# Stuart Little (1999)

### reviewed by
Frankie Paiva

    Stuart Little (PG)
    Starring Geena Davis, Jonathan Lipnicki
    Directed by Rob Minkoff
    Year Released: 1999
    A Review by Frankie Paiva

There are so many elements that must come together to make a family film. You have to get things that will appeal to the young audience, so that they can laugh and enjoy themselves. It's even more of a challenge for most filmmakers to include stuff that adults will get, and find funny as well. There are even some way out there directors and writers that will even include plot elements to keep teenagers interested. One of the recent films to do this was Toy Story 2. Blending sophisticated humor for adults with stuff that will entertain the kiddies, it topped itself with its unique computer animation, and instantly became a hit. While a smaller success story, this is essentially the same thing that happens with Stuart Little, except maybe the teenager factor. Around Christmas time we usually get attacked with bad family films covered in cheesy and sympathetic ooze, (cough Bicentennial Man cough) but this film just manages to reach above that for something new.

Mr. (Hugh Laurie) and Mrs. (Davis) Little have decided to get their son George (Lipnicki, the cute kid from Jerry Maguire) a new baby brother. They go to the adoption agency and are thrilled by the amount of wonderful children who live there. A special person catches their eye, a talking mouse named Stuart (voiced by Michael J. Fox) tells them things about the children and how couples always come in and talk to the children. Once you've met with the children you want to adopt, you'll just know which one to choose. This strikes them by surprise, (A talking mouse?) but they just know that it has to be him.

So after some trouble with the adoption agency they get Stuart home. From the beginning George was very excited to meet his new baby brother, but he's extremely disappointed when his parents bring home someone who he says slightly resembles a mouse. (Wouldn't you be?) Like all family films, there is an event or situation that happens to make George love and form a bond with Stuart. (I won't tell what happens, but if you are one of the freaks that haven't read the book like me it's still pretty obvious what it is.) Just as this relationship begins there is trouble in the household. Snowbell (voiced by Nathan Lane), the family's cat, cannot stand living in a house with a mouse as a member of the family. When a local cat spreads the word around the neighborhood that he lives with a mouse he isn't eating, he decides to do something about it. What will happen to our famed rodent hero? You'll have to dish out $7.50 to find out.

The seamless blend of computer animation and live action is the first amazing thing to behold in Stuart Little. The human actors interact well with their computer counterparts and they all give good performances. Geena Davis makes her comeback mark showing that (in the right picture) she can act well. Stuart is computer animated, but most of the rest of the animal cast are the real thing. The training with the cats (especially in the final scene) shows that this film obviously had some serious animal trainers on hand. The animal's world is like our world in many ways. There are people willing to do anything for money, crime boss cats working for the feline Mafia, and loners who pick off of what others do. There are some of the usual clichés, (there is no way to escape them in a family film) but they are easy to ignore.

Voice casting was very well done and thought out. Fox is perfect as Stuart and while he says oh dear one too many times, he makes his character fun and interesting. A brilliant casting move was done in Nathan Lane (who starred in the nowhere near same plot, but rodent themed Mousehunt) as Snowbell the cat. Most of Snowbell's jokes are unfunny and all come from other movies we've seen before, but Lane manages to make them funny again. Other voices include Steve Zahn, Jennifer Tilly, David Alan Grier, and Chazz Palminteri.

Since it was originally a book, how is the script you ask? We all know that books turned into movies are almost always a disastrous experience. There is good news here. Does the name M. Night Shyamalan strike any bells? If not, he's the director and writer of last summer's scary ghost hit The Sixth Sense. Some of the story is jumbled on its way to the big screen though. It's never quite explained how Mr. and Mrs. Little think nothing out of the ordinary of a talking mouse, and lots of other characters view it as nothing new. So I had to ask myself, if Stuart can talk to humans, couldn't Snowbell? But that's probably too much to ask for a children's movie.

While I will admit that I have never read the book, (Is it my fault I liked reading Berenstain Bear books when I was little?) the original Stuart was published by E.B. White (famed author of Charlotte’s Web) sometime around 1974 (that was the earliest publishing date I could find, I'm sorry if I'm wrong). It's surprising that it took so long for this children's classic to be made into a full length feature film. If it had been made earlier however, it probably wouldn't have been as cute, and it wouldn't have been nearly as much fun.

Overall Grade: B Rated PG for brief language The Young-Uns: Despite some mild language, this film is aimed directly at them. All Ages

A Review by Frankie Paiva E-Mail me at SwpStke@aol.com Visit the Picture Show website (where I work :) at http://www.pictureshow.8m.com/ You can also visit my personal website at http://www.homestead.com/teenagemoviecritic/mainpage.html

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