Film

Babe: Pig in the City

Name: Babe: Pig in the City
Genre: Family, Adventure, Comedy, Drama
Released: 1998
Cast: E. G. Daily, Magda Szubanski, James Cromwell, Mickey Rooney, Mary Stein

Action

Babe goes to the city to save his farm, a visually stunning sequel that swaps rural charm for urban surrealism. Director George Miller creates something stranger and darker than the original—more art film than family film. For viewers ready to see a pig navigate neon streets, befriend street dogs, and confront genuine peril. A kid's film that respects nothing about conventional kid's film structure.

TMDb rating

2.8

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Charlotte's Web2006

A pig at the centre of a story about friendship, mortality, and what we leave behind. Like Babe, it treats its animal characters with full emotional weight and never condescends to younger viewers about life's harder truths.

But The live-action/CGI hybrid is visually inconsistent, and the pacing sags in the middle. Some will find it saccharine where the book was profound.

Watership Down1978

An animated film that refused to soften the real dangers animals face. It has the same willingness to frighten children as Babe: Pig in the City does, trusting them to handle genuine stakes and darkness alongside wonder.

But Genuinely disturbing in places—the warren scenes and predator sequences are intense. Not a comfort watch, even if you love the story.

The Tale of Despereaux2008

Another visually inventive film about an unlikely hero navigating between worlds (castle and dungeon). It shares Babe's fairy-tale logic and willingness to get weird with animation and production design.

But The plot threads tangle messily and the emotional beats don't land with the precision they're reaching for. Some scenes feel genuinely lost.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Babe: Pig in the City

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Fantastic Mr. Fox2009

Both are visually maximalist films where an animal hero outsmarts a hostile human system through charm and wit, filmed with such stylised beauty that realism becomes irrelevant.

Wes Anderson's stop-motion film about an animal outsmarting the human world. Like Babe: Pig in the City, it's a family film that operates on dream logic, visual precision, and the absolute conviction that animals are characters worth our full attention. Both celebrate cunning as a form of grace.

But Anderson's stylization is so thick it can feel airless. If you resist his visual control, the artifice will frustrate rather than delight you.

Ratatouille2007

A rat in Paris learning to cook. Like Babe in the city, it's fundamentally absurd but told with such visual clarity and emotional intelligence that you stop questioning the premise instantly.

But The third act shifts into generic action-movie territory. The film's best idea—the rat controlling the chef—gets abandoned for something more predictable.

Matilda1996

Danny DeVito's film about a girl finding power through books. It has Babe's blend of whimsy and real menace, treating childhood challenges without flinching while staying fundamentally kind.

But Some of the fantasy sequences feel dated, and the tone occasionally lurches between comedy and darkness without grace.

The NeverEnding Story1984

A child's adventure into a magical world that acknowledges depression, despair, and the possibility of genuine loss. It trusts children to sit with uncomfortable feelings—like Babe does.

But The puppet work and practical effects haven't aged flatteringly. Some scenes move slowly, and the emotional weight can feel heavy-handed.

Coraline2009

Stop-motion dark fantasy where a girl confronts an unsettling threat. It shares Babe's refusal to make a children's film feel safe, channelling genuine unease into something transformative.

But The creeping dread never fully releases into resolution. Some viewers find the sustained creepiness exhausting rather than cathartic.

The Secret of NIMH1982

An animated film about a mouse protecting her family through intelligence and courage. Like Babe, it's gorgeously drawn, emotionally honest, and trusts its animal characters to be fully real.

But The animation is uneven—some sequences are stunning, others feel rushed. The voice acting from supporting cast members is occasionally stilted.

Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron2002

A wordless animated film about a wild horse learning compassion. It has Babe's visual inventiveness and gentle spirituality, though aimed at a slightly younger audience.

But The Hans Zimmer score overwhelms quieter moments. The environmental message becomes heavy-handed, and the pacing meanders.

The Wizard of Oz1939

Both centre a displaced rural innocent navigating a disorienting urban/fantasy environment through kindness, courage, and unexpected friendships, trusting the environment's strangeness as part of the story's grammar.

A girl swept into an alien city-like landscape where she learns to navigate danger and strangeness by forming unlikely alliances. Babe: Pig in the City is essentially a Wizard of Oz story—rural hero in an overwhelming metropolis, learning that the strange world has its own logic and kindness.

But The pacing is glacial by modern standards. The technicolour artificiality that makes it magical will strike some viewers as simply cheap-looking.