Stuart Little 2

Infobox Film
name = Stuart Little 2


caption =
director = Rob Minkoff
writer = E. B. White (characters)
Bruce Joel Rubin (screenplay)
starring = Michael J. Fox
Melanie Griffith
Nathan Lane
Geena Davis
Hugh Laurie
Jonathan Lipnicki
James Woods
Steve Zahn
producer = Douglas Wick
Lucy Fisher
music = Alan Silvestri
cinematography = Steven Poster
editing = Priscilla Nedd Friendly
distributor = Columbia Pictures
budget = US$120,000,000
released = July 19, 2002 (USA)
runtime = 78 min.
language = English
preceded_by = "Stuart Little" (1999)
followed_by = "" (2006)
imdb_id = 0243585

"Stuart Little 2" is a 2002 film, directed by Rob Minkoff. It is a sequel to the 1999 film "Stuart Little", and includes characters from the children's book by E. B. White such as Margalo the bird.

The film was followed up with a direct-to-video sequel, "" in 2006.

This film was rated PG by the MPAA for "brief mild language".

Plot

Questioning his ability after a grueling soccer match alongside George (Jonathan Lipnicki), Stuart (Michael J. Fox) gets even more downhearted after George's plane gets broken in an accident because of him. However, Stuart's dad (Hugh Laurie) tells him that for every Little, there is a "silver lining", or a solution to every problem. On his way home from school, Stuart encounters a female yellow canary named Margalo (Melanie Griffith) that is pursued by a giant falcon (James Woods). He drives her to safety. In a matter of time, Margalo, the canary, and Stuart have become best friends. But, Margalo has a secret. The falcon pursuing her was a crime lord, and he soon catches up to her, reminding her that if she doesn't find an object of wealth soon, the sanctuary he promised her will be called off. But Margalo can't seem to concentrate on her assignment, as she begins to harbour tender feelings for Stuart.

The Falcon eventually comes back, this time threatening to kill Stuart if she doesn't retrieve a wealthy object. Margalo sadly takes Stuart's mom's (Geena Davis) ring. When the family sees it is missing, Stuart thinks it has fallen down the sink. He offers to go get it, nearly succeeding. When he is in danger, Margalo saves him, and he thanks her, making her feel even more guilty, so she decides to leave. When Stuart can't find her, he assumes she has been kidnapped. He leaves on a quest with Snowbell (Nathan Lane) the cat, but not before setting up a plan with George.

Stuart and Snowbell decide to get information on the Falcon's whereabouts, so they enlist the help of the alley cat Monty (Steve Zahn). It is revealed the Falcon's lair lies at the top of the fabled Pishkin Building.The next morning, Stuart and Snowbell hatch a plan to get to the top. Snowbell gathers some balloons for Stuart, and the mouse ties to a small basket, ascending him to the top. He soon finds out the canary is the Falcon's slave, and took the ring. He tries to save her, but the villain stops him short, and drops him into a garbage truck.

Meanwhile, Snowbell struggles to get to the top, as Stuart's family leave the house to save him. Up at the top, Snowbell hears that Stuart is dead, not knowing he is in the truck, from Margalo. He swears revenge as he frees Margalo revealing that he trully does care about Stuart, but when the Falcon returns, Snowbell loses his confidence and hides in a paint bucket, which the Falcon kicks off the tower and causes to fall from the top. Snowbell survives the fall, as it is delayed, so the impact is not hard and the bucket protects him.

On the barge, Stuart blames himself for everything, and gives up. But suddenly, he finds George's broken plane, and with some materials, fixes it up, and flies to save Margalo, who has just fled the evil tyrant. Stuart begins an aerial adventure through the park, with Margalo at his side. The Falcon eventually loses them while the Little Family finds them and follows them in a taxi. Unfortunately Falcon catches up and rips off the top of the plane's two wings.

Stuart knows he can't run from the Falcon, and lets Margalo off. Stuart turns and flies the damaged plane in a kamakaze run while Falcon goes into an attack dive. Stuart temporarily blinds him using Mrs. Little's ring and jumps using a hankerchief as a parachute. The kamakaze attack works and Falcon is struck and defeated. Although Falcon survives the attack he's seriously wounded and lands in a garbage can that Monty is desperatly scavenging in just after Monty asks if he can get a decent meal, then prepares to presumably eat the villan. Stuart's parachute is destroyed by the propeller of the destroyed plane but Margalo saves him.

At the park square, Stuart is congratulated by his family and Margalo and Snowbell reunites with them as well. That evening, Margalo leaves with the other birds to migrate south, but not before saying goodbye to her friends, including Snowbell, who is at the point of tears. Stuart says the silver lining is that she'll be back in the spring. Stuart's baby sister says her first word, or words, "Bye bye, birdie."

Cast

*Michael J. Fox — Voice of Stuart Little
*Geena Davis — Mrs. Eleanor Little
*Hugh Laurie — Mr. Frederick Little
*Jonathan Lipnicki — George Little
*Nathan Lane — Voice of Snowbell
*Melanie Griffith — Voice of Margalo
*James Woods — Voice of Falcon
*Steve Zahn — Voice of Monty
*Angelo Massagli — Wallace
*Jim Doughan — Soccer Coach
*Brad Garrett — Plumber
*Conan McCarty — Referee

Production Trivia

*Most of the shots in the movie were created using matte paintings and digital sky manipulation to give the movie a stylized, hyper-real look.
*In the scene where Stuart pulls a spoon out of a jam jar, the spoon was CGI but the jar was real. It was rigged by a puppeteer.
*Geena Davis was pregnant during some of the re-shoots. They used several techniques to hide her large belly. At one point they even considered using a CG waistline.
*The baby who played Martha refused to knock the bowl of oatmeal off the table. The crew kept telling her do it and she still refused. Finally they made her think that knocking the oatmeal off was some kind of game.
*There was originally a scene on the barge where the barge dumps the garbage in the ocean.
*When the Littles are in the taxi and George notices Stuart's wrecked car and says mom, she clearly says "Yes Stuart" instead of "Yes George".
*In the scene where the Littles are at Yankees Stadium, the shot where the outfielder is frantically running back toward the wall was actually taken from Kevin Costner's 1999 movie, "For Love of the Game."
*At the end of the movie, when the baby sister says her first words, they are "Bye, bye, birdie", a possible reference to "Bye Bye Birdie".

External links

* [http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/stuartlittle/ Official website]
*imdb title|id=0243585|title=Stuart Little 2