This scene takes place around the midpoint in the movie. Before this moment, Babe has been described as “an inconsequential species with no other purpose than to be eaten by human”; the little pig and his human, Mrs Hoggett, have been dragged here and there, arrested, searched, judged, released, and overall not taken very seriously.
Later, set up by the chimps, Babe finds himself hunted by 2 ferocious guard dogs: a bull terrier and a doberman. And after a lengthy chase around the canal, the bull terrier finally rams Babe right into the water. He then jumps in after the pig, but his leash, caught in an old lawnmower gets hooked onto one of the bridge post.
So the dog ends up upside down, leg tangled up, head under water, hopelessly drowning.
Comes the surprise
Babe, after a second, jumps in after him and pushes a small boat toward the drowning dog. Short struggle and the attacker is safe inside the boat if just still one leg caught in the chain. The silent capuchin monkey helps free him and bring the boat back to shore.
The payoff brings the icing on the cake: Babe, the “inconsequential” pig becomes the Godfather with the bull terrier as his right hand man.
BULL TERRIER
I’d like to offer up a solution that
I feel confident you’ll all respond to…
Whatever the pig says… goes.
I was amazed by this surprising scene. Really a nice reversal: the victim actually rescues his executioner, kindness rewarded; now everyone looks to the “insignificant mammal” as the leader. With a funny parody of gangster movies thrown in for seasoning.
Babe: Pig in the City
4 stars
Written by George Miller & Judy Morris & Mark Lamprell
Directed by George Miller