Stuart Little (film)

Stuart Little
Theatrical release poster Directed by Rob Minkoff Produced by Douglas Wick Written by M. Night Shyamalan Greg Brooker Music by Alan Silvestri Studio Franklin / Waterman Productions Global Medien GK Distributed by Columbia Pictures Release date(s) December 17, 1999 (USA, English) Running time 84 minutes Followed by Stuart Little 2 [Source]

Stuart Little is a 1999 live-action science-fiction comedy adventure film, based on the novel of the same name. The movie combines live-action and computer animation.

A sequel called Stuart Little 2 was released on July 19, 2002 and Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild was released on October 11, 2005.

Plot

Frederick (Hugh Laurie) and Eleanor Little (Geena Davis) and their son George (Jonathan Lipnicki) are intending an adoption. While George is at school, his parents go to the orphanage where they fall in love with a thoughtful, observant mouse (who's treated like a normal small boy) named Stuart Little (voiced by Michael J. Fox) who knows almost everything about the other kids, having been there for a long time. Despite the warnings of Mrs. Keeper (Julia Sweeney), the woman in charge who says that humans shouldn't be adopting mice, they decide to adopt him anyway as their second son.

Immediately after getting home, Stuart meets Snowbell (voiced by Nathan Lane), the family cat who tries to eat him right away. George is surprised when his parents introduce Stuart as his new brother. He thinks it's a joke at first, but he's shocked when he sees that they're serious. That night, Snowbell visits Stuart and requests that he keep a low profile, so as to avoid getting seen by the other cats and damaging Snowbell's reputation.

George is at first sullen and somewhat disappointed and treats Stuart with contempt. Sooner or later, he snaps at a family gathering when they encourage him to play "catch" with him. He also earns Snowbell's wrath when his best friend Monty (voiced by Steve Zahn) visits for food. As Snowbell tries to keep him from seeing Stuart, he makes a scene trying to get a cereal box from a cupboard. When he sees him and discovers he is a member of the family, Monty cannot contain himself. Enraged, Snowbell chases him, who narrowly escapes by fleeing into the basement. Here, he learns that George keeps a playroom and the two interact and eventually, George comes to accept him as his brother. He also finds that George keeps a toy car just his size. They decide to work together to finish George's homemade model boat, the Wasp, for the Central Park Boat Race the following week, but Snowbell is not finished.

He and Monty head to an alley that night to visit Smokey (voiced by Chazz Palminteri), a Mafia Don-like Russian Blue who's the leader of the alley cats. Since Snowbell doesn't want Stuart killed, he makes a plan with the alley cats to remove him from the Littles' house. On the day of the 92nd annual Central Park Boat Race, the Wasp is finished, and they arrive at Central Park. George discovers his nemesis, Anton, is there. At the same time, Stuart accidentally destroys George's remote control, rendering his boat inoperable. To make up for this, he takes control of it himself. Anton, however, attempts to cheat by ramming his much larger boat into other ones and sinking them. When he attempts to do the same thing to the Wasp, Stuart manages to bite into the line of his sail, rendering Anton's boat inoperable. He subsequently wins the race.

That night, the Littles are visited by Reginald and Camille Stout (voiced by Bruno Kirby and Jennifer Tilly), a mouse couple claiming to be Stuart's parents. After discussion, he reluctantly leaves with his parents, taking the toy car with him as a goodbye present from George and they go to their home, a small toy castle on a golf course. Three days later, the Littles are visited by Mrs. Keeper, whom they had asked to do some background research on Stuart. She tells them that, according to the records, his parents died several years ago after a pile of canned food fell on them. The Littles realised that he had been kidnapped and call the police.

A scared Snowbell rushes to the alley and warns Smokey and the others about the Littles' discovery. He then decides that the only way to rectify things is to kill Stuart. They call a meeting with Reginald and demand that he and Camille hand Stuart over. But the Stouts, having grown to care for him, reveal the truth and Reginald orders him to escape before the cats find him. He does so after saying goodbye to his "fake parents". Meanwhile, the Littles decide to place "missing" posters around the city to get help in finding him. At the Central Park, he is ambushed by Smokey and a few cats and manages to evade them by driving his car into the sewer, where he escapes, losing his car and luggage in the process. Eventually, he finds his way home just as the Littles leave to hang the posters. The only one home is Snowbell, who tells him a lie about how they are enjoying life without him, and shows him the family picture with his face cut out (they had actually removed it to provide one for the missing posters). He leaves again. But Snowbell sees the pain his absence has caused and realizes his selfishness.

Discovering Stuart's location from Monty and the other cats, who intend to eat him, Snowbell heads to Central Park and finds him sitting alone in a bird's nest. Snowbell turns on the other cats and escapes with him, admitting his lie to him and that the Littles actually do love him, he is in fact the only one who hates him. The cats catch up with them and Snowbell attempts to convince Smokey to call off the hit on Stuart, but is refused. Instead, he orders the cats to kill them both. Stuart responds by taking off Snowbell's collar and using it to lure them.

The cats give chase, and eventually corner Stuart hanging from a tree branch. They get together on a lower one to catch him, but Snowbell saves Stuart by breaking the branch and sending Monty and the cats into the water below. A vengeful Smokey sneaks up behind Snowbell and is about to kill him when a quick-thinking Stuart releases a thin branch that hits him in the face and knocks him into the water. Embarrassed, Smokey climbs out of the water and escapes in a huff and asks himself what could be worse than being defeated by "a mouse and his pet cat", only to be chased away by dogs after turning a corner. Monty and the other cats also climb out of the water, whimpering and embarrassed. Stuart and Snowbell walk home and he shares a warm reunion with his family, telling them that Snowbell helped him get there. The Littles bring them inside and close the windows, ready for bed.

Cast

• Michael J. Fox as Stuart Little, the main protagonist.
• Chazz Palminteri as Smokey the Chief, the main antagonist.
• Nathan Lane as Snowbell, the deuteragonist.
• Geena Davis as Eleanor Little, one of the secondary tritagonists.
• Hugh Laurie as Frederick Little, one of the secondary tritagonists.
• Jonathan Lipnicki as George Little, the tritagonist.
• Steve Zahn as Monty the Mouth, the secondary tritagonist.
• David Alan Grier as Red, the minor antagonist.
• Bruno Kirby as Reginald Stout
• Jennifer Tilly as Camille Stout

Production

Coming soon!

Release

Box office

On its opening weekend, Stuart Little grossed $15,018,223, placing it at #1. On its second week it dropped down, but went back to #1 on its third weekend with $16,022,757. According to Box Office Mojo, its final gross in the United States and Canada was $140,035,367, it grossed $160.1 million at the international box office, with a total of $300,135,367 worldwide. It covered its budget and was a box office success.

Critical reception

Stuart Little received generally positive reviews from movie critics. According to Rotten Tomatoes, 66% of critics gave the film a positive review, making the movie gain a "Fresh" rating.

Home media

The film was released to VHS and DVD on April 18, 2000. It was later released on a Deluxe edition on May 21, 2002 and on Blu-Ray Disc on June 28, 2011.

Soundtrack

Main article: Stuart Little (soundtrack)

Track Listing

• "I Need to Know" – R Angels
• "The Two of Us" – S Club 7
• "You're Where I Belong" – Trisha Yearwood
• "If You Can't Rock Me" – Brian Setzer Orchestra
• "1+1=2" – Lou Bega
• "He Rules" – 702
• "Home" – Brian McKnight
• "Walking Tall" – Lyle Lovett
• "Lucky Day" – Matt Goss
• "Mouse in the House" – Colby O'Donis
• "As Long as I Can Dream" – Debelah Morgan
• "You're Where I Belong" (dance version) – Trisha Yearwood

Original score by Alan Silvestri

• "The Boat Race"
• "I'm Gonna Miss You"

In addition, "Give a Little Bit" by Supertramp was included in the original trailers, but it wasn't in the final movie.

Sequels

Main article: Stuart Little (franchise)

The film received 2 sequels: Stuart Little 2 (2002) and Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild (2005). It is currently unknown when Stuart Little 4 will come out.^{[citation needed]}

Video game

Main article: Stuart Little: The Adventure Home

Stuart Little: The Adventure Home is a video game for the GameBoy light system, based on the book.