Stuart Little **** (1999, Geena Davis, Hugh Laurie, Jonathan Lipnicki) – Classic Movie Review 1772

A Little gem. Director Rob Minkoff’s 1999 yarn about a talking mouse called Stuart Little is a sweet, highly likeable and entertaining family adventure. It is particularly well acted and beautifully produced, with a cute kid, a cuter mouse and nice adults.

Geena Davis and Hugh Laurie give impeccable performances as Mr and Mrs Little, the parents of a little boy called George  (an exceptional Jonathan Lipnicki) who go to an orphanage and adopt a charming young mouse named Stuart. But George is disappointed at his new little brother and the family cat Snowbell is jealous and and plots to get rid of Stuart, who has to turn things round.

This near-perfect film is lovingly made with seamless direction, a gleaming production and a fine, old-fashioned period sense. Michael J Fox is ideal as the voice of Stuart Little and so’s Nathan Lane as the baddie pussycat Snowbell. Other voices are by Chazz Palminteri, Steve Zahn, Bruno Kirby, Jennifer Tilly and Stan Freberg. The expertly purring screenplay is co-written by The Sixth Sense’s M Night Shyamalan, along with Greg Brooker.

Jeffrey Jones, Connie Ray, Allyce Beasley, Brian Doyle-Murray, Estelle Getty, Harold, Gould, Patrick O’Brien, Julia Sweeney, Dabney Coleman and Jon Polito are also in the actual cast.

Stuart Little 2 followed in 2002, also directed by Rob Minkoff, with Geena Davis, Hugh Laurie and Jonathan Lipnicki re-creating their tasty turns as the Little family.

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1772

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