Movie · 1998 · Family, Adventure, Comedy, Drama · 1h 36m · G · English
Curator score: 3.1/10 (98.4K ratings)
In the heart of the city, a pig with heart.
Overview
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.
Ratings
Curator score: 3.1/10
IMDb: 5.9/10
Letterboxd: 3.14/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 67%
Metacritic: 68
TMDB: 5.7/10
Director
George Miller
Production
Kennedy Miller Productions, Universal Pictures
Cast
E. G. Daily, Magda Szubanski, James Cromwell, Mickey Rooney, Mary Stein, Danny Mann, Glenne Headly, Steven Wright, James Cosmo, Nathan Kress, Myles Jeffrey, Julie Godfrey, Janet Foye, Pamela Hawkins, Paul Livingston, Kim Story, John Upton, Stanley Ralph Ross, Russi Taylor, Adam Goldberg
Where to watch
Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
Curator Review
Verdict
A wildly inventive, darker-than-expected family sequel that trades cozy charm for surreal city mayhem, elaborate production design, and big emotional swings. It’s uneven, but the ambition, visual imagination, and sheer weirdness make it a memorable watch for viewers open to a kid’s movie with teeth.
Best for
fans of offbeat family films
viewers who like surreal production design
people who enjoy darkly comic adventure stories
audiences interested in ambitious practical effects and visual invention
fans of movies that feel oddly intense for children
Skip if
you want something gentle and conventional
you dislike tonal whiplash
you need a straightforward sequel to the first film
you prefer clean, polished children’s entertainment without menace or melancholy
Overview
Babe: Pig in the City is the rare family sequel that seems determined to become stranger, sadder, and more visually extravagant than anyone asked for. George Miller turns the premise into a fever dream of a metropolis, full of grotesque comedy, peril, and handmade spectacle. The result is less a comforting continuation than a daring reinvention, and that boldness is a huge part of its appeal.
Worth noting
What lingers most is the movie’s confidence. It keeps finding new images, new textures, and new ways to make a simple rescue story feel mythic and unstable. The animal performances, effects work, and production design all serve a world that feels both storybook and apocalyptic. Even when the film is messy, it is rarely dull.
Bottom line
This is not the kind of kids’ movie that smooths everything over. It has genuine menace, melancholy, and a streak of absurdity that can feel almost confrontational. For viewers who like their family films weird, sincere, and a little unhinged, it’s a standout; for everyone else, it may be too much of a detour from the original’s warmth.
Top Letterboxd reviews
demi adejuyigbe (5★) · 1935 likes
Good fucking lord.
This movie makes me feel fucking crazy. Every five minutes something happens that made me scream “what?!” A dark, nihilistic, Sonnenfeldian/Burton-esque fever dream fairytale in an extremely fascinating hodgepodge of a city, but one that also takes the stance of “people in the city fucking suck.” I can’t even pick out any one detail for fear of forgetting an even more crazy one, I’d have to give you a straight up synopsis. You can 100% see connections… more
Karsten (4.5★) · 1044 likes
monkey mondays #30
left with a million questions, none of which i want answered
mia lee vicino · 1020 likes
sex worker poodle in G-rated film
James (Schaffrillas) (4★) · 854 likes
This is so much better than the first film it's insane
Kevin Clarke (5★) · 696 likes
"A murderer's shadow lies hard across my soul," is a thing a dog says to a pig in this movie. These kind of sincere, crazy ambitious follies are few and far between. They need to be treasured.
1986 · Adventure, Family, Fantasy · 1h 41m · PG · Curator 6.1/10 (643.5K ratings) · Where to watch: Netflix, Hulu, fuboTV, Peacock Premium, Night Flight Plus, Netflix Standard with Ads, Peacock Premium Plus
A fantastical quest through a bizarre, handmade world that balances whimsy with genuine strangeness.