dir. Rob Minkoff
It’s relatively easy to accept the premise of Stuart Little – a mouse gets adopted by a human family – because so much else of the movie is so nuts. The original book it’s based on is supposed to be pretty off-kilter too, but surely it’s not as weird as this. Why is it that all the mice talk and interact with humans, but the cats seem to keep their speaking abilities a secret? So mice are adopted, but cats are pets? Meanwhile, why does a mouse couple pretend to be Stuart’s biological parents and spirit him away, only to just amicably let him go again? Why did Stuart listlessly go with them in the first place? And why is everyone in this community so preoccupied with a mini boat racing contest? Of course Stuart Little requires some suspension of disbelief, and in its defence it’s a perfectly harmless family movie. But the bizarre situations and ensuing questions seem almost inevitable, considering this adaptation was co-written by M. Night Shyamalan. What a twist!
BMDb 