Over a decade ago, Woody Harrelson shared a surprising choice for best cinematic sequel. The Hunger Games star’s pick wasn’t a popular take for best sequel like Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back or even a family film like Toy Story 2, but rather a nearly-forgotten box-office failure. Even more surprising, Harrelson’s pick is an underrated family film starring a talking pig and duck.
Woody Harrelson Loves a Children’s Film about a Pig
Back in 2012, actor Woody Harrelson was talking to Rama’s Screen about the upcoming film The Hunger Games, the first in the series. By that point, all three Hunger Games books had been written, and Lionsgate had announced that they would be releasing a film adaptation of the second book in 2013. Harrelson felt uneasy about doing The Hunger Games: Catching Fire because he doesn’t “believe in sequels,” but he quickly remembered a sequel that did a good job.
“Babe 2 was better than Babe 1, but it’s rare, it’s so rare that the sequel is even as good as the original. That’s why I’m never that encouraged by the concept, but in this case, there’s definitely the possibility of sequels, but only if the movie does well, obviously.”
Woody Harrelson holding Babe: Pig in the City in such high regard seems surprising. Calling Babe: Pig in the City better than Babe is a tall task, considering the first film was critically acclaimed and was nominated for seven Oscars including best picture. It’s even bolder to call a family film about a talking pig one of the rare cases where a sequel is as good as the original. Babe: Pig in the City wasn’t even a success at the box office, making less than $70 million on a $90 million budget. Plenty of other much more popular films come to mind as examples of the sequels being better than the original like The Godfather Part II and the second Terminator.
However, Woody Harrelson is entirely correct to name Babe: Pig in the City as an example of a great sequel. Pig in the City takes the heartwarming parts of the original and places it in a new, huge setting with more animals than the first. The film has stunning visuals as it brings the speaking animals to life and depicts a fictional, sprawling city. The film was directed by legendary director George Miller, who helmed the Mad Max series.
Even Siskel and Ebert Agreed That ‘Babe 2’ Is a Masterpiece
Not everyone agrees with Woody Harrelson’s take, as Babe: Pig in the City sits at a 65% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes with an even worse 41% audience score. However, the two biggest names in film criticism at the time of Babe: Pig in the City‘s release liked the film just as much as Harrelson did.
Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert both loved Babe: Pig in the City. Ebert put the Babe sequel on his list of the best films of 1998, and Siskel went a step further naming it the film of the year. On the duo’s show, Gene Siskel explained that for his best of the year pick, he chose the film “which best expresses the joy of filmmaking and expands the possibilities of what film can do, and the one film that clearly fits that description this year is amazingly enough, a sequel, Babe: Pig in the City.”
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Even though Roger Ebert didn’t consider the film the best of the year, he still spoke very highly of it. He gave the film four out of four stars in his review, where he complimented the film’s ability to expand the sequel and the craftmanship of bringing the animals and the city to life. Ebert wrote, “The movie is filled with wonders large and small: little gags at the side of the frame and big laughs in the center. It is in no way just a ‘children’s movie,’ but one that extends the imagination of everyone who sees it, and there is a wise, grown-up sensibility to its narration, its characters and a lot of the action.”
Woody Harrelson Had His Own Great Sequels
Woody Harrelson had no reason to be so worried about continuing with the Hunger Games series. The Hunger Games movies were a success, spawning five movies so far (more than the number of books), and a new film releasing in 2026. The newest movie will be a prequel focusing on Harrelson’s character, though it’s unknown if Harrelson will be in the film.
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Hopefully, Harrelson will be in the prequel because he’s part of what makes the first film and the sequels so interesting. His alcoholic character is one of the most emotionally-driven in the series. Perhaps in 2012, Harrelson didn’t think there were many sequels as good as Babe: Pig in the City because he hadn’t the chance to star in that many sequels yet. If he could do the interview again, maybe he’d choose The Hunger Games: Catching Fire as another sequel that improves on the original. Rent Babe: Pig in the City on Prime Video or Apple TV.
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