and one of the international films selected is Babe: Pig in the City. It was a perfect representation of Campbells outline of a hero’s journey so I completely understand why it was chosen.
But I actually liked the movie. Quite a bit. Halfway through I realized I was completely engrossed in this movie about talking animals. Yes, I love animals, especially cute animals who are fighting against mean humans. But this movie was just engrossing. It was darker than I expected a children’s movie to be and absolutely ridiculous when it came to some points…but I loved it. I can’t exactly explain it—it’s still a surprise to me!