Stuart Little 2

Stuart Little 2
225px Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Rob Minkoff
Produced by	Douglas Wick Lucy Fisher
Screenplay by	Bruce Joel Rubin
Story by	Douglas Wick Bruce Joel Rubin
Based on	Characters by E. B. White
Starring	Michael J. Fox Melanie Griffith Nathan Lane Geena Davis Hugh Laurie Jonathan Lipnicki James Woods Steve Zahn
Music by	Alan Silvestri
Cinematography	Steven Poster
Edited by	Priscilla Nedd-Friendly
Production company	Red Wagon Entertainment Franklin/Waterman Productions
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release dates	July 19, 2002 (2002-07-19)
Running time	77 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$120 million
Box office	$170 million

Stuart Little 2 is a 2002 American live-action film, directed by Rob Minkoff and starring Geena Davis, Hugh Laurie and Jonathan Lipnicki and the voices of Michael J. Fox, Nathan Lane, Melanie Griffith, James Woods and Steve Zahn. The film is a sequel to the 1999 film and, unlike the first film, stays truer to the original children's book by E. B. White. The movie was released to theaters on July 19, 2002. It is also the final film in the trilogy to have been produced as a live-action feature and have a theatrical widescreen release.

The film was followed by the third and final film, a direct-to-video sequel entitled Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild in 2005. However, unlike this film and the previous film, Stuart Little 3 was entirely animated.

Plot

Three years after the first film, Stuart and George become older brothers to a baby sister Martha. Stuart later questions his ability after a grueling soccer match alongside George, who kicked him with a soccer ball. He becomes even more downhearted after George's model airplane gets broken in an accident because of him. However, Stuart's father, Frederick Little, tells him that for every Little, every cloud has a "silver lining", a good thing that comes out of an apparently bad situation.

On his way home from school, Stuart saves a canary named Margalo from a peregrine falcon named Falcon, and they become friends. However, Margalo is secretly assisting Falcon to steal from households after earning the homeowners' trust. When he tells her to find and take an object of value, or lose the sanctuary he promised her, she can't seem to concentrate on her assignment, as she is beginning to fall in love with Stuart. Falcon eventually loses patience and threatens to eat Stuart alive unless Margalo gives him the ring, which she doesn't. Worried for his safety, she takes Eleanor Little's wedding ring.

When the Littles discover that the ring is missing, they think it has fallen down the sink drain. Stuart offers to be lowered down the drain on a string to get it, but is unable to retrieve it after the string breaks. A guilty Margalo saves him, then leaves the Little house the following night after overhearing Frederick and Eleanor talk about Stuart's safety. Upon realizing Margalo's disappearance, Stuart assumes she has been kidnapped by Falcon and leaves to rescue her with the household's reluctant cat Snowbell.

Stuart and Snowbell enlist the help of Monty, Snowbell's old friend, who tells them that Falcon's headquarters is at the disused observation deck of the nearby Pishkin Building. They attach a balloon to a popcorn box to get Stuart to the top, where he finds out that Margalo is Falcon's slave and was forced to take the ring. Stuart tries to save her, but Falcon captures him and drops him onto the street. Luckily, Stuart is accidentally saved by a passing garbage truck, unbeknownst to either Falcon and Margalo. Falcon then shuts Margalo inside a paint can as punishment for rebelling against him. Meanwhile, Snowbell makes his way to the top of the building while the Falcon is absent and frees Margalo, who tearfully tells Snowbell that Falcon killed Stuart. A distraught and outraged Snowbell vows revenge.

On a garbage barge where he has ended up, Stuart blames himself for everything and almost loses hope before finding George's broken model airplane. Realizing this is a "silver lining", he fixes it and uses it to fly back to the Pishkin Building. Meanwhile, the Littles have now discovered that George has been lying and demand to know where Stuart is, and they want the truth. Frederick reveals that it is never okay for George to lie to his parents. George tries not to break Stuart's promise to his parents, but Frederick reveals that since he has a brother, whatever he promised him, if he was in danger it would matter more to him than the promise. George then confesses that he's at the Pishkin Building, and the family head out to the location. Meanwhile, as Snowbell frees Margalo, Falcon returns and tries to kill Snowbell, but Margalo distracts him by taking the ring and fleeing, allowing Falcon to give chase. Stuart catches up in the plane and saves Margalo. The Littles follow him by taxi as he begins flying through the park, with Falcon pursuing him.

Eventually, Falcon grabs the plane and detaches the upper wing, causing it to enter a steep nose dive, but Stuart recovers from the dive. Realizing that Falcon will never give up, Stuart lets Margalo off, then flies the plane in a kamikaze run while Falcon goes into an attack dive. He uses Eleanor's ring to temporarily blind him and jumps out using a bandana as a parachute. Falcon is struck in the head by the plane and deafeated. Stuart falls when his parachute is sliced apart by the plane's propeller, but is rescued by Margalo. Although Falcon survives being struck, he is injured and falls out of the sky, landing in a garbage can next to Monty, who apparently devours him after saying to the sky, "Thank you!".

Stuart is congratulated by his family, and Margalo gives Eleanor her ring back, while Snowbell reunites with them as well. Sometime later, Margalo says goodbye to the Littles and leaves with the other birds to migrate south for the winter, which she had always wanted to do but couldn't due to Falcon's influence. When Frederick asks Stuart what the "silver lining" of this event is, he responds that Margalo will be back in the spring and Martha, says her first words: "Bye bye, birdie." The family celebrates the occasion before heading into the comfort of their home.

Cast

• Michael J. Fox as Stuart Little, the title character, the middle child of the Little family.
• Melanie Griffith as Margalo, Stuart's new friend, a canary bird under control of a ferocious falcon. She is forced by the Falcon to steal Eleanor's ring, but after developing feelings for Stuart, she realizes that friendship is more important. She leaves at the end to migrate south for the winter.
• Nathan Lane as Snowbell, the family cat. He ventures out to the city with Stuart to save Margalo.
• James Woods as The Falcon, the antagonist, a ferocious creature who forces Margalo to steal items from households. However he is defeated and presumably killed when Stuart jumps out of his plane, which heads towards the nose diving falcon.
• Geena Davis as Eleanor Little, Stuart and George's mother, who is deemed very overprotective of Stuart.
• Hugh Laurie as Frederick Little, Stuart and George's father and Eleanor's husband. He tells Stuart about the "silver lining".
• Jonathan Lipnicki as George Little, Stuart's older brother. When Stuart leaves to search for Margalo, George becomes pressured to cover up the situation to his parents until they find out.
• Steve Zahn as Monty, Snowbell's mate who still wants to devour Stuart after three years. He gives Stuart and Snowbell information on the falcon.
• Anna and Ashley Hoelck as Martha Little, George and Stuart's new little sister. Throughout the movie Eleanor attempts, and fails, to get her to talk. She then does so at the end of the movie, when Margalo leaves and she utters the words "Bye bye Birdie" much to the family's delight.
• Marc John Jefferies as Will, George's new friend.
• Jim Doughan as the soccer coach, who is also strict when he tells a mean kid on the team named Wallace to stop teasing George.
• Brad Garrett as Rob, the plumber
• Amelia Marshall as Rita, Will's mom

Release

This film was originally released on VHS and DVD on December 3, 2002.

Reception

The film received positive reviews. Rotten Tomatoes has reported that 81% of 122 critics gave the film a positive review, indicating that Stuart Little 2 did surprisingly better in critical response than its predecessor. The site's consensus reads: "Stuart Little 2 is a sweet, visually impressive sequel that provides wholesome entertainment for kids." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 66 out of 100, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack, Music from and Inspired by Stuart Little 2, was released by Epic Records on July 16, 2002 on Audio CD and Compact Cassette. The final two tracks are score cues composed by Alan Silvestri. Tracks in bold do not appear in the film.

1. "I'm Alive" by Celine Dion − 3:28
2. "Put a Little Love in Your Heart" by Mary Mary − 3:09
3. "Top of the World" by Mandy Moore − 3:22
4. "Another Small Adventure" by Chantal Kreviazuk − 2:57
5. "One" by Nathan Lane − 2:18
6. "What I Like About You" by The Romantics − 2:56
7. "Hold On to the Good Things" by Shawn Colvin − 3:30
8. "Count on Me" by Billy Gilman − 3:42
9. "Smile" by Vitamin C − 3:58
10. "Alone Again (Naturally)" by Gilbert O'Sullivan − 3:38
11. "Born to Be Wild" by Steppenwolf − 3:30
12. "Little Angel of Mine" by No Secrets − 3:47
13. "Falcon Finito" by Alan Silvestri − 6:51
14. "Silver Lining" by Alan Silvestri − 4:21

Video game

Stuart Little 2 (2002) was released for PlayStation, Game Boy Advance, and Microsoft Windows.

Awards and nominations

Year	Awards	Category	Nominee	Result
2002	BAFTA Children's Award	Best Feature Film	Douglas Wick Lucy Fisher Rob Minkoff Bruce Joel Rubin	Nominated
2003	Golden Trailer Award	Best Animation/Family Film		Nominated
	Visual Effects Society Award	Best Character Animation in an Animated Motion Picture	Tony Bancroft David Schaub Eric Armstrong Sean Mullen	Won
		Best Visual Effects Photography in a Motion Picture	Earl Wiggins Mark Vargo Tom Houghton Anna Foerster	Nominated
	Young Artist Award	Best Family Feature Film	Rob Minkoff	Nominated

External links

• Official website
• Stuart Little 2 at IMDb
• Stuart Little 2 at AllMovie
• Stuart Little 2 at the TCM Movie Database