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"With
a 'Little' Luck"
by Scott Mantz
"Stuart Little"
Geena Davis, Jonathan Lipnicki, voice of
Michael J. Fox
Directed by Rob Minkoff
As the old saying
goes, "you can't pick your family". Well, thanks to adoption, you
can, and loving parents are able to give unwanted children a cozy
new home. Though the process can take an awfully long time, it is
often worth the wait. Adapting to this new living arrangement can
be difficult for everyone, but, with a little luck, it can go smoothly.
If your new child is--how should I put this--different, then the
process can take a little longer. Based on the book by E. B. White,
"Stuart Little" is an adorable, charming, and heartwarming film
about belonging, that fits right in with the warm and fuzzy feel
of the holiday season.
Mr. and Mrs.
Little (Hugh Laurie and Geena Davis) are looking to adopt a child
to expand their clean-cut family and give their lonely son a playmate.
After meeting Stuart (Michael J. Fox), they are convinced that he
will feel right at home in their humble abode. There's just one
small problem. Stuart is a mouse. Upon his arrival, Stuart learns
that fitting in is going to be much harder than he thought. His
disappointed brother George (Jonathan Lipnicki) doesn't exactly
embrace his new pint-sized sibling with open arms. Making matters
worse is Snowbell (Nathan Lane), the antagonistic cat who's certainly
not going to stand for having a potential meal as part of the family.
Next to the
Summer, the movie marketplace doesn't get much more crowded than
it does around Chrismastime. Stuart will have to show a little muscle
(no pun intended) if he's going to make room for himself and push
aside the gang from "Toy Story 2". That may be easier said than
done, but this "Little" has a lot going for it. Between his affable
personality and his believable appearance, we're able to root for
him every step of the way as he goes from one crazy mouse trap to
another.
The visual effects
are top-notch. Special effects maven John Dykstra, who won an Academy
Award for his work on the original "Star Wars", employs the same
technical wizardry that was used to animate the animals in "Babe".
Computer generated effects can sometimes look phony, but they sure
look great here. As for the script, it makes perfect sense that
the story is so effective. If you look closely at the credits, you'll
notice that M. Night Shyamalan is listed as one of the film's writers.
If that name sounds vaguely familiar, it should. He wrote and directed
a little movie last summer called "The Sixth Sense".
In some ways,
it's more difficult for actors to do voice-overs than it is for
them to perform in front of the camera. Since we cannot see their
facial expressions or body language, more weight falls on the power
of their delivery to convey their emotions. Michael J. Fox brings
his boyish charm to Stuart Little and successfully conveys his childlike
innocence with a heart of gold. Besides, he's just so darn cute!
Nathan Lane provides Snowbell with the snobby attitude that you'd
expect from a spoiled house cat that has to compete with a delicious-looking
new family member. Snowbell hires a bunch of mean ol' alley cats
to get rid of Stuart. If you're going to have a leader of the pack,
who better to voice the "top don" than Chazz Palminteri?
There's nothing
earth-shattering or ground-breaking here--just a fun and touching
film that's sure to please the whole family during the festive holiday
season. The minute the story is set up, you know everything is going
to work out in the end. And so it should. There's nothing more special
than seeing what lengths people (or mice) will go through to be
with the ones they love. In this case, a "Little" love goes a long
way.
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