STUART LITTLE
Rated PG for some mild language
Starring Geena Davis, Hugh Laurie, Michael J. Fox (voice), Nathan Lane (voice) and Jonathan Lipnicki

CineSight Rating ** 1/2

Mr. and Mrs. Little (Laurie and Davis) are the proud new adoptive parents of Stuart (Fox). And Little is a very appropriate name for Stuart since he happens to be a mouse. Like many adopted kids, Stuart has a hard time fitting in with his new family at first. His big brother George (Lipnicki) is very disappointed since Stuart can't ride a bike, play ball...or even pass the gravy! Snowbell (Lane), the family cat is even less impressed. In fact he's downright humiliated. Whoever heard of a mouse having a pet cat?

Gradually the good-natured Stuart wins George over. Even though he can't do 'big stuff', they find that Stuart fits right in with George's model collection. George even drives his little brother around in his shiny red, remote-controlled roadster.

But all the time, Snowbell lurks in the background, looking for opportunities to dispose of his rodent-master. To make his life even worse, Snowbell's embarrassing secret gets out into the neighborhood, making him the local feline laughing stock. Finally the alleycats decide something must be done to uphold the dignity of cats everywhere, and their plot is hatched...

Not having read the children's book by E.B. White, I wasn't quite sure what to expect, so STUART LITTLE caught me by surprise. Although the basic storyline is quite simple and familiar (as in BABE, for example), the movie still comes off as fresh and fun. This is largely due to Nathan Lane's wonderful voiceover as Snowbell, and the excellent computer graphics which created Stuart. After getting used to the idea of a talking mouse with all the charm and mischief of a looney tunes character, it was easy to accept Stuart as a real 'person'.