Stuart Little (1999)

STUART LITTLE is the expected visual treat.  Yup, them special e-
fex just keep gettin' better.  Here it's an upright-walking mouse 
voiced by the slighter taller Michael J. Fox.  The presumably com-
puter-generated character wears sneakers, dresses in doll clothes, 
and drives a dapper sports car.  (Formerly radio-controlled.)  And 
his likeness been exceptionally well-blended with both the human 
and feline characters that he appears with.  (Plot:  single-child 
family adopts mouse.  House cat gets jealous and orders a "hit."  
Mayhem ensues.)  Also cool are the screen-filling close-ups of or-
dinarily small objects, such a flotilla of toy sailboats racing in 
Central Park.  (With Stuart aboard one, of course.)  What turns 
this into a long sit is the maddeningly slower (though admittedly 
kid-friendly) pacing and a relentlessly intrusive (and quite cloy-
ing) orchestral score by Alan Silvestri.  Good God, turn it down.  
With Geena Davis, Hugh Laurie, mush-mouthed wee one Jonathan Lipni-
cki, and the voices of Steve Zahn, Bruno Kirby, Jennifer Tilly, 
Chazz Palminteri, and, as Snowball the frustrated housecat, Nathan 
Lane.  Talk to the butt.  Rob Minkoff (THE LION KING) directs from 
a script credited to Gregory J. Brooker and THE SIXTH SENSE's M. 
Night Shyamalan, adapted from E.B. White's children's book.  (Rated 
"PG"/80 min.)

Grade: C+

Copyright 1999 Michael J. Legeros
Movie Hell is a trademark of Michael J. Legeros