Stuart Little 2

Plot

Three years after the first film, Stuart Little questions his abilities following a disastrous soccer match alongside his brother George, who accidentally kicked him with a soccer ball (even though said kick scored the winning goal for their team). He grows more discouraged after accidentally breaking George's model airplane. Stuart's father, Frederick, tries to encourage him, telling him that "every cloud has a silver lining".

Later, an apparently injured canary named Margalo falls into Stuart's car on his way home from school. Margalo is secretly assisting a peregrine falcon named Falcon to steal from valuables from households upon earning the homeowners' trust. Orphaned as a fledging, Margalo assists Falcon in exchange for a home. However, when Stuart offers to let her live with the Littles, Margalo grows reluctant to steal from them. Unable to concentrate on her assignment for Falcon, Margalo becomes close friends with Stuart. Falcon eventually loses patience and threatens to eat Stuart unless Margalo gives him Mrs. Little's ring. Concerned for Stuart's safety, Margalo steals 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 the string breaks while he is down the drain. A guilt-stricken Margalo saves him, then leaves the Little house the following night to protect Stuart. Upon realizing Margalo's disappearance, Stuart assumes she has been kidnapped by Falcon and decides to rescue her with the Littles' cat Snowbell. Running away from home, Stuart asks George to lie about his whereabouts to his parents while he is gone.

With the help of Snowbell's alley cat friend Monty, Stuart and Snowbell discover that Falcon lives at the top of the Pishkin Building. There, Falcon reveals to Stuart that Margalo works for him, stole his mother's ring, and faked being injured. When Margalo tries to reassure Stuart that she really is his friend, Stuart begs her to come home with him. Unwilling to lose his asset in Margalo, Falcon then attempts to kill Stuart by dropping him from the top of the building. However, Stuart lands in a passing garbage truck (but is knocked unconscious upon impact). Falcon traps Margalo in a paint can as punishment for being Stuart's friend, but Snowbell manages to reach the top of the building while Falcon is absent and releases her.

Regaining consciousness on a garbage barge, Stuart feels like giving up until he finds George's broken yet still-functioning model airplane on the barge, repairs it with various pieces of junk, and uses it to return to Margalo. Meanwhile, the Littles discover that George has been lying about Stuart's whereabouts and demand to know where he is. George tries not to break the promise, but when Frederick tells him that Stuart's safety matters more, George tells them that he is at the Pishkin Building but is big trouble for lying. As Falcon is about to kill Snowbell, Margalo declares her independence from Falcon and attempts to flee with Eleanor's ring. Before Falcon can catch up, Stuart catches Margalo in his plane.

The Littles follow them by taxi as they fly through Central Park, with Falcon closely pursuing them. Knowing they cannot outrun Falcon, Stuart decides to attack him directly. Using the glare of the sun reflected from Eleanor's ring to temporarily blind Falcon, Stuart jumps out of the plane just before it crashes into Falcon. Margalo catches Stuart, and they reunite with the Littles to return home. Falcon, crippled and no longer able to fly, falls out of the sky and lands in a trash can where Monty is searching for food. Sometime later, Margalo says goodbye to the Littles and leaves to migrate south for the winter. After this, Martha, George and Stuart's new sister, says her first words, "Bye-bye Birdie", much to the delight of the family, who celebrate before heading into the comfort of their home.

Cast

Release

This film was originally released on VHS and a special edition DVD with multiple special features, on December 10, 2002. It has also been released on a Blu-Ray/DVD Combo Pack. The movie is on iTunes.

Reception

At Rotten Tomatoes, it has an 81% approval rating based on 122 critic reviews. On Metacritic, the film has a score of 66 out of 100, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Ann Hornaday wrote a positive review in The Washington Post, noting how the film's idealized setting makes it family-friendly. Hornaday praised the vocal performances of Fox, Griffith, and Woods in their roles as Stuart, Margalo, and Falcon, respectively, as well as the characters' computer animation: "The animated characters engage in such natural movements and, more important, exude such subtle emotional expression that they mesh seamlessly with their live-action counterparts." In a review published in the Chicago Reader, Tom Shen described the film as "fairly formulaic", but praised its jokes as "hilarious", especially those coming from the character of Snowbell, the Littles' cat.

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 are not heard in the film.

Video game

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