Starring: Michael J Fox, Geena Davis, Hugh Laurie, Jonathan Lipnicki, Nathan Lane, Melanie Griffith and James Woods
Director: Rob Minkoff
The film: When you live not knowing whether you are a mouse or a man it's best to rise above it like the self-possessed dandy rat of EB White's classic of children's literature, Stuart Little. Because letting the dilemma take hold means a short trip to the rapid, inescapable treadmill of a children's film franchise, where suburban neuroses and forbidden proclivities run riot. Though marketed as a 72-minute babysitter with literary credentials, Stuart Little 2 also practises love between species. Most adult movies would leave children wondering about the birds and the bees. Parents should note this kids' flick could have the young ones asking whether the two critters cavort.
Stuart Little returns to the screen as the lonely middle child. Being the rodent sibling in a human family is the least of his worries. He's more concerned about the parental attention his baby sister has stolen and the little time older brother George has for him these days. Rather than taking solace in being more hirsute than George and having a voice with the timbre of a 40-year-old man - Michael J Fox - Stuart falls for a flirty bird, the orphaned Margalo. Working for a criminal falcon, Margalo feigns a broken wing to join Stuart's household and steal Mrs Little's ring. But once inside, she falls for the storybook bliss of checked tablecloths, a mother figure in floral dresses and a father with a woolly maxim for any crisis of confidence.
Smitten Stuart creates a drive-in for Margalo, using his mini sports car, a TV and the snog scene from Hitchcock's Vertigo. The gag - one of the few for adults - would be that, like Kim Novak, Margalo is not what she seems. But a Little love goes a long way. Margalo comes good, the falcon is defeated and Stuart learns - thanks, dad - that he is only as big as he feels.
Writer Joel Rubin reunited a supernatural lover in Ghost but refused to let the mouse get the chick in this script. Best for Stuart and Darwinism if Margalo flies into the sunset staged by cinematographer Steve Post, who worked on Donnie Darko.
