Product Details

• Actors: James Cromwell, Magda Szubanski, Christine Cavanaugh, Miriam Margolyes, Danny Mann
• Directors: Chris Noonan
• Writers: Chris Noonan, Dick King-Smith, George Miller
• Producers: Bill Miller, Catherine Barber, Daphne Paris, Doug Mitchell
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC, THX
• Language: English
• Rating: G (General Audience)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Universal Studios
• VHS Release Date: November 10, 1998
• Run Time: 89 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (149 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0783229011
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #25,358 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

• This is item 1 in The Babe Series.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential video

The surprise hit of 1995, this splendidly entertaining family film was nominated for six Academy Awards, including best picture, director, and screenplay, and deservedly won the Oscar for its subtly ingenious visual effects. Babe is all about the title character, a heroic little pig who's been taken in by the friendly farmer Hoggett (Oscar nominee James Cromwell), who senses that he and the pig share "a common destiny." Babe, a popular mischief-maker the Australian farm, is adopted by the resident border collie and raised as a puppy, befriended by Ferdinand the duck (who thinks he's a rooster), and saves the day as a champion "sheep-pig." Filled with a supporting cast of talking barnyard animals and a chorus of singing mice (courtesy of computer enhancements and clever animatronics), this frequently hilarious, visually imaginative movie has already taken its place as a family classic with timeless appeal. --Jeff Shannon

From The New Yorker

Despite the improbable articulateness of the creatures in Chris Noonan's wonderfully imaginative talking-animal movie, they remain in character as animals: the movie never lets us forget that they don't see the world the same way we do. (The illusion of speech is created with a variety of technical means, including computer-animated mouth movements and, here and there, animatronic stand-ins for the live animal stars.) The title character is a piglet who wants to be a sheepdog. Babe and his friends-notably, a farmwise duck and a pair of proud Border collies-act out a comedy of animal manners that is much funnier and much cannier than any recent movie about human relationships: a lovely, stubbornly idiosyncratic fable of aspiration and survival. With James Cromwell and Magda Szubanski. The screenplay, by Noonan and George Miller, is based on a children's novel by Dick King-Smith. -Terrence Rafferty
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A porcinely delightful movie!, March 8, 2004

By	James Ferguson (Vilnius, Lithuania) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Babe (Full Screen Special Edition) (DVD)

Babe was a runaway success in 1995. It even got a best picture nomination and in my mind should have won. This is a fantastic movie, sure to delight children from 2-100. Chris Noonan has created the modern farmyard parable. He deftly brings you into his world of talking animals centered around that most amicable of pigs, Babe. While the sheepdogs rule the farm, Babe warms the heart of sheep and dog alike, and eventually farmer Hoggett much to the chagrin of his wife who is counting the days to the next big feast. Ultimately Babe is spared as farmer Hoggett comes to realize he has a most unusual pig on his hands. Babe finds himself welcomed into the fold, rising to the ultimately status of being able to come into the house on miserable nights, at the expense of the house cat. All these animals are played wonderfully off each other. The voices couldn't be better. Farmer Hoggett eventually puts Babe to the ultimate challenge, the great sheepherding competition, which brings out a raucous reaction from the crowd. But Babe soon silences them. This movie has everything one could want in a children's movie and more. It deserves its place among the classics of all time.

51 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Boycott Universal DVD's, February 19, 2004

By	jmm "jmm1103" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Babe (Full Screen Special Edition) (DVD)

Several previous reviewers are dead-on. Babe, is of course, a clever, funny, touching movie. It's one of the few movies that I and my 3-year old can both enjoy over and over. But the marketing jerks at Universal have seen fit to force several lengthy advertisements on you every time you try to watch the movie. What's more, they've coded them to be non-skippable, so you MUST sit through them every time you want to watch the movie (you can fast forward, but you can't skip over them). This is offensive and intrusive in any dvd you've purchased (and arguably fraudulent as it's not disclosed on the package), but it's even worse with a movie like Babe that's targeted largely at kids. First, it illustrates that Universal has outright contempt for parents' rights to decide what types of films are, or are not, appropriate for their kids. Second, if you have a small child who really wants to watch Babe (or whatever), it's difficult for them to understand why they should have to sit through 15 minutes of Universal's marketing crap before the movie starts (something that's not true with numerous other children's DVD's). Shame, shame Universal. I'd encourage you to rent, download, pirate, or borrow this DVD rather than buying it, at least until Universal ceases its offensive, dishonest marketing tactics.

25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars you'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll stop eating bacon!, July 16, 2000

By	Shelley Shay (Denton, TX **(God Bless the USA!!)**) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Babe (DVD)

I was given some free passes to see this film right before it came out. I had seen the trailers, and they looked cute, but if I hadn't gotten the free passes, I might have skipped over this gem. This is far more than a children's movie.

The voice of the pig is absolutely perfect... sweet, innocent and believable. Babe's tender heart will remind you of Wilbur from E.B. White's "Charlotte's Web" but this is a story in its own right... and there is no talking spider.

James Cromwell received an Oscar nomination for his role as Farmer Hoggett, a sweet, somewhat hen-pecked sheep farmer who wins the piglet as a prize in a county fair.

Babe is a lonely little piglet... he's had to say goodbye to his siblings and his mother at a tender age and is thrust into a barn with all sorts of strange animals he's never seen before. All of the animals, dogs, horses, the cows, etc. feel sorry for Babe and look out for him. There is rivalry with the top Border Collie, but Babe's sweet and innocent disposition wins the hearts of all reluctant farm dwellers.

The farmer's wife initially sees Babe as just a ham on legs, but the farmer sees more and finds a friend that changes his life.

It is impossible to see this film and not get at least a lump in your throat and many scenes will make you laugh outloud. I wish the DVD included more features, like a behind-the-scenes featurette outlining how they got the animatronics (which won a much deserved Oscar) to work. Perhaps it was felt that children would be dismayed that the pig really can't talk or that it took nearly 30 pigs to make the film due to the speed in which they grow into 1-ton hogs... I'm not sure, but as an adult, i would have enjoyed seeing more features on the DVD. This is still a wonderful family film and unforgettable and sweet characters.