Babe

Mm-hmm.

So I think it started last week when I was talking to a friend about Babe: Pig in the City.

Oh, God, yeah.

So this person was like, "Oh, I think I, I think my love of ducks started from the duck in Pa- Babe: Pig in the City." And I was like, "Oh, yeah, the duck." Um, Fran- Francet- no, Francesco? Whatever the duck's name was in Babe: Pig in the City.

Anyway, I thought, "Okay, that's funny.

I haven't thought of Babe: Pig in the City for years."

That's the sequel, isn't it?

Oh, true.

just, well, I'll tell you a quick story.

I just met James Cromwell, the main actor from Babe.

And I went over to, because he's also, he's a huge indigenous art collector, believe it or not.

And he has a number of Hopi Kachina dolls.

Oh, right.

Okay.

So he was telling me all about how they did the special effects in Babe and how they used animatronics, but then they used CGI on the faces of the animatronics in order to get more personality.

So they had a practical... pig there, but then, you know, built with, you know, puppeteers and then they and then they also CGI on top of it.

I'm not sure.

I'm immediately thinking of the fact that E.G. Daly replaced Christine Cavanaugh in the second Babe movie.

And I

wonder if there might be something there for Bunny.

Oh, yeah! Still got the voice now, after all these years, apparently.

A little less gruff on her Bobby Hill, but we have heard recently she's still got the Bobby Hill going.

I can see how my brain went there, because it's like, you know, Christine Cavanaugh got replaced by E.G. Daly in Babe, and E.G. Daly replaced Pamela Adlin for one Pajama Sam game, so it's just kind of...

Yeah, Sally's another one to where, again, I think Kath Soucy, again, has an incredibly unique voice.

No intention of seeing this film, but after multiple glowing recommendations from some very trusted friends, I gave it a try and I was actually very surprised by how imaginative, you know, very engrossing and whimsical this film was.

And it has the kind of maturity and sardonic humor and the whimsy of like a George Miller's classic like Babe and Babe Pig in the City.

And I just was really kind of taken with how how delightful this movie was.

And it was a movie, again, that from the trailer did not sell me on the film.

It's got moments.

It's got the heartstrings and it pulls at them in a way that you rarely see from a film like this.

Yeah, but like Babe Pig in the City.

Yeah, I mean, it would probably be Charlotte's Web, you know, going back to classic.

And it's given, you know, if...

It's not, but it's given a bit of like Babe the Sheep Pig vibe a little bit.

Do you know what I mean? Like talking animals.

Yeah.

Yeah, the sheep could talk.

Oh, yeah.

Sorry, I left that bit out, but I must say it's not as good as Babe because it's all CGI sheep.

Whereas back in the day, I imagine they had to use real pigs.

It was the most popular.

profitable film to ever come out of Australia at the time and it launched the it was the launch pad for Mel Gibson for George Miller I mean George Miller went on to direct bigger major films too I mean even directed Babe which I love so much and he

um

yeah he just worked it's a great film and I just think the fact that it all links back to Mad Max as well for so many reasons.

Just, just got out the pen.

Like Babe?

Done one.

Just off.

Babe: Pig in the City.

Babe: Pig in-

What?

...

How about The Vinegar Strokes? [laughs] Cars are being pulled into a circle in the parking lot.

Like Babe the Sheep Pig.

I [laughs] The land.

I enjoyed Brian Hebner playing, like, the parking attendant at a car boot sale.

Instead of fast-paced stop-motion heists, we are transitioning to films that use the quiet, steady, deliberate rhythms of the barnyard to discuss some of life's absolute heaviest topics.

We are entering the realm of films that use incredible restraint to convey deep philosophical truths to children, and there is no better starting point than the 1995 film Babe.

Based on Dick King-Smith's 1983 novel, The Sheep-Pig-

Mm.

In 1995, trying to make live action farm animals talk convincingly was almost impossible.

They used a painstaking blend of real trained animals, Jim Henson Creature Shop animatronics, and very early rudimentary digital face replacements to make the snouts move.

But the reason Babe was nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards wasn't just the technology.

The effects are merely a tool to deliver a narrative of astonishing emotional clarity.