TheRetroCritic

Based on Dick King-Smith's novel "The Sheep-Pig", Babe was such a big hit back in 1995 that it even earned itself a Best Picture Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe. Not bad for a film about a talking pig becoming a sheepdog. On paper, Babe sounds like just another straight-to-video kids' movie but a unique storybook look, some nifty visual effects and tons of charm elevated it to well above average. Indeed, there's something irresistible about this tale of a pig who is bought by farmer Arthur Hoggett (James Cromwell) and finds a new, unlikely purpose. The film definitely has its silly kid-friendly moments but also a surprisingly serious tone at times, never sugar-coating farm life too much or devolving into farce. One second you're following duck-turned-rooster Ferdinand join Babe on a quest to destroy an alarm clock (don't ask), the next you're mourning the death of a sheep as Babe is almost executed for a crime he didn't commit. It's t

It's about time that plane-flying Italian pilot pigs got their own movie! Set between WWI and II, Porco Rosso follows an ex-fighter pilot-turned-freelance bounty hunter, who was cursed some time ago to physically look exactly like a pig, as he befriends a young mechanic called Fio and faces off against a bunch of moronic air pirates. Directed by Hayao Miyazaki himself, this one's not too dense in terms of story but it does have a lot of subtleties about it which help make the film's straight-forward plot a little fuller and more interesting. This is more of a character piece, the film slowly but surely letting us discover the real man behind the pig (yes, I realise how silly this sounds) and, like Fio, we get to eventually filter out the introverted character's true humanity. It's a sweet, mature movie with some top notch animation which really starts showing off during the exciting and beautiful-looking action sequences. Porco Rosso thankfully