Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Babe

How does one describe this movie?


I was thinking a while ago, what movie sort of personifies springtime to me, and I thought about some movies and for some reason this movie came to mind. Green meadows with flowers in bloom, spring rain, animals, almost a celebration of life kind of. The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea. Babe was one of my favorite movies to watch when I was a little, little kid. I mean when I barely knew how to walk kind of little and it was just one of those movies that stuck with me throughout my life, I do have fond memories of watching it but sadly one day I lost the tape and have never watched it since. So whenever I noticed it was on Netflix I knew I had to see it again, and upon watching with a more I guess developed mind I didn't fully understand all the surprisingly mature and kind of dark subtext. Now this is a family movie but at one point I literally asked out loud with no one in the room but me, "This movie was made for kids right?" because what it deals with, and how it deals with it, and even the more sort of implied moments really made me think. I mean the story is basic, a little pig named Babe is brough to live on a farm by Arthur Hoggett and his wife Esme, and it follows his life there and in a strike of originality genius, the pig learns how to herd sheep, and it leads to this big contest at the end, but by no means is the contest the whole goal of the movie. This movie moves at a very relaxed, very quiet, very slow pace. It takes it's time with these characters and these situations, to where you really get emotionally invested very, very quickly. It deals with emotion, life, death, family, where one belongs, and the idea of choice vs. fate. It's incredibly well acted, with the real shining stars being James Cromwell who really is a terrific man and an actor who sorely needs more work because of how darn good he is, and Christine Cavanaugh as Babe who brings such a kind, sweet, and loving persona to an animal and you want nothing but the best for Babe throughout the entire movie. But when I say every actor does an outstanding job, by God I mean it. Plus, I just love the narrator's voice, Roscoe Lee Browne who sadly passed away has the perfect voice for a movie like this. But seriously though, this movie has some really heavy moments, with not one but two scenes where just thinking about it makes me want to bawl my eyes out, I mean this movie not only tugs at the heartstrings, it plays it like a harp. It's just such a wonderful, humble, just plain nice and pleasant movie to watch although it does make me an emotional mess through the whole movie. It's not a movie that can truly be described but felt. Needless to say I will be buying this movie again, because of how truly great it is. Babe always has a place in my heart, and hopefully it does in yours too.

No comments:

Post a Comment