Babe: A Pig In The City

After watching Babe, I can honestly say I became emotionally connected to "Pig," as well as all of the other animals in the movie. Not only was Babe the hero, throughout the entire movie and not just at the end, but it was amazing how these animals could bond together in order to help each other out.

Obviously there is an enormous amount of anthropomorphism. Besides talking animals, the monkeys were what mostly made me realize. At some points, it even got weird that these animals could be so similar to humans. The fact that the orangutang had to be dressed before going outside is something you would never expect unless in humans. Also, when the mom and dad chimp were holding each other after they realized she was pregnant, was spooky because it really looked like any other normal human family would be, besides all the hair. I sometimes forgot I was even watching animals, partially because of their intelligence, and along with the language that they don't normally possess.

Obviously, being a kid's movie, you can expect a happy ending, but throughout the movie I really felt for the animals, especially the starving ones. There was definitely a plug against animal abuse but I would have never noticed that when I was a little kid.

Overall, this movie was very good and very emotional (for me at least), but I am a sucker for animal movies -- especially if they are placed in a life or death situation. I found myself "aww"ing at the little kittens, new born chimps, and even all the animals together when they were walking through the hospital. I also was laughing at duck-man as if he was any of my other friends. Although this may seem juvenile, I blame the anthropomorphism for connecting me to the animals that strongly.