Babe

UPC: 025192128516

Studio: Universal

MPAA Rating: G   Contains:[Excellent For Children]

Summary: A young pig fights convention to become a sheep dog -- or, rather, sheep pig -- in this charming Australian family film, which became an unexpected international success due to superior special effects and an intelligent script. The title refers to the name bestowed on a piglet soon after his separation from his family, when he finds himself on a strange farm. Confused and sad, Babe is adopted by a friendly dog and slowly adjusts to his new home. Discovering that the fate of most pigs is the dinner table, Babe devotes himself to becoming a useful member of the farm by trying to learn how to herd sheep, despite the skepticism of the other animals and the kindly but conventional Farmer Hoggett (James Cromwell). Because technically impeccable animatronics and computer graphics allow the farm animals to converse easily among themselves, first-time director Chris Noonan can treat the film's menagerie as actual characters, playing scene not for cuteness but for real emotions. The result is often surprisingly touching, with Noonan and George Miller's script, based on Dick King-Smith's children's book and, indirectly, a true story, seamlessly combining gentle whimsy and sincere feeling. These same qualities are embodied by in Cromwell's beautifully understated performance as Farmer Hoggett, which anchors the film. Despite its unlikely premise and low profile, Babe's inspirational story was embraced by audiences and critics, and the movie became an international sleeper that won an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. It was followed in 1999 by the less successful Babe: Pig in the City. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi

Category: Children's/Family

Awards: Special Family Film Award – Broadcast Film Critics Association Best Adapted Screenplay – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Adapted Screenplay – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Art Direction – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Art Direction – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Director – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Editing – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Editing – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Picture – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Visual Effects – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Visual Effects – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Visual Effects – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Visual Effects – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Picture - Musical or Comedy – null Best Picture – National Society of Film Critics Best New Director – New York Film Critics Circle Best Picture – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Picture – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Picture - Musical or Comedy – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Supporting Actor – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

Features: The making of Babe
Feature commentary with Writer/Producer George Miller
George Miller on Babe

Babe

Format: Blu-ray

Release Date: 01/10/2012

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Theatre Wide-Screen

Audio: DHMA null, DTS Digital Theater Systems, DD2 Dolby Digital Stereo, DD5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1

Runtime: 92 Minutes

Sides: 2

Number of Discs: 2

Language(s) English,Spanish,French

Subtitles: Spanish,French

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Disc #1 -- Babe
1. Main Titles: An Unprejudiced Heart [7:00]
2. Pigs are Definitely Stupid [2:21]
3. The Way Things Are [5:14]
4. Crime and Punishment [10:42]
5. When Childhood Ends... [2:08]
6. Pork is a Nice Sweet Meat [5:28]
7. The Watch Pig [4:15]
8. A Pig That Thinks It's a Dog [10:00]
9. The Sheep Pig [3:38]
10. A Tragic Day [:56]
11. Pig of Desinty [6:56]
12. Beware the Bad Cat [4:00]
13. If I Had Words... [7:35]
14. The National Sheepdpg Trials [2:45]
15. The Pig and the Password [7:10]
16. End Titles [6:27]

Lucia Bozzola

The biggest surprise about Chris Noonan's 1995 family classic wasn't that Mad Max auteur George Miller co-wrote and co-produced it, but that this exquisitely crafted work was the rare children's story as appealing to grown-ups as to children. Seamlessly combining live animals, animatronic beasts, and computer effects, Babe's fable about a pig's aspiring to prove his worth to his eccentric master and the rest of the barnyard animals was rendered intelligently and poignantly through the eyes and talking mouths of that menagerie. Amid the metaphorical caste system of supreme humans, ruling dogs, pliant sheep, a devious cat, and a Greek chorus of mice, Babe the piglet reveals the ageless need for an "unprejudiced heart," aided by an anorexic duck and the singularly open-minded Farmer Hoggett. Opening in the depths of summer, Babe impressed critics and audiences with its masterful effects, sly wit, and treacle-free emotion; the National Society of Film Critics voted it the year's best film. Babe went on to earn seven Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Director, and Supporting Actor for James Cromwell's low-key performance as Hoggett; it won Best Visual Effects. Its darker sequel Babe: Pig in the City, however, was lost in the 1998 holiday movie shuffle. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Bill Miller  Producer 
Chris Noonan  Director 
Chris Noonan  Screenwriter 
George Miller  Producer 
George Miller  Screenwriter 
Doug Mitchell  Producer 
James Cromwell  Actor 
Magda Szubanski  Actor 
Christine Cavanaugh  Actor 
Miriam Margolyes  Actor 
Danny Mann  Actor 
Hugo Weaving  Actor 
Michael Edward-Stevens  Actor 
Miriam Flynn  Actor 
Paul Goddard  Actor 
David Webb  Actor 
Marshall Napier  Actor 
Matthew Long  Actor 
John Doyle  Actor 
Charles Bartlett  Actor 
Russie Taylor  Actor 
Courtland Mead  Actor 
Rosanna Huffman  Actor 
Paige Pollack  Actor 
Maeve Germaine  Actor 
Jane Alden  Actor 
Kerry Walker  Actor 
Kimberly Bailey  Actor 
Patrika Darbo  Actor 
Michelle Davison  Actor 
Julie Forsyth  Actor 
Tina Lifford  Actor 
Helen O'Connor  Actor 
John Erwin  Actor 
Jacqueline Brennan  Actor 
Justin Monjo  Actor 
Neil Ross  Actor 
Doris Grau  Actor 
Tony Hughes  Actor 
Roscoe Lee Browne  Actor 

Country: Australia