Babe (1995) Review, Best Family Movie Ever!!

Let me tell you my story as to how I came by this beautiful family movie called Babe. Before I deactivated my Facebook account, I was actively following pages such as Against Fur or Animal Rights or Vegetarianism or other pages of that sort. I would also spare some of my time to read the comments under the controversial subjects that were being shared by those pages.

Luckily I came across a couple of people discussing this movie called Babe. Actually not discussing but rather an argument actually. A typical argument between a vegan/vegetarian and someone who eats meat. Some people were saying that Babe was the movie that opened their eyes to become vegan/vegetarian. 

As a vegetarian myself I became interested in this movie as the people commenting were speaking so highly of it but I was scared at first because I thought it was something like the-ugly-truth-behind-your-meat type of documentary movie. And if it was something like that there was NO way in HELL would I EVER be able to watch it. Besides I am already vegetarian anyway so I don't need to know more about the ugly truth as I already know enough.

So to dig a little deeper I took the next step and checked its IMDB page like any other movie lover would. Checking the forums I found topics in which again some people stated that they decided to become vegetarians after watching this movie. But there were also discussions as to what a wonderful and sweet movie it was for all the members of a family to watch and enjoy. I naturally got confused. So I finally decided to give this movie a go and I'm incredibly glad that I did because it was one of the cutest movies ever made!

I am sorry about this long introduction but for me that experience was worth sharing as it affected the context.

The movie starts with a heartbreaking story told by a pig about a heaven that is made for just pigs and the pigs that have gone into that heaven are so happy that they refuse to return back to the farm. While we hear this story we see the touching scene of the mother pig being separated from the little piglet that will later on be called "Babe". I sort of knew what would happen in this scene and I already started crying when I saw the electric rod on the farmer's hand. The farmer nudges the mother pig with his electric rod shocking her to lead her into the truck that will make its way to the slaughterhouse. After that scene we see the shivering piglet Babe trying to find his mother. 

Later on Babe is sent to the farmer's market as a prize for a contest. In this contest all the farmers try to correctly guess the weight of the piglet in order to win him. This is where our main "human" character, Farmer Arthur H. Hoggett portrayed brilliantly by James Cromwell, enters the story. Farmer Hoggett later on is contacted by the person who carried out the contest that he is the winner.

That's where the real story of Babe starts. After Babe is taken to the farm we can't say that he is welcomed but instead frowned upon. Most of the animals in the farm make fun of him and how useless he is because "pigs like ducks are useless so their only purpose is to get eaten". But Babe is so innocent and nice that he manages to befriend all the animals throughout the movie.

One of Babe's closest friend is a female Border Collie named Fly. She takes Babe under her wing when noone would talk to him and she tries to show him the way and how the farm works and what the purposes of each animal living on the farm serve. But Fly has also got her own litter of puppies to take care of. Actually those puppies are so rude towards Babe that the movie sort of made me dislike dogs. I mean seriously? But then I reminded myself that this was just a movie and there was no way for puppies to be mean! Later on these puppies are sold to a family when they reach a couple of months of age. Another scene that briefly made me cry because of the heartbreaking look on their mother Fly's face.

Then Babe meets Maa, an incredibly sweet and hilarious sheep that constantly complains about wolves (she means the sheepdogs Fly and her mate Rex that herd the sheep). Refusing to believe that Fly could be as evil as Maa makes her out to be Babe continues to spend time with her. This is when Babe starts learning about the tricks of herding sheep from Fly as he always hangs out with her.

Babe starts showing such a huge potential for herding sheep that it doesn't slip pass farmer Hoggett's attention. So our farmer starts taking care of Babe and even training him. During this time Fly's mate Rex gets overwhelmed by disgust and hatred towards the fact that his job is being taken care by a pig. His jealousy leads him to such a state that the farmer must have him tied and drugged to keep him under control. So naturally there is a new job opportunity for Babe and farmer Hoggett begins using him even more to herd the sheep.

But how can Babe manage this? The secret to Babe's immense success in herding sheep comes from a very simple fact: being nice and kind. Sheepdog Fly keeps telling Babe that the sheep are dumb and they need to know who the boss is so she wants Babe to act rude and mean towards them. But what Babe does is amazing, he comes up to the sheep and kindly asks them to get in line and in return the sheep listen to him.

Seeing how great Babe is with the sheep, farmer Hoggett decides to enter Babe into a herding tournament that is held annually which he lost at the last second the previous year. His main contender is naturally Rex but as Rex is indisposed and Fly gets injured Hoggett realises in time that he might actually have a chance to win the tournament with Babe. He enlists Babe under the name of "Pig" and takes part in the competition. First there is great confusion among the board and then they decide to hold a meeting to see if entering a pig into a sheepdog contest violates any rules of the tournament. They come to the conclusion that it doesn't as there aren't any rules about entering a pig so ultimately the tournament continues. 

Let me cut to the chase already as I know you want me to. In the end Babe wins the tournament with a perfect score. He receives a full 10 points from every single judge and passes with flying colours. What starts off with mockery and humiliation inflicted upon farmer Hoggett and Babe by the spectators later on turns into a standing ovation and awe.

If you skipped everything I wrote so far to read the last paragraph of this post. I've got three little words for you: WATCH THIS MOVIE! Believe me you won't regret it. It is definitely one of the sweetest movies I've ever watched in my life. If you are looking for a nice family movie to enjoy this is it! I loved pigs before but after this movie I love them even more.