Babe: Pig in the City

Babe: Pig in the City
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	George Miller
Written by	George Miller Judy Morris Mark Lamprell
Based on	Characters by Dick King-Smith
Produced by	Doug Mitchell George Miller Bill Miller
Starring	Magda Szubanski James Cromwell Mickey Rooney
Cinematography	Andrew Lesnie
Edited by	Jay Friedkin Margaret Sixel
Music by	Nigel Westlake
Production company	Kennedy Miller Productions
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release dates	25 November 1998 (1998-11-25) (United States) 10 December 1998 (1998-12-10) (Australia)
Running time	96 minutes[1]
Countries	Australia United States
Language	English
Budget	$90 million[2]
Box office	$69.1 million

Babe: Pig in the City is a 1998

The film was nominated for Best Original Song at the 1998 Academy Awards.^[3] Upon initial release, the film received mixed reviews from critics and failed to match the financial success of its predecessor, grossing only $69.1 million on a $90 million budget.^[4] However, it has developed a cult following and a positive critical reassessment since its release.^[5][6]

A few weeks after the events of the first film, Farmer Arthur Hoggett is injured in an accident when he and Babe attempt to fix the farm's well, leaving his wife Esme to tend their farm alone. Threatened with eviction at the end of the month unless their mortgage is paid, Esme takes Babe to a sheepdog herding contest in hopes of using its prize money to do so. At an airport in the city of Metropolis, an overzealous detection beagle shows Babe what it is like to be rewarded for doing a good job by falsely signaling that he and Esme are carrying drugs, causing them to miss their connecting flight and forcing a few days wait for the next flight home.

At first unable to find a hotel that allows animals, Esme and Babe find accommodation at the Flealands Hotel, run by the sympathetic animal-loving Miss Floom, who takes in stray animals. There, Babe is separated from Esme and meets a trio of

The next morning, Fugly is taken to the hospital in a

Most of the animals are confiscated except for Babe, Ferdinand, the Flooms' Panamanian white-faced capuchin Tug and disabled Jack Russell Terrier Flealick. They infiltrate the animal control facility and rescue their wrongfully incarcerated friends. Released from custody, Esme returns to the hotel to find it in disarray and Miss Floom mourning her uncle and the animals' capture. After confronting Hortense for her actions, the duo track down the animals to a charity dinner and they reunite. Afterwards, Floom then sells the hotel and gives the proceeds to Esme so she can save the farm, where Floom and all the animals go to stay. As Esme resumes her duties and Hoggett finally fixes the farm's water pump following his recovery, he proudly smiles at Babe and says "That'll do, Pig. That'll do."

• Magda Szubanski as Esme Cordelia Hoggett, Hoggett's wife.
• Mickey Rooney as Fugly Floom, Miss Floom's late uncle.
• Mary Stein as Miss Floom, the Flealands Hotel's landlady and Fugly's niece.
• James Cromwell as Farmer Arthur Hoggett, Esme's husband.
• Julie Godfrey as Hortense, the Flooms' animal-hating neighbor.
• Janet Foye and Pamela Hawkins as Esme's friends.
• Paul Livingston as a chef at a charity event where the film's climax takes place
• Kim Story as a judge^[7]
• John Upton as a boy at Metropolis' local hospital

• E. G. Daily as Babe, Hoggett Farm's resident pig who is Rex and Fly's adoptive son. He was previously voiced by Christine Cavanaugh in the first film.
• Danny Mann as Ferdinand, an Indian Runner duck and Babe's best friend.
  • Mann also voices Tug, the Flooms' Panamanian white-faced capuchin
• Glenne Headly as Zootie, one of the Flooms' chimpanzees who is Bob's wife and Easy's sister-in-law.
• Steven Wright as Bob, one of the Flooms' chimpanzees who is Zootie's husband and Easy's older brother.
• James Cosmo as Thelonius, a civilized Bornean orangutan who is a servant to Fugly and later Esme at the end of the film.
• Nathan Kress and Myles Jeffrey as Easy, one of the Flooms' chimpanzees who is Bob's younger brother and Zootie's brother-in-law.
  • Kress additional portrays a stray puppy.
• Doberman Pinscher
  guard dog duo, the former of whom reforms and acts as a bodyguard for Babe to express his gratitude for saving his life.
• Russi Taylor as a stray poodle who becomes the Bull Terrier's ex-wife.
  • Taylor also voices a choir cat
• Adam Goldberg
  as Flealick, a talkative disabled Jack Russell Terrier.
• Eddie Barth as Nigel, a Bulldog residing in the Flealands Hotel.
  • Barth also voices Alan, a Neapolitan Mastiff who is Nigel's roommate.
• Bill Capizzi as Snoop, an overzealous beagle who works at Metropolis' local airport as a detection dog.
• Miriam Margolyes as Fly, a Border Collie who is Rex's wife and Babe's adoptive mother.
• Hugo Weaving as Rex, another Border Collie who is Hoggett Farm's lead sheepdog, as well as the leader of its community, Fly's husband and Babe's adoptive father.
• Jim Cummings as a pelican who assists Ferdinand during his journey to Metropolis
• Katie Leigh as a kitten
• Evelyn Krape as one of the farm's sheep
  • Krape also voices some alley cats
• Charles Bartlett as the Hoggetts'
  cow
• Michael Edward-Stevens as the Hoggetts' horse
• Al Mancini and Larry Moss as Thelonius' goldfish
• Roscoe Lee Browne as the narrator

Additional character voices were provided by Lisa Bailey, Balyne Barbosa, Victor Brandt, Jeannie Elias, Pippa Grandison, J. D. Hall, Mark Hammond, Barbara Harris, Wendy Kamenoff, Scott Leavenworthy, Julie Oppenheimer, Deborah Packer, Roger Rose, Carly Schroeder, Joseph Sicari, Aaron Spann, Drew Lexi Thomas and Naomi Watts.^[8]

Christine Cavanaugh, who played Babe in the first film, was approached to reprise her role, but declined when contract negotiations fell through.^[9] Cavanaugh was eventually replaced by her Rugrats co-star E. G. Daily.^[10] The director of the first film, Chris Noonan, had no involvement in the sequel; directorial duties were handled by George Miller and Noonan was reportedly not even invited to the premiere Australian screening.^[11]

Prior to the film's theatrical release, it was originally rated

The DVD covers feature a similar but altered interpretation of San Francisco.

Babe: Pig in the City opened on 25 November 1998, during Thanksgiving weekend, ranking in fifth place behind A Bug's Life, The Rugrats Movie, Enemy of the State and The Waterboy.^[14] The film made $6.4 million during its opening weekend, for a total of $8.5 million from its first five days of release.^[15]

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has 65% approval rating based on 66 reviews, with a weighted average of 6.24/10. The site's consensus simply states the film is "Not quite as good as the original and has some dark subject matter that might not be appropriate for children".^[16] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "B" on scale of A+ to F.^[17] On Metacritic the film carries a score of 68, based on 25 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[18]

On release the film received poor reviews by most critics, receiving the lowest marks; most believed the sequel had lost the innocence of the original.

Peter Gabriel's "That'll Do", written and composed by Randy Newman, was nominated for Best Original Song at the 71st Academy Awards.^[28]

The

The film was released on

In 2006, a universally-panned video game based on the film was released on PlayStation 2.^[29]

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Babe: Pig in the City.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Babe: Pig in the City.

• Babe: Pig in the City at
  IMDb
• Babe: Pig in the City at Box Office Mojo
• Babe: Pig in the City at Rotten Tomatoes
• Babe: Pig in the City at Ozmovies