|
''Babe'' is a 1995 comedy-drama family film, co-written and directed by Chris Noonan. It is an adaptation of Dick King-Smith's 1983 novel ''The Sheep-Pig'', also known as ''Babe: The Gallant Pig'' in the USA, which tells the story of a pig who wants to be a sheepdog. The main animal characters are played by a combination of real and animatronic pigs and Border Collies. After seven years of development,〔("Interview with Chris Noonan", 9 September 1999 ) accessed 19 November 2012〕 ''Babe'' was filmed in Robertson, New South Wales, Australia. The talking-animal visual effects were done by Rhythm & Hues Studios and Jim Henson's Creature Shop. The film was a box office success and grossed $36,776,544 at the box office in Australia.〔(''Film Victoria - Australian Films at the Australian Box Office'' )〕 It has received considerable acclaim from critics: it was nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, winning Best Visual Effects. It also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and the Saturn Award for Best Fantasy Film. In 1998, ''Babe'' producer and co-writer George Miller directed a sequel, ''Babe: Pig in the City''. ==Plot== A piglet named Babe is left orphaned after his mother is slaughtered, and is chosen for a "guess the weight" contest at a county fair. The winning farmer, Arthur Hoggett, brings him home and allows him to stay with a Border Collie named Fly, her mate, Rex, and their puppies in the barn. An eccentric duck named Ferdinand poses as a rooster to spare himself from being eaten and wakes the farm each morning by crowing. He persuades Babe to help him destroy the alarm clock that threatens his secret mission. Despite succeeding in this goal, they startle the Hoggetts' cat, Duchess, awake, and in the confusion that ensues, they all accidentally destroy the living room. Rex instructs Babe to stay away from Ferdinand (now a fugitive) and the house, or else. Sometime later, when Fly's puppies are put up for sale, Babe asks if he can call her "Mom". Christmas brings a visit from the Hoggetts' relatives. Babe is almost chosen for Christmas dinner but a duck is picked instead after Arthur remarks to his wife, Esme, that Babe may bring a prize for ham at the next county fair. On Christmas Day, Babe justifies his existence by alerting Arthur to sheep rustlers stealing sheep from one of the fields who immediately depart. The next day, Arthur sees Babe sort the hens, separating the brown ones from the white ones. Impressed, he takes him to the fields and allows him to try and herd the sheep. Encouraged by an elder ewe named Maa whom he had met previously on the farm, the sheep cooperate, but Rex sees Babe's actions as an insult to sheepdogs and confronts Fly in a vicious fight for encouraging Babe. He injures her leg and accidentally bites Arthur's right hand when he tries to intervene. Rex is then chained to the dog house, muzzled, and sedated, leaving the sheepherding job to Babe. One morning, Babe is awakened by the sheep's cries and sees three feral dogs attacking them. Despite managing to scare them off, Maa is mortally injured and dies as a result. Arthur arrives, thinking that Babe killed her because he has blood on his snout when he had nuzzled her, prepares to shoot him for doing so. Fly is so anxious to find out whether he is guilty or innocent that, for the first time in her life, instead of barking orders at the sheep, talks to them to find out what happened. They tell her that he is innocent and saved them. She barks to distract Arthur from shooting him, delaying him until Esme intervenes and mentions that feral dogs have been killing sheep on neighboring farms, whereupon he realizes that Babe was innocent. When Esme leaves on a trip, Arthur signs Babe up for a local sheepherding competition. The night before, it is raining, so Arthur lets him and Fly in the house. However, Duchess scratches him when he tries to speak to her, so Arthur immediately confines her outside. When she comes back inside later, she gets revenge on Babe by revealing that humans eat pigs. Horrified, he runs out to the barn and learns from Fly that this is true. The next morning, Fly discovers that Babe has run away. She and Rex alert Arthur, and they all search for him. Rex finds him in a cemetery and Arthur brings him home. However, he is still demoralized by Duchess' story and refuses to eat, despite encouragement from Rex, who has softened his attitude towards him. Arthur gives him a drink from a baby bottle, sings "If I Had Words" to him, and dances a jig for him. This restores his faith in Arthur's affection, and he begins eating again. Later, at the competition, Babe meets the sheep that he will be herding, but they ignore his attempts to speak to them. As Arthur is criticized by the bemused judges and ridiculed by the public for using a pig instead of a dog, Rex immediately runs back to the farm to ask the sheep what to do. They give him a secret password ("Baa-ram-ewe"〔Preface to Sue Weaver, "The Backyard Sheep: An Introductory Guide to Keeping Productive Pet Sheep" (Storey Publishing, 2013)〕), first extracting a promise from him that he will treat them better from now on. He returns in time and conveys the password to Babe. When he recites it to the sheep, they follow his instructions flawlessly and he is wildly acclaimed by the crowd and unanimously given the highest score. He sits next to Arthur, who praises him, in his understated way, by saying, "That'll do, Pig. That'll do." 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Babe (film)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|