Babe: Pig in the City (1998)

Babe, fresh from his victory in the sheepherding contest, returns to Farmer Hoggett's farm, but after Farmer Hoggett is injured and unable to work, Babe has to go to the big city to save the farm.

Director:

George Miller

Writers:

George Miller, Judy Morris

Stars:

Magda Szubanski, Elizabeth Daily, Mickey Rooney

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 1 win & 16 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Magda Szubanski	...	Mrs. Esme Cordelia Hoggett
James Cromwell	...	Farmer Arthur Hoggett
Mary Stein	...	The Landlady
Mickey Rooney	...	Fugly Floom
Elizabeth Daily	...	Babe (voice) (as E.G. Daily)
Danny Mann	...	Ferdinand / Tug / Additional Voices (voice)
Glenne Headly	...	Zootie (voice)
Steven Wright	...	Bob (voice)
James Cosmo	...	Thelonius (voice)
Nathan Kress	...	Easy / Tough Pup (voice)
Myles Jeffrey	...	Easy (voice)
Stanley Ralph Ross	...	The Pitbull / The Doberman (voice)
Russi Taylor	...	The Pink Poodle / Choir Cat (voice)
Adam Goldberg	...	Flealick (voice)
Eddie Barth	...	Nigel / Alan (voice)

Storyline

After Babe's great victory in the shepherding contest, Farmer Arthur Hoggett turns down all offers to make money with his pig's talents. But when he gets hurt severely in the well, his wife has to take up farming. She does her best but cannot meet the bank's requirements, which results in the necessity of getting back to Babe. Soon, Esme Hoggett is sitting in a plane headed for "the" city. There, Babe unwillingly causes deep trouble. He has to stay with Mrs. Hoggett in the only hotel in town that accepts pets. Friendly neighbours send officials who catch all animals from the hotel: Cats, dogs, chimpanzees and many others. Babe, who managed to stay free, decides to help his new friends and gets unexpected help - not only by Ferdinand, who flew all the way to the city.

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Plot Keywords:

hotel | pig | big city | friends who live together | manhattan new york city | 

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Taglines:

This little pig went to the city...

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Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Drama | Family | Fantasy

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Certificate:

PG

Did You Know?

Trivia

This was the biggest flop of 1998, despite the first film's success.

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Goofs

When Esme's suit is fully inflated, you can see that the front part of the pants are still there. In the next shot directly after that, when Babe and Ferdy come running, you can clearly see that the front part is not there, even though she is in the exact same position.

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Quotes

The Narrator: Something broke through the terror - flickerings, fragments of his short life, the random events that delivered him to this, his moment of annihilation. As terror gave way to exhaustion, Babe turned to his attacker, his eyes filled with one simple question...
Babe: ...why?

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Crazy Credits

One of the singing mice thanks the audience for staying through the credits.

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Alternate Versions

The scene where Ferdinand lands at the Gun Club is removed from some TV showings. The film cuts from him landing in daylight to his perching, out of breath, on top of a tall building after dark.

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Connections

Referenced in Anak (2000)

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Soundtracks

If I Had Words
Arranged by Jonathan Hodge (as Johnathon Hodge)
Based on "Symphony No. 3"
Composed by Camille Saint-Saëns (Editions Durand)
Lyrics written by Jonathan Hodge (as Johnathon Hodge)
Rak Publishing Ltd, administered by EMI Music Publishing Australia Pty Ltd

User Reviews

I hated this movie :-(

It's so technically well executed and gorgeous to look at (obviously George Miller asked for and got a huge budget this time around) but almost every thing that happens to these cutest-of-cute animals is *mean-spirited*. The sweetness of the last film is gone, as is that movie's easy-going but tightly-woven plot. Instead we have Hollywood histrionics and chase scenes and randomness that just seems like delay tactics for the first 3/4 of the film. For example, we follow that duck every now and then as he chases after but never finds Babe. The duck arrives in the city and is immediately shot at by twenty members of a rifle range. Funny? No. It's done in an ultra-realistic way, it looks like he's actually injured, there's no Roadrunner & Wile E. Coyote cartoonness to this violence.

Finally after much depressing animal cruelty the surviving heroes get together and head off towards a final rescue act, but by that point I'd turned off. It involved the farmers wife in a clown suit bungee jumping around a restaurant and a bunch of balloons and other silly fighting. Not a very fun movie, and it could have been!

worst moments:

* Andy Rooney, made up as a clown, led off to die in a stretcher.

* Cute puppy says, "my human put me in a sack and threw me in the water"

Details

Country:

Australia USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 November 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

Babe 2

Filming Locations:

Fox Studios, Moore Park, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Box Office

Budget:

$90,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$6,162,640, 29 November 1998

Gross USA:

$18,319,860

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$69,131,860

Company Credits

Production Co:

Kennedy Miller Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

DTS (Digital DTS Sound) Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1