November 26–December 3, 1998
movie shorts
It's off the farm and into the big city for everyone's favorite talking pig. With the farmer laid up and the farm sinking into debt, Babe heads for the city with Mrs. Hoggett (Magda Szubanski), and ends up living in a house full of strays, the animal castoffs of metropolitan living. Teaming up with a family of well-clad primates as well a handful of cooperative pooches, Babe tries to prevent the lot of them being used for medical research, and eventually carries the day. Carrying over nearly all of the talent from the original film—except the director, Chris Noonan, and the original voice of Babe, who wanted too much money to reprise her role—Pig in the City somehow manages to capture almost none of its magic. Where the first film was set against the hard reality of farm life, the sequel takes place in an abstraction of a city, and the pressing emotional concerns of Babe's trying to find a way to fit in are replaced by a series of chase scenes. The movie seems sloppy and unfinished, visually hazy and out of focus, and the narrative lurches forward in fits and starts. Steven Wright, Glenne Headly and Danny Mann are on board as voice talent.