Stuart Little (film)

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Stuart Little
Image:Stuart Little film.jpg
Directed by	Rob Minkoff
Produced by	Douglas Wick
Written by	E.B. White (book) M. Night Shyamalan Greg Brooker
Starring	Michael J. Fox Geena Davis Hugh Laurie Jonathan Lipnicki Nathan Lane Steve Zahn
Music by	Alan Silvestri
Cinematography	Guillermo Navarro
Editing by	Tom Finan
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	17 December 1999 (USA) 21 July 2000 (UK)
Running time	84 min.
Language	English
Budget	US$103,000,000
Followed by	Stuart Little 2 (2002)
IMDb profile

Stuart Little is a 1999 live-action film, based on the novel of the same name. It combines live-action and computer animation. The screenplay was co-written by M. Night Shyamalan and Greg Brooker, with uncredited script doctoring by David O. Russell and Billy Ray.

Michael J. Fox is the voice of the titular character. Geena Davis and Hugh Laurie star as Eleanor and Fredrick Little, with Jonathan Lipnicki as Stuart's big brother George and Nathan Lane as the voice of the family cat Snowbell.

1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Sequels
4 External links

[edit] Plot

The film opens with Mr. and Mrs. Little and their son George on the day of adoption. While George is at school, the parents go to the orphanage, where they see many kids, but fall in love with one mouse, Stuart, who knows almost everything about the children (due to having been at the orphanage for so much time). Despite the warnings of Mrs. Keeper (the woman in charge), the Littles take Stuart and adopt him as their son.

Immediately after getting home, Stuart meets George and Snowbell, the family cat, although neither are happy to see him (Snowbell tries to eat Stuart). That night, Snowbell visits Stuart and requests that he keep a low profile, so as to avoid getting seen by the other cats and damaging Snowbell's image (being a cat with a mouse for an owner).

Over time, Stuart gradually becomes part of the family, but also earns Snowbell's wrath when Snowbell's friend, Monty the Mouth, visits for food and sees Stuart, collapsing with laughter upon discovering that Stuart is a mouse with a pet cat. Enraged, Snowbell tries to kill Stuart, who narrowly escapes by jumping into George's playroom in the basement. Here, George and Stuart play for a while, and George comes to accept Stuart as his brother. They decide to work together to finish George's homemade model boat, the Wasp, for the Central Park Boat Race the next week.

Snowbell, however, isn't finished. He and Monty go to an alley that night to visit Smokey, a Mafia Don-like cat who is the leader of the alley cats. Since Snowbell doesn't want Stuart killed, he makes a plan with the alley cats to remove Stuart from the house. The next day, George and Stuart, along with their parents, enter the boat race, and Stuart is forced to pilot the boat himself when a stranger carelessly steps on the remote control. Despite the cheating of George's rival, Anton (who smashes the other boats with his stronger one and is not disqualified for it), Stuart manages to win, and they take home the trophy.

The celebration is short lived, however, as during the party that night, the Littles are visited by Reginald and Camille Stout, a mouse couple claiming to be Stuart's parents. After a discussion, Stuart sadly decides to leave with his real parents, taking a small car with him as a goodbye present from George. Just then, Snowbell returns home, satisfied.

Stuart and his parents arrive at a small castle on a golf course, and Stuart, still miserable, does his best to settle in. Three days later, the Littles are visited by Mrs. Keeper, whom they had asked to do a little background research on Stuart, and who tells them that, according to the records, Stuart's parents died years ago after getting crushed by a pile of tins of creamed soup. Convinced that they have been tricked, the Littles call the police.

A terrified Snowbell rushes to the alley and warns Smokey and the others about the Littles' discovery. Smokey then decides that the only way to rectify things is to kill Stuart. They call a meeting with Reginald and demand that he and Camille hand Stuart over. But the Stouts, having grown to care for Stuart, reveal the truth to Stuart and advise him to flee for his life before the cats find him. Stuart does so after telling his "fake parents" goodbye.

Meanwhile, the Littles decide to place "missing" posters around the city to get help in finding Stuart. Stuart, however, on his way home, while going through Central Park, is ambushed by Smokey and a few cats. He manages to evade them by driving his car into the sewer, but at a high cost: he loses his car and his luggage while escaping the storm drain.

Eventually, Stuart finds his way home just as the Littles leave to hang the posters. The only one home is Snowbell, and he tells Stuart a dirty lie about how the Littles are enjoying life without him, proving his story by revealing that Stuart's face has been cut off the family photo (really done so to enlarge Stuart's face for the posters). Tears falling from his eyes, Stuart leaves home again.

Later on, Monty visits Snowbell and informs him that Smokey and the others have spotted Stuart in the park. Reluctantly, Snowbell joins them, and is ultimately the first one to find Stuart, sitting alone in a bird's nest. Snowbell captures Stuart and is ready to drop him to the cats, but he turns on them at the last moment and decides to rescue Stuart. The cats give chase, and eventually corner Stuart hanging from a tree branch. The cats group together on a lower branch to catch Stuart, but Snowbell breaks it at the last minute and sends the cats into the water below. Smokey sneaks up behind Snowbell and attempts to knock him out of the tree, but Stuart releases a thin branch that hits Smokey in the face and knocks him into the water. Fuming, Smokey walks off, only to be mauled by dogs upon turning a corner.

Snowbell and Stuart walk home, and Stuart shares a warm reunion with his family, telling them that Snowbell helped him home. The Littles bring Stuart and Snowbell inside, and close the windows, ready for bed.