Review of Stuart Little

Introduction

Once in a while a film comes along that is squarely aimed at children but can be enjoyed just as much by adults. Stuart Little is one such film.

Mrs & Mrs Little (Hugh Lawrie and Geena Davies) want to adopt a little brother for their son George (Jonathan Lipnicki - you know - the kid from Jerry Maguire). They visit the city orphanage but can`t make up their mind and instead adopt a mouse called Stuart (voice by Michael J Fox). Stuart is not popular with George at first but it is the family cat, Snowball, who is the real threat - I`ll avoid giving the game away by telling you any more!

The feature running time comes in at approx 75 minutes before the credits roll and throughout the viewer is presented with some great animation, plenty of action and a fair amount of humour. The stars of the show are the mouse and the numerous talking cats, but the three main human parts are all very well played.

Video

Video comes in 16x9 anamorphic widescreen and is of a good standard throughout the movie. The sets used are fantastically designed and very colourful. When combined with the quality animation these colours help to provide a sharp clear image.

Obviously the main visual effect in the movie is the CGI animation of Stuart - and this is simply superb. The detail and expression in both his face and actions put a smile on my face. The only other effects to speak of are the various cats who all talk - although the cats are real with just the facial expressions altered - however it has been done to a very high standard.

Audio

The soundtrack is in Dolby Digital 5.1 but in reality most of the sound focusses on the dialog. The rear channels only spring into action when the music starts - this is standard children`s movie music and fitting for the film although I won`t be rushing out to buy the soundtrack album!

The dialog is very clear throughout the film - Michael J Fox is superb as Stuart and Snowball the cat is played beautifully by Nathan Lane.

Features

This disc must come close to having the biggest selection of extras ever seen on a Region 2 DVD - and they are pretty good into the bargain.

We start off with a Central Park Adventure game. Aimed at children, this basically tests whether they were paying attention through the film by asking a series of multiple choice questions about the film to help Stuart get home. There are three difficulty levels.

Next are the interactive visual effect featurettes - six aspects of the effects broken down into short segments with commentary by the relevant special effects person. Interesting but too short - and would be a lot better with a "play all" button to avoid excessive menu navigation.

There are bloopers/gag reels for both visual effects and human actors which are both quite good.

There`s also a HBO "making-of" which runs 22 minutes and is the usual movie clips cut with interviews affair but is different from the norm in that Stuart Little is treated as a normal star and makes the whole thing rather amusing as all the other stars and crew talk about him etc.

There are a series of animation screen tests where prospective animators were given the scene of a mouse, a thimble, a matchstick and a plastic disc and had to create an animation.

A "read-along" is provided - this can either be read by Stuart Little or silent to allow the children to participate.

On top of that there are commentaries, three music videos from unknown bands/acts, talent files, trailer, DVD-ROM features, boat race concept, stills gallery and isolated score - all linked with well designed menus that children/parents will have no problems with.

Conclusion

I really enjoyed this film. A simple feel-good children`s story, well acted/animated and presented with some top notch effects and a great set of extras.

The animated of the mouse has to be seen to believed. You can see every hair twitch and it really looks like a real mouse - a tribute to the animators. The family cat, Snowball has a great attitude as well. If my cat could talk to me, she`d say just the same things I`m sure!

The running time is on the short side for a film, but probably just about right to keep the attention of younger children - and there`s no question of this being good value due to the huge range of extras - which includes something for adults and children.

For me, the scenes with just cats and mouse were the best - real-life Tom and Jerry and very entertaining.

If you want a film that the whole family can sit and enjoy, look no further. Recommended.