Babe
- Apr 30
- 2 min read
The brilliant Australian director and screenwriter George Miller created the legendary Mad Max films, such as The Road Warrior and Fury Road. Set in a postapocalyptic wasteland, the Mad Max movies are grim, violent, high-octane action epics about life in a world short on gasoline and water and plagued by barbarian outlaws.
How extraordinary it is then that the very same George Miller is also responsible for creating a deeply heartfelt, loving movie that’s light years removed from Mad Max. That movie is Babe.
Made in 1995, Babe is an exquisitely charming story about an innocent baby pig—a piglet named Babe, of course—who is cruelly orphaned and then taken to a farm where the other animals are harsh to him. Alone and afraid, poor Babe soon learns that’s not the worst of it. His greatest enemies are the seemingly kind farmer and his wife who plan to fatten and serve him on a platter as their Christmas ham dinner.
Like most pigs, Babe is very smart.
Thankfully, Babe finds a glimmer of comfort in a sheepdog named Fly, a female border collie who lovingly mothers and protects him as one of her own. When Fly realizes just how smart Babe is—and like most pigs, Babe is very smart—she begins teaching him to help herd the sheep that are being raised on the farm.
The other animals laugh and sneer at Babe for trying to be other than what they think a pig is supposed to be. But to everyone’s amazement, Babe turns out to be very good at herding sheep. What he lacks in natural herding skills, he more than makes up for with his sweet, good-natured disposition. Many of the sheep start letting Babe herd them, not because he angrily barks and chases them as a sheepdog would, but because he kindly asks them to move.
The farmer is played by the great character actor James Cromwell, who gradually becomes intrigued by the incredible notion that his little piglet might have the right stuff for herding sheep after all. So much so that he ignores the ridicule of his neighbors and enters Babe in a competition to see who is the best sheepdog of them all.
In addition to its gem of a story, Babe owes much of its magic to its Oscar-winning special effects. The movie’s realistic talking farm animals were created with an innovative mix of live action animal footage, sophisticated puppetry, and an early version of computer-graphics. The result: the film earned seven Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture.
I give Babe three and a-half stars out of four.
It’s a movie for children and adults. It’s entertaining and rich with wise lessons about the importance of practicing kindness, of finding meaning in your life, and of showing compassion to animals. Thank you, George Miller!
