BABE – a Chris Noonan (director/co-writer) and George Miller (producer/co-writer) film from 1995, based on the children’s book ‘The Sheep-Pig’ by Dick King-Smith –

I think any children’s book or movie that aspires to greatness has to appeal not only  to children, but the adults who sit and read/watch it with them.  ‘Babe’ is just such a movie and, on the 30th anniversary of its release, I decided to give the movie another airing.  As expected, it had lost none of the charm and wonder I remembered from when I first watched this picture.  

The critical acclaim for ‘Babe’ was remarkable.  Based on 70 reviews it scored a stunning 97% approval rating on ‘Rotten Tomatoes’ and made $254 million.  I also can’t think of another children’s movie that has ever garnered 6 Academy Award nominations – including best picture, best director,  and best supporting actor (alas, it only won for best visual effects).  Internationally it garnered 21 nominations and won 12 awards.  Arguably, ‘Babe’ might be the best children’s movie of all time.

It’s a story about a pig, won by farmer Hoggett (played by James Cromwell) at a fair.  Barely escaping a fatal appearance as Christmas dinner, the pig is taken under the wing of Fly, a border collie on the farm.  Babe is involved in a series of disasters that give him an opportunity to demonstrate that he’s no regular pig.  He gets lessons on how to treat sheep from ‘Ma’, the matriarch of the Hoggett flock.  Hoggett is astonished when he discovers that Babe is able to get the sheep obeying him using gentle vocal persuasion.  Hoggett then gets it into his head that he should enter the pig in the national sheep herding competition.  

The film blends the talents of real people and animals with animatronic versions.  The narration by Roscoe Lee Browne is close to perfection – on a par with Dudley Moore’s in ‘Milo and Otis’.  Cromwell is wonderful as the eccentric farmer Hoggett and Magda Szubanski provides an amusing foil as Hoggett’s wife.  

One of the real treasures in this film is the music score by Nigel Westlake.  A substantial portion of the score is based on the great final movement theme from the Saint-Saens ‘Organ Symphony’.  Westlake has the tune, or variants, show up in quite a number of clever and creative ways, often in different musical styles and it’s one of those tunes that, once heard, is hard to get out of your head.

‘Babe’ is the kind of endearing family entertainment that keeps the young and old entertained – it’s a great children’s movie.  

TL:DR – If you’ve seen ‘Babe’, it’s time for another viewing.  If you’ve never seen ‘Babe’, what are you waiting for? 

2024 – STOLEN with lies.