Only now does it occur to me... BABE: PIG IN THE CITY (1998)

Only now does it occur to me... that BABE: PIG IN THE CITY is a children's film of uncommon imagination and depth. This is mostly due to the fact that high-octane Aussie auteur George Miller (the MAD MAX series, THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK)––who directed, co-wrote, and co-produced––imbues it with sweeping pathos and frenetic vigor. Basically, it plays like an outré action movie that happens to star a cast of genuinely lovable animals. It's as if Jacques Tati, Steven Spielberg, Hayao Miyazaki, and Michael Winner all collaborated on a movie about a talking pig. It's intense, artistic, and... legitimately good, is what I'm saying.

Set in "Metropolis"––an insane amalgamation of every major city worldwide––

it's an incredible sequence of action setpiece after action setpiece. As a wild sprint from start to finish, it reminded this viewer of Miller's own masterpiece, MAD MAX: FURY ROAD. Following this line of thinking to its conclusion, allow me to present to you "The Nine Ways George Miller's BABE: PIG IN THE CITY most resembles MAD: MAX FURY ROAD."

#1. When the clown Fugly Floom––played by Mickey Rooney, naturally––has silver cake icing on his face,

and it looks as if he's going to have a "Witness me!" moment, shiny and chrome.

#2. When gangs of street toughs threaten murder and mutilation in Babe's Metropolis:

 

and on Fury Road:

#3. When Flealick (voiced by Adam Goldberg), the endearing, disabled Jack Russell Terrier grabs hold of the dog-catchers' truck with his teeth

 

 

and becomes involved in a balls-to-the-wall car chase with a result that, at the very least, tugs at the heartstrings.

#4. When a Bull Terrier becomes trapped underwater by a chain and is unable to free itself,

 

a sequence ending on a note of actual poignancy.

#5. When Babe gets put into bondage wear.

#6. When it seems as if literally everyone is packing heat.

#6. When there's pure junkyard carnage during a chase scene.

#7. When there's a fire at a children's hospital clown-show (many of the children look as sickly as FURY ROAD's war pups)

 

and Mickey Rooney stumbles around in grotesque horror, looking a bit like Immortan Joe discovering an empty vault.

#8. When there's an entire action setpiece built around stylized villains on bungee cords.

 

She's no Doof Warrior, but then again, who is?

Basically, it may be the only film that could fully sate a MAD MAX convention as well as a children's birthday party. You should probably see it.

"Fictional Dystopias Better Than the One We're Living In" in Booth

My latest conceptual piece, "Fictional Dystopias Better Than the One We're Living In" has been published in the January 2020 issue of Booth, the literary journal of Butler University.

Only now does it occur to me... MAD MAX: BEYOND THUNDERDOME

Only now does it occur to me... that Mel Gibson's entire directorial output may have been inspired by his experiences on set of MAD MAX: BEYOND THUNDERDOME.  It has facial disfigurements like THE MAN WITHOUT A FACE, the majestic and patriotic Gibson-wig from BRAVEHEART:

torture and desert suffering like PASSION OF THE CHRIST:



Mayan fashion and gauntlets of brutality like APOCALYPTO:

and I see Gibson even has a new film in pre-production called HACKSAW RIDGE, and I gotta say– MAD MAX has always had plenty of hacksaws!  Clearly, therefore, the auteurist "Genesis," if you will, of the Gibsonian worldview was born... in the THUNDERDOME!

Speaking of which, the Thunderdome is terrific.

It's like TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE meets BLOODSPORT at a postapocalyptic S&M dungeon...

Is that a human catapult/sex swing?

...though I have to tell you, for a movie called BEYOND THUNDERDOME, there's only one scene set in the Thunderdome.  Bit of a disappointment, there: I wanted a full, feature-length Aussie/Ozzie kumite.

This is a fascinating film, however; and while it's possibly the weakest of the MAD MAX trilogy, it's never uninteresting– it's like Terry Gilliam and Alejandro Jodorowsky collaborated on an 80s grindhouse flick that thinks it's LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (they even hired the legendary Maurice Jarre to do the score, and he inexplicably quotes LAWRENCE, WEST SIDE STORY, and the "Klingon Theme" from STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES)

and then somebody invited Tina Turner to the party, telling her to wear Princess Leia-cocktail strainer buns and a chainlink shirt (as opposed to the chainlink sweater from COMMANDO)

and she forces Mel Gibson audition to be her backup dancer (or maybe it was her assassin?  all I remember is that she said "You're the first to survive the audition!").  

Anyway, that's just about all I have to say, except to add that there's an actor in it whose first name is "Angry" (Angry Anderson, singer and activist), and that counts for something.  Here's hoping for an eventual sequel called, MAD MAX: 100% THUNDERDOME.