Stuart Little 2
Stuart Little 2 is a 2002 American family CGI animated/live-action comedy film directed by Rob Minkoff and starring Geena Davis, Hugh Laurie, and Jonathan Lipnicki, and the voices of Michael J. Fox as Stuart Little and Nathan Lane as Snowbell the cat. Although a sequel to the 1999 film Stuart Little, the plot bears more resemblance to the original novel by E.B. White, in which Stuart and Snowbell must save a canary named Margalo from an evil falcon.
The film was released to theaters on July 19, 2002 by Columbia Pictures, and grossed $170 million against a $120 million budget. It was followed by a third film, a direct-to-video sequel titled 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 being adopted, Stuart Little questions his abilities following a disastrous soccer match alongside his adoptive brother George, who accidentally kicked Stuart with a soccer ball despite said kick scoring the winning goal for their team. Stuart's relationship with George is strained further after Stuart accidentally crashes a model airplane he and George were working on in the house. Stuart's adoptive father, Frederick, tries to encourage him, telling him that "every cloud has a silver lining."Later, an apparently injured canary named Margalo falls into Stuart's roadster on his way home from school. Stuart takes Margalo into his home and introduces her to the Little family; he invites Margalo to stay with them for a while, to which she accepts. However, Margalo is secretly assisting her adoptive father, a greedy falcon, to steal valuables from households upon earning the homeowners' trust. Orphaned as a fledgling, Margalo assists Falcon in exchange for a home, but she grows reluctant to steal from the Littles. Unable to concentrate on her assignment for Falcon, Margalo becomes close friends with Stuart. Falcon eventually loses patience and threatens to kill Stuart unless Margalo steals Eleanor's wedding ring. Concerned for Stuart's safety, Margalo reluctantly complies.
When the Littles discover that the ring is missing, they think it has fallen down their kitchen sink. Stuart offers to be lowered down the drain on a string to get it, but the string breaks while he is down the drain. A guilt-stricken Margalo saves Stuart, then leaves the Littles' house the following night to protect him. Upon realizing Margalo's disappearance, Stuart assumes she has been kidnapped by Falcon and decides to rescue her with the help of the Littles' cat Snowbell. Before he leaves, Stuart asks George to lie about his whereabouts to his parents while he is gone.
With the help of Snowbell's alley cat friend Monty, Stuart and Snowbell discover that Falcon resides in the disused observation deck of the Pishkin Building. There, Stuart confronts Falcon, who reveals to him that Margalo works for the falcon, faked being injured, and stole his mother's ring, and Falcon reveals to Stuart his mother's ring to confirm the truth. Having overheard the debate, Margalo appears and assures Stuart that although she was following Falcon's orders, she is still his friend. Stuart begs Margalo to come home with him, but Falcon flippantly refuses to let Margalo quit his business for Stuart's sake, and attempts to kill Stuart by dropping him over the side of the building, though Stuart survives the fall, landing on a bag in the back of a passing garbage truck. Falcon traps Margalo in a paint can as punishment for betraying his trust, but Snowbell manages to reach the top of the building while Falcon is absent and releases her.
Regaining consciousness onboard a garbage barge where he has ended up, Stuart sadly considers giving up until he finds his and George's broken yet still-functioning model airplane on the barge. Cobbling together various pieces of discarded items, Stuart repairs the plane and escapes back to New York to rescue Margalo and face Falcon. Meanwhile, The Littles discover George has lied to them because Stuart is nowhere to be found.
They want to know where he is and this time, the truth. When George says that he's not sure where Stuart is Frederick angrily insists that it is never okay for George to lie. When George asks if it is wrong to break a promise to his brother Eleanor says that he was wrong to make a promise to lie to his parents, as Frederick continues to demand an answer. When George says that it was a promise Frederick reveals that he understands and that he has a brother but whatever he promised him and he was in danger that would matter more to him than the promise. When Eleanor asks George how he'd feel and they would feel if something was to happen to Stuart, George is convinced and comes clean and confesses that Stuart is at the Pishkin Building, but Frederick assures him he will still have to face the consequences and they head out to find Stuart. They come across Stuart's car only to find it wrecked and vandalized.
Meanwhile, Falcon attacks Snowbell and threatens to push him off the building, but Margalo declares her independence from him and threatens to toss the ring off of the roof if Falcon persists in killing Snowbell. Margalo flees and Falcon gives chase, with Stuart swooping in to rescue her. Falcon gives chase to the two through the city and Central Park, with the Littles following behind. Falcon tries to get rid of Stuart by tearing the top wing off the plane. After struggling to get the plane to regain altitude, Stuart ejects Margalo from the plane to face Falcon one-on-one. With both of them flying into each other at high velocity, Stuart reflects the sunlight off his mother's ring to blind Falcon long enough to blind him, before jumping from the plane, leaving it to crash directly into Falcon. Falcon crash lands into a garbage can that Monty is scrounging inside of. Margalo safely brings Stuart back down to the Littles, and returns Eleanor's ring.
Sometime later, Margalo says goodbye to the Littles and leaves to migrate south for the winter. After this, Martha, George and Stuart's baby sister, says her first words, "Bye-bye Birdie", much to the delight of the family. The Littles celebrate before heading into the comfort of their home.
Cast
- Michael J. Fox as the voice of Stuart Little, an anthropomorphic mouse adopted as the middle child of the Little family.
- Melanie Griffith as the voice of Margalo, a canary who befriends Stuart. The character originally appeared in E.B. White's novel.
- James Woods as the voice of Falcon, a falcon and Margalo's adoptive father.
- Geena Davis as Eleanor Little, Stuart, Martha, and George's mother and Frederick's wife, who is overprotective of Stuart.
- Hugh Laurie as Frederick Little, Stuart, Martha, and George's father and Eleanor's husband.
- Jonathan Lipnicki as George Little, Stuart's "older" brother.
- Nathan Lane as the voice of Snowbell, the family cat who is Stuart's best friend.
- Steve Zahn as the voice of Monty, an alley cat who is friends with Snowbell and Stuart.
- Anna and Ashley Hoelck as Martha Little, Frederick and Eleanor's infant daughter and George and Stuart's younger 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 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
- Maria Bamford as Teacher
Puppeteers
- Greg Ballora
- David Barclay - supervising animation puppeteer
- Kevin Carlson
- David Greenaway
- Greg Manion
- Drew Massey
- Karen Prell
- Michelan Sisti
Production
Reception
Critical reception
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an 81% approval rating based on reviews from 124 critics, with the consensus, "Stuart Little 2 is a sweet, visually impressive sequel that provides wholesome entertainment for kids." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 66 out of 100 based on 29 reviews, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade A on an A+ to F scale.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." 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.
Box office
The film had an opening weekend gross of $15.1 million. The domestic total was $65 million and the worldwide total was $170 million against an estimated production budget of $120 million.Soundtrack
The soundtrack, Music From And Inspired By Stuart Little 2, was released by Epic Records and Sony Music Soundtrax on July 16, 2002 on Audio CD and Compact Cassette. The final two tracks are score cues composed by Alan Silvestri.The next album features the entirety of Silvestri's orchestral score for the film.