In Stuart Little we were introduced to the Little family. An impossibly sweet group who live in a impossibly nice house across from Central Park. They adopt a mouse, Stuart, so there son will have a playmate. Much of this movie is devoted to Stuart just settling in to his new brood. In Stuart Little 2 the pace is quicker since all the intros were done in the first movie.

Stuart, Michael J. Fox, is now having some growing pains, or lack there of pain. His older brother, George (Jonathan Lipnicki) has a new best friend. Stuart tries to keep up with him. But as demonstrated by the soccer game, it is evident that Stuart needs a friend his own size. Before Stuart gets too filled with angst, a sparrow falls right into his lap, well actually it falls in the passenger side of his car. The bird, voiced by Melanie Griffith, appears helpless and in need. However, she is actually working for a thieving falcon, voiced by James Woods. I know, a falcon in New York makes about as much sense as a chain smoking environmentalist lecturing you on pollution.

Much of the film's tension and excitement derives from the falcon's threats and chases. The final third of the movie had most children in the theater cheering and laughing as Stuart and the falcon do battle. Even Snowbell, the family cat, voiced by Nathan Lane, gets into the action and has some of the funniest lines.

The wonderful message of the original movie, accepting someone for what is in their heart and not how they look, is still very present here. If anything the message is even better in this sequel. Where as the Littles still see Stuart as a family member, they do recognize that he is smaller and thus worry about him due to his size. Witness Mrs. Little's (Geena Davis) concern over the soccer game. They were almost blind to the fact that he was small in the first movie. Here at least they acknowledge it but still love him all the same.

Stuart Little 2, as well as its predecessor are perfect family films. Delightful, loving characters in a safe non-judgmental world. A fantasy from the heart that praises the beauty of belonging to a family.

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Ok, I have to admit that I haven't seen the original Stuart Little since it opened in theaters a while back. So maybe, just maybe I'm remembering it as funnier and more entertaining than it really was. Because of that it seems that the sequel, like most sequels, just isn't as funny and the Little family seems even sappier. And am I'm just remembering wrong, or could the Little's not talk to Snowbell in the first movie?

Like Eric, I feel that Nathan Lane, as the voice of Snowbell, has the funniest lines. His witty banter with Stuart is the highlight of the movie, although the sight of Stuart's little car stripped and robbed by presumably a gang of field mice, was pretty good too. On the whole though the movie is more sweet than funny. And did anyone but me, notice that Snowbell's line, "This is now, officially, a litter box!", which features so heavily in previews, is not actually in the movie?

Of the human actors, Geena Davis stands out, but only because her character seems to have turned into a Stepford Wife. Doing the gardening and housework in a dress, heels, and pearls, all while perfectly coiffed, made her seem as if she'd just stepped out of an episode of Leave it to Beaver.

And I know that a movie which features a talking, car driving, mouse shouldn't be scrutinized for accuracy, but didn't it seem just a little too convenient that Stuart found his airplane and was able to repair it so easily?

Yet for all its sickly, sweetness I still enjoyed it. Something about that little mouse struggling against all odds and still making it through, gets me every time.

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