Rhonda Raymond (rhondaraymond)
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 likable; 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.
Electrified_Voltage
The first time I saw this was on video in June 2000, late in my first year as a teenager. It had been about six months since the theatrical release of "Stuart Little", and I was shown the film on the last day of school before summer holidays. I can't remember exactly what I thought of it at the time, but remember it did hold my attention for a memorable first viewing. I wouldn't be seeing it again until about ten years and four months later, but that has finally happened. I didn't know anything about the film's reputation when I first saw it, but by the time I finally watched it again, I had looked it up. I could tell that it wasn't one of the most popular family films from recent decades but wasn't generally despised, so I wasn't surprised when I found it to be a mixed blessing.George is the only child of Eleanor and Frederick Little, but his parents are planning to adopt, which the young boy is very excited about. As he leaves for school on the day of the adoption, he reminds his parents that he wants a little brother, not a big one. Eleanor and Frederick then go to the orphanage while their son is at school, and it looks like it's going to be a tough decision as they see all the human children, but then they find an intelligent mouse named Stuart. The couple is warned that adopting a member of a different species will not likely work out, but they still adopt Stuart and introduce him to his new home. When George comes back from school that day and sees who his parents have adopted, he is disappointed. This is not helped by the fact that the household's cat, Snowbell, is not happy about being the pet cat of a mouse, and when Monty, his alley cat friend, finds out about this, he inevitably finds it very funny, so Snowbell then seeks help from the neighbourhood alley cats to get rid of Stuart! This 1999 family adventure movie doesn't look that promising at the beginning, with a very enthusiastic George on the morning of the day his parents plan to adopt, but there certainly are some good parts after that. This includes some pretty funny moments, such as the segment with Monty the Mouth coming into the house and Snowbell trying to keep Stuart out of the visiting alley cat's sight, though Monty farting didn't amuse me. Aside from the humour, there are other memorably entertaining parts, such as the boat race, and the story gets more exciting later on. There are times when the film is a little too sappy, but this may be more of an issue near the beginning. Geena Davis and Hugh Laurie both play loving parents, but don't do an overly impressive job playing them. The live action performances in "Stuart Little" are generally not really that impressive, but there are some good voice-overs here. Michael J. Fox isn't bad in the title role, and the voices provided for the cats also stand out, including Chazz Palminteri as Smokey, the Chief Alley-Cat, who is like a mafia don. The CGI effects in this movie are excellent, with very realistic looking talking mice on two legs, and the way they made the cats' mouths open when they speak is also very convincing.I can see why this movie doesn't exactly have the greatest reputation, with all the flaws it has, but since I'm giving it a 6/10, I obviously think it has its merits. It's based on a children's novel of the same name, written by E. B. White and published over fifty years before this movie was made, and I've never read that book, but hear that this movie is only LOOSELY based on it. Maybe many fans of the book hate this movie, I don't know, and I obviously don't know how they compare and can easily believe that the book is superior, but judging this 1999 film for what it is, I would say much better family movies were made around the same time, but "Stuart Little" could have been far worse. With its positive aspects, which include the mild humour, some of the characters, good sentiment (even if it is overdone at times), nice visuals, and a story which may get better as it goes along, both kids and adults could find themselves impressed with this particular anthropomorphic animal story, more so than I was.
