Babe (1995)

You'd have to be a rather hard-hearted person not to fall in love with Babe, a nominee for Best Picture of 1995. This is a magical film, one that astounds you with its technical achievements, certainly, but also with its ability to earn each of its heartfelt emotional turns. It's one of the few children's movies ever to be nominated for Best Picture, but it certainly deserves its place on the list.

The plot itself is pretty fanciful. A young pig, after watching his mother leave for what he thinks is some sort of "pig's paradise" (she's really going to slaughter), becomes the prize in a contest at a local fair. He's won by Farmer Hoggett (the great James Cromwell), who starts to notice some interesting "talents" in his new farm animal. It isn't long before the farmer begins training the pig to herd sheep. He even takes the extraordinary step of entering the pig in a sheep dog competition.

What you quickly learn as you watch Babe is that this little pig is so naive about the world. He faces every situation and every person or animal with an openness that is charming and sweet. He becomes Everypig in a way. We would all want to go through life with as generous a spirit as Babe has. He can befriend a duck or some dogs or an ailing sheep; you name it, Babe can find some way to get along with it. He even wants to be close to Dutchess, as mean-spirited a cat as you'll ever find in the movies.

I know people are fond of saying that this is a children's movie that isn't just for children. That is, at times, such a cliche these days. But I don't think this film is condescending in order to appeal to adults. It tackles some of the grim aspects of farm life, like the slaughter of animals for food and the attacks by outsiders like wolves, without flinching. I also don't think that it is written at such a level that adults can't appreciate how glorious Babe's worldview is; to borrow a line from another Oscar-nominated movie of a couple of years later, Babe makes us want to be better people. Or better pigs? Whichever. Just watch it and enjoy. Allow yourself to be swept away in the world that the filmmakers have created. As Hoggett puts it, "That'll do, pig. That'll do."