Babe

You'll not be wanting sausage with your egg substitute anytime soon after watching this award-winning, Oscar nominated charmer, based on Dick King-Smith's The Sheep-Pig. Won in a raffle, the lovable orphan Babe struggles to find his place in the pecking order on Farmer Hoggett's farm, learns the fine art of herding sheep, and eventually surprises both his barnyard admirers (and detractors) with his pluck and determination. A wonderfully inspirational tale that racked up a surprising $57 million-plus in boxoffice pork. Editor's Choice. (R. Pitman)[DVD Review--Nov. 18, 2003--Universal, 92 min., G, $19.99--Making its second appearance on DVD, Babe--now in a special edition available in both widescreen and full screen versions--boasts a sharp, colorful, vibrant DVD transfer, and a glorious full-bodied Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. On the extras front, the first is unwanted--namely, about five minutes of coming attractions (fast-forwardable, but not skippable)--while the others are a mixed bag. The three children's games are a toss-off (and one, a guide to six barnyard animals isn't even a game), but the feature-length commentary track by co-writer/co-producer George Miller (who would go on to direct the darker sequel) is solid, as is a six-minute interview with Miller. In addition, the disc includes an original four-minute "making-of" and recommendations of other great family films (ha!--actually, it's the trailers for The Land Before Time series and other Universal/DreamWorks kiddie fare). Bottom line: if you don't own the initial DVD version, by all means pick this one up. It'll do.][Blu-ray Review—Apr. 12, 2011—Sony, 92 min., G, $26.98—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 1995's Babe sports a decent transfer with DTS-HD 5.1 sound. Blu-ray extras are carried over from the previous DVD release, including an audio commentary by writer/producer George Miller, an interview with Miller (6 min.), and a “making-of” featurette (3 min.). New to the Blu-ray release is the BD-Live function. Bottom line: a solid Blu-ray debut for a beloved family film.]