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Index | 179 reviews in total |
Wow, there are lots of name actors are either in front of the camera or
being used as voices in this unique animated-real life film. They use
real people and animals (except for fake mouths when the animals
"talk") and an animated mouse (Stuart, voiced by animation favorite
Michael J. Fox.) who looks incredibly life-like.
The colors in this movie are terrific, especially with the house that
the Little family lives in. The story has some clever stuff in it but
it strictly played for laughs and reactions since credibility is about
zero in many parts of this story. However, it's supposed to be
outrageous. I don't think Geena Davis has ever played a nicer role than
this. It was good to see. The husband was just as nice, played affably
by Hugh Laurie.
The jokes are good for the kids and adults. I know a couple of parents
who liked this movie even better than their kids, so don't believe it
when someone writes that this is a film strictly for kids. That is not
so. I did object to some profanity in here at the end, which seemed so
out of place, but it's hard to expect Hollywood to get everything
right.
The sequel to this film is even better!
Truly a family movie, especially made for kids.
That explains all; the absurdity, the irrational acts, the incredible story
and yet the finale.
Don't mess the story by thinking how can it happen in real life, because it
won't.
The casts are well chosen, unfortunately Jonathan Lipnicki is less adorable
than his appearance in Jerry MacGuire. Geena Davis is very standard as well
as the other casts.
But look at that little mouse! He's so adorable indeed, very sweet and
beautifully made to make you fall in love with him from the first
sight.
Well, it worked well, at least from the ratings and the gross
income.
A family classic movie. Watch it on a Sunday morning. It will lift your
spirit up.
If you told me five years ago that I'd be watching a movie about a mouse who
is adopted by humans, I'd probably ask you what kind of drugs you were
taking and how many would I need to take to enjoy such puerile piffle. But
five years ago we didn't have the kind of technical wizardry we have now;
witness Toy Story, the new Star Wars, or any of the recent Disney films.
Five years ago, the mouse would have been a regular rodent with a
not-too-subtle voiceover. Remember Homeward Bound, the movie about the two
dogs and the cat? There was no computer animation there, and you were
basically left with three animals who appeared to cavort onscreen while some
humans talked in the background.
So now here we have Stuart Little, a tiny little mouse (voiced by the
always-fresh Michael J. Fox) who has lived his entire life in an orphanage.
One day, the Littles (Hugh Laurie and Geena Davis) come to the orphanage
looking for a brother for their young son George (Jonathan Lipnicki). Of
course, with so many cute little boys and girls, it's impossible to choose -
until they come across Stuart, who seems smart, funny, and wise beyond his
years. George isn't too fond of Stuart at the start - he expected something
a little... um, taller - but this is a kids' movie, after all, so eventually
they bond as only a boy and his mouse brother can - by winning a boat race
against a nasty bully.
There are a few storylines jammed into this 85-minute extravaganza. Stuart
wants to learn about his natural parents, the family cat wants to kill him,
and the parents want Stuart and George to get along. The way most of it
plays out will come off as standard movie fare - predictable to those of us
over 10, perhaps - but the winning charm of Fox as the loveable Stuart
coupled with an engaging and appealing cast of characters makes up for any
familiarity you might feel. On top of it all - the special effects. Now, I'm
not one to heap overweening praise on special effects, but at no point
during the viewing of this movie did I consider Stuart (or the cat, voiced
by Nathan Lane) to be an artificial computer creation. Sure, you have to
suspend belief a little bit for this movie, but hey - don't you have to do
that with almost any movie, anyway?
A combination of seamless animatronics, puppeteering and computer generated
effects make this a completely believable movie.
You will be left wondering "How did they do that?"
But once you stop being amazed at the wizardry involved in just making this
movie there is a wonderful story behind it all.
Stuart, who just happens to be a very charming white mouse, is adopted by a
very special family -- the incomparable Gina Davis and the ever amazing Hugh
Laurie.
This is a story of acceptance, unconditional love and of a great deal of
caring -- even though you may be a little "different."
This is a "not to be missed" film -- and adults will enjoy it as much as
children do.
In fact, the day that I saw it there was only one child in a nearly full
theater; and I had the feeling that many of the adults there had seen it
before.
Don't pass up a chance to see one of the best written movies of the
year.
This movie is really sweet, and I enjoyed it enormously. Sometimes it is a bit overly sentimental, and the human characters aren't as charming as the animal characters. Jonathan Lipnicki was sweet as George, but doesn't quite have the charm he brought to the The Little Vampire. Geena Davis and Hugh Laurie do amiably as the parents, but both seem subdued. Luckily, the human characters don't interfere too much with the animals, and still bring a certain charm to the screen. Stuart is wonderfully voiced by Michael J.Fox, and he joined by a hilarious Nathan Lane as Snowbell and a villainous Chazz Palminteri as Smoky. The script is intelligent and sweet, and there are plenty of charming scenes with Stuart and George. All in all, really sweet, fun and memorable. 8/10 Bethany Cox.
I didn't want to see this movie. Oh no, it looked to cute for me. But one
day I turned on HBO and heard that voice. That voice would be Michael J.
Fox's voice. He does the voice of little Stuart Little. This made me start
watching. So anyway, not only does Michael J. Fox do an excellent job with
the voice of Stuart, but Jonathan Lipniki who plays George Little is one of
the best child actors, and this shows in Stuart Little. Geena Davis and
Hugh Laurie also do a great job playing parents Eleanor and Frederick. This
is a must see family film. I promise you will find something about it you
like. I didn't think I'd enjoy it, but I'm already ready for Stuart Little
2.
6/10
The Little family are looking to adopt a boy to give their son George a
brother. When they go to the orphanage they meet an adorable mouse called
Stuart and decide to adopt him. Despite early resistance from George,
Stuart makes himself part of the family, much to the chagrin of the house
cat Snowball. To get rid of Stuart, Snowball reaches out to some local
alley cats to set up a whack on Stuart.
If my plot synopsis has talked up the mafia connotations of the cats, it
is
because that is the part of the film that I find the funniest part of the
film because it is lacking in the syrup that kind of takes away from the
rest of the film. The main story is quite sweet but also has a good sense
of humour that will appeal to adults as much as children. It's not
perfect
for, like I said it does get a bit overly sentimental at times although it
just about manages to stay sweetly sentimental and not fall into being
sickly sentimental.
The animation is superb and only occasionally does Stuart look out of
place
in the frame. For the most part it all flows well together and was
deserving of the Oscar nomination. Just as deserving is the animal
training
- anyone with cats will know how hard it is to get the little b*stards to
do
anything you want, so to have them do so much work is very impressive
(although I understand it is all about food).
The cast are all pretty good. Davis and Laurie play it straight and are
lumbered with carrying the emotional side of the film and don't have much
comedy (a shame considering Laurie's talents). Michael J. Fox does the
best
work - he makes his Stuart very sweet and likeable; a true prince amongst
mice! Lipnicki does OK but is basically just the `cute kid' that is
legally
required in all American family movies. The funny stuff comes from Lane,
Zahn, Kirby, Tilly and, best of all, Palminteri, who's mafia cat is
hilarious and sends up his own characters by doing so.
Overall this is an enjoyable family film. It may not be hilarious for
adults in the way Toy Story and it's like are but it is not dull. It has
characters for adults and plenty for children and it's all a bit of fun
with
a slightly overly sweet centre to it.
Both "Stuart Little" and its first sequel, titled "Stuart Little 2" are
two nice little family films that I recommend for their effective blend
of drama, adult humor that never goes out of hand, controlled suspense
and violence as well as language, and yet it never gets so immature as
to become only for the kids. Some critics thought that the movie might
have had some moments too intense or unsuited for young children. I was
eight years old when I first saw this film and it never bothered me. I
was surprised to find swearing in this film, but again, it didn't
degrade the film because it was sparingly used and by that I mean it
was only used once or twice.
The character of Stuart is very effectively brought onto the screen.
The mouse is entirely computer-generated in an efficient way and the
contributions of Michael J. Fox's voice work out very well. The same
goes for the other animated characters. All of the live-action
performances were well-done and they blended in perfectly with the CGI
characters.
"Stuart Little" has a good heart and it is can be a very warm little
family movie for everybody to enjoy. I still enjoy it nine years after
I first saw the film and I do recommend it. It's a film that will suit
audience members of all ages. As long as you enjoy family films.
Stuart Little: The Little family set out to adopt a child, and choose a
amiable talking mouse instead, much to the chagrin of their son and the
family cat.
There are two words that describe this movie - words I swore I would never
use in a review- : cute and sweet. Based on the children's story by EB
White, the story is funny, cheerful, engaging and translates well to the
screen.
The filmmakers obviously realized that making Stuart look real was
essential
to the movie's success and spared little expense (approximately half the
film's $60 million budget went to Stuart). The results are phenomenal - you
can see each individual hair on his face, his movement is amazingly fluid
and when he talks, you forget he's animated . The same techniques are also
utilized to make the film's felines talk. The voices - Michael J. Fox as
Stuart and Nathan Lane as Snowbell - were ideal choices and help to enhance
the experience.
Everyone left the premiere sporting a big silly grin and I think you will
too. One note - you'll never look at pest control quite the same again.
note - This is a condensed version of my review
Pros:
To start I felt the voice and on screen actors gave great performances.
Michael J. Fox as the voice of Stuart little was a great choice as he
brings in my opinion allot of charm and emotion to the role, now it may
seem strange to cast him as the voice of a ten year old mouse even
though at the time Michael was in his late thirties. It's really hard
to comment on though because I thought the voice and the character
design fitted perfectly. The rest of the voice cast are great too,
Nathan lane as the voice of Snowbell is again another great casting
choice, and he brings so much charm to the role as this reluctant and
over melodramatic feline, not to mention Steve Zhan as Monty the alley
cat who brings allot of wisecracking humour to the role.
The on Screen performances are also very really great; Keep in mind
that Huge Laurie, Geena Davis and Jonathan Lipnicki all had to work
with thin air, literally. As Stuart was this CGI character, he'd later
be brought onto the big screen through post production as all the on
screen actors had to work with was maybe a replica doll of Stuart and
then would have to do the actual take with just them imagining he was
there on the set so it's pretty impressive considering that's what they
had to work with throughout the majority of the film.
I also have to mention that the score by Alan Silvestri is incredible.
I felt the score truly brought Stuart little to life and made all of
these small sized adventures seem more grand and captivating than
originally thought. Now some may say that the score can get some what
overly whimsical at times however I thought the score was perfect for
this film and really stands out during the Central Park Boat Race. Alan
Silvestri has performed scores for many films including allot of Robert
Zemeckis productions including the Back to the Future Trilogy, Forest
Gump, Cast Away and even the first two Predator films not to mention a
couple Marvel films including captain America: The First Avenger and
the Avengers.
I should also mention the direction of Rob Minkoff is great too; some
of the action scenes in the film including the Central Park Boat Race
and a car chase that happens later on in the film are very well shot
and extenuate how daring these events must be for a mouse like Stuart.
As I said at the beginning of this review Stuart little was nominated
for an Oscar for best visual effects, how this wasn't for best original
score, I don't know but considering the other two films nominated for
best visual effects were the Matrix and Star Wars Episode One: The
Phantom Menace, I think the film got overshadowed by those two films
but I do think the CGI for Stuart has held up incredibly well and
considering the Film came out over 16 years ago, the Oscar nomination
is well deserved and plus id rather take Stuart Little any day over,
Jar ,Jar Binks.
Cons:
Some of the dialogue is also a bit odd, like there's this scene when Mr
little and George are preparing their boat for the Central Park Boat
Race. George is unsure about the boat race and Mr Little asks if George
is okay and George says he wants to go home. Mr little asks 'why' and
George says 'I forgot to bring my lucky underwear, Mr little
replies'you don't have lucky underwear' but George replies with 'well
maybe we should get some and then come back for another race'. What? I
don't know whether that was meant to be funny but to me at least it's a
very strange piece of dialogue but then again this movie was written by
M. Night Shyamalan so I shouldn't really be surprised one bit.
I'm also not sure how close the movie follows the original novel and
keep in mind that I haven't read the novel and I have heard that the
worthy follow up Stuart Little 2 follows more closely to the original
novel than the first film. I heard in the original novel that Stuart
got caught in a window-blind while exercising, and then Snowbell places
Stuart's hat and cane outside a rat hole, panicking the family. I
believe they may have replaced this scene with the one from first film
in which Stuart is accidentally thrown into the washing machine
although the Central Park Boat Race is in the original novel.
I think the biggest complaint that this film gets quiet often is how
unbelievable it is because well, how can a mouse walk around New York
without being stepped on by the foot of a human. How can you adopt a
mouse as your son and take him home on the same day, how come cars and
boats are operational with inner working parts without the use of an RC
steering wheel, and Batteries. You really do have to go into this film
with as much suspension of disbelief as possible; otherwise you'll
probably hate this Movie for how unbelievable it is.
Final Verdict:
Overall I think Stuart little is a good movie for all the family.
Although the film takes some liberates with adapting the film from the
novel and the dialogue is a bit odd, the excellent voice and on screen
performances, Incredible score by Alan Silvestri and amazing special
affects make this film stand out over other family films, the film has
also in my opinion has held up surprisingly well after the film was
released 16 years ago, in my opinion Stuart Little gets an Seven out of
ten
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