Stuart Little 2 is a 2002 American family comedy film directed by Rob Minkoff. It is the sequel to 1999's Stuart Little, itself loosely based on the original 1945 children's book by E. B. White, and stars Geena Davis, Hugh Laurie, and Jonathan Lipnicki, alongside the voices of Michael J. Fox, Nathan Lane, Melanie Griffith, James Woods, and Steve Zahn. Set three years after the first film, the plot follows Stuart Little as he and family cat Snowbell must save a small bird named Margalo from the Falcon.
The film was released to theaters on July 19, 2002 by Columbia Pictures, and grossed $170 million against a $120 million budget.[3] It was followed by a third film, a direct-to-video sequel entitled Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild in 2005. However, unlike the previous two films, which were hybrids of live action and animation, the third one was entirely animated.
Plot[]
Three years after his adoption, Stuart Little finds himself overprotected by his adoptive mother Eleanor. He questions his abilities following a disastrous soccer match alongside his adoptive brother George, who accidentally kicked him with a soccer ball, despite said kick scoring the winning goal for their team. He becomes even more downhearted after George's toy airplane is broken in an accident because of him. Stuart's adoptive father Frederick consoles him by telling him that "every cloud has a silver lining".
One day, a seemingly injured young anthropomorphic female canary named Margalo falls into Stuart's roadster on his way home from school. Stuart takes her home and introduces her to the Little family, inviting Margalo to stay with them for a while, to which she accepts. Unbeknownst to the Littles, Margalo is secretly in cahoots with a greedy peregrine falcon, who treated her like a slave by forcing her to steal objects from households ever since he adopted her when she was orphaned. When the Falcon presses Margalo to find and take an object of value or lose a home that he promised her, she can't seem to concentrate on her job because she's starting to befriend Stuart. Eventually, the Falcon loses patience and threatens to kill Stuart if she doesn't deliver. Worried for Stuart's safety, Margalo reluctantly complies and steals a diamond wedding ring belonging to Eleanor later that night.
When the Littles discover that Eleanor's ring is missing, they mistakenly think it has fallen down their kitchen sink, not knowing that Margalo had taken it. Stuart offers to be lowered down the drain on a string to get the ring, but the string snaps while he is down the drain. Margalo saves him, but Stuart's thanks to her only makes her feel even more guilty, so she decides to leave. When he can't find her the next day, Stuart assumes she has been kidnapped by the Falcon and decides to rescue her with assistance from the Littles' cat Snowbell. Before he leaves, Stuart asks George to cover for him. Following advice from Snowbell's alley cat friend Monty, Stuart and Snowbell discover that the Falcon resides in the Pishkin Building. Using balloons to make his way to the top of the building, Stuart confronts the Falcon, who reveals to him that Margalo is his slave and that she was forced to take Eleanor's ring while Margalo assures him that although she was following her master's orders, she is still his friend. Stuart begs her to come home with him, but the Falcon refuses to let her leave. Despite Stuart's best attempt to attack the Falcon by firing a bow and arrow at him, he decides to drop the mouse to his death, but Stuart narrowly survives the fall by landing in a passing garbage truck. The Falcon stops Margalo from saving Stuart and imprisons her in a paint can to prevent her from getting out. Snowbell, who has become concerned about Stuart, makes his way to the top of the Pishkin Building and finds Margalo while the Falcon is absent and she explains what had happened, making Snowbell tearfully believe Stuart was killed by the Falcon, not knowing that Stuart is still alive.
Regaining consciousness on board a garbage barge departing from the harbor, Stuart sadly considers giving up until he finds his and George's broken yet still-functioning model airplane on the barge. He cobbles it together with various pieces of junk and uses it to rescue Margalo and Snowbell. Meanwhile, the Littles discover that George has lied to them about Stuart's whereabouts after Eleanor, having believed that Stuart had a sleepover at his friend Will's house the night before, attempts to pick Stuart up, only to learn the truth from Will's mother that he never spent the night there. As a result, Eleanor and Frederick confront George, demanding that he tell them the truth about where Stuart is or risk punishment. George is reluctant to break his promise, but when Frederick points out that Stuart's safety is more important than any promise and Eleanor asks George how they would feel without Stuart, he finally confesses that Stuart was last seen at the Pishkin Building. However, Frederick assures George that he is still in trouble for lying, as they head out and find Stuart.
Meanwhile, the Falcon discovers Snowbell in Margalo's place after he frees her from the paint can and prepares to push him off the building to his death. Before he can do so, he is intercepted by Margalo, who threatens to drop the ring if the Falcon harms Snowbell before disowning him as her master. The Falcon, furious that Margalo has defected from him, pursues her and attempts to take the ring from her, only for Stuart to intervene as he swoops in on his plane to rescue her. The Littles follow Stuart by taxi as he flies through Central Park, with Margalo at his side and the Falcon in hot pursuit. They lose the Falcon, but he catches up to them and makes an attempt to send the two plummeting to their deaths after detaching the plane's upper wing, damaging the main one and making it enter a steep dive, which fails when Stuart recovers from the dive.
Unable to outrun the Falcon, Stuart lets Margalo off to keep her safe from harm. He turns and flies the damaged plane in a kamikaze run while the Falcon goes into an attack dive in an attempt to kill Stuart. In order to let the Falcon's guard down, Stuart uses the light of the sun reflected in Eleanor's ring to temporarily blind him and quickly jumps out, using a bandana as a parachute. The kamikaze attack works and the Falcon is struck by the plane which explodes into pieces, sending him falling out of the sky before landing in a garbage can in front of Monty, who is scavenging for food. When his parachute is sliced apart by the shattered plane's propeller, Stuart falls, but is soon saved by Margalo. They reunite with the Littles, where Margalo safely returns Eleanor's ring before Snowbell also reunites with them. Sometime later, Margalo says goodbye to the Littles and leaves to migrate south for the winter, with Stuart's infant sister Martha finally saying her first words "Bye, bye, birdie".
Cast[]
- Michael J. Fox as the voice of Stuart Little, an anthropomorphic teenage mouse adopted as the middle child of the Little family.
- Melanie Griffith as the voice of Margalo, a canary who befriends Stuart.
- Nathan Lane as the voice of Snowbell, the family cat who is Stuart's best friend.
- James Woods as the voice of The Falcon.
- Geena Davis as Eleanor Little, Stuart and George's mother.
- Hugh Laurie as Frederick Little, Stuart and George's father and Eleanor's husband.
- Jonathan Lipnicki as George Little, Stuart's older brother.
- Steve Zahn as the voice of Monty the Mouth, an alley cat who is friends with Snowbell.
- Anna and Ashley Hoelck as Martha Little, George and Stuart's infant sister.
- Marc John Jefferies as Will Powell, George's friend and classmate.
- Jim Doughan as Stuart and George's soccer coach. Doughan previously voiced Lucky and played the role of Detective Allen alongside Jon Polito who played Detective Sherman in Stuart Little.
- Brad Garrett as Rob, a plumber called to find Eleanor's ring in the kitchen sink's pipes.
- Amelia Marshall as Rita Powell, Will's mother.
- Ronobir Lahiri as the cab driver
Release[]
Stuart Little 2 was originally released on VHS and a special edition DVD on December 10, 2002 by Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment. A Blu-ray/DVD combo pack was released on June 28, 2011 alongside the first film. [4]
Reception[]
On Rotten Tomatoes, it has an 81% approval rating based on reviews from 122 critics.[5] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 66 out of 100, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[6]Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade A.[7]
Ann Hornaday wrote a positive review in The Washington Post, noting how the film's idealized setting makes it family-friendly. Hornaday praised the vocal performances of Fox, Griffith, and Woods in their roles as Stuart, Margalo, and Falcon, respectively, as well as the characters' computer animation: "The animated characters engage in such natural movements and, more important, exude such subtle emotional expression that they mesh seamlessly with their live-action counterparts."[8] Tom Shen of the Chicago Reader, described the film as "fairly formulaic", but praised its jokes as "hilarious", especially those coming from the character of Snowbell, the Littles' cat.[9]
Music[]
The soundtrack, Music from and Inspired by Stuart Little 2, was released by Epic Records on July 16, 2002 on Audio CD and Compact Cassette. The final two tracks are score cues composed by Alan Silvestri.[10] Tracks in bold are not heard in the film.
Soundtrack[]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "I'm Alive (End Titles)" (performed by Celine Dion) | Kristian Lundin, Andreas Carlsson | Kristian Lundin | 3:28 |
| 2. | "Put a Little Love in Your Heart (Opening Titles)" (performed by Mary Mary) | Jackie DeShannon, Jimmy Holiday, Randy Myers | VME | 3:09 |
| 3. | "Top of the World" (performed by Mandy Moore) | Jeff Cohen, Leah Haywood | 3:22 | |
| 4. | "Another Small Adventure" (performed by Chantal Kreviazuk) | 2:57 | ||
| 5. | "One" (performed by Nathan Lane) | Harry Nilsson | Rick Jarrard | 2:18 |
| 6. | "What I Like About You" (performed by The Romantics) | Wally Palmar, Mike Skill, Jimmy Marinos | Pete Solley | 2:56 |
| 7. | "Hold On To The Good Things" (performed by Shawn Colvin) | Roxanne Seeman, Holly Knight | 3:30 | |
| 8. | "Count on Me" (performed by Billy Gilman) | 3:42 | ||
| 9. | "Smile" (performed by Vitamin C) | Josh Deutsch, Colleen Fitzpatrick | Josh Deutsch, Garry Hughes | 3:58 |
| 10. | "Alone Again (Naturally)" (performed by Gilbert O'Sullivan) | Gilbert O'Sullivan | Gilbert O'Sullivan | 3:38 |
| 11. | "Born to Be Wild" (performed by Steppenwolf) | Mars Bonfire | Gabriel Mekler | 3:30 |
| 12. | "Little Angel of Mine" (performed by No Secrets) | Orrin Hatch[11] | 3:47 | |
| 13. | "Falcon Finito" (Alan Silvestri) | 6:51 | ||
| 14. | "Silver Lining" (Alan Silvestri) | 4:21 | ||
| Total length: | 51:27 | |||
Video game[]
Video games based on Stuart Little 2 were released for the PlayStation, Game Boy Advance, and Microsoft Windows.
Accolades[]
| Year | Awards | Category | Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | BAFTA Children's Award | Best Feature Film | Douglas Wick Lucy Fisher |
Nominated |
| 2003 | Golden Trailer Award | Best Animation/Family Film | Nominated | |
| Visual Effects Society Award | Best Character Animation in an Animated Motion Picture | Tony Bancroft David Schaub |
Won | |
| Best Visual Effects Photography in a Motion Picture | Earl Wiggins Mark Vargo |
Nominated | ||
| Young Artist Award | Best Family Feature Film | Rob Minkoff | Nominated |
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