George Miller: Ranking His Movies From Worst To Best

5. Babe: Pig In The City (1998)

Without a doubt, Babe: Pig in the City is George Miller's most underrated movie; a downright loopy, surreal and - to be entirely honest - inconsistently-realised sequel that has never been given its due credit. And yet to understand this movie is to understand Miller. The fact it's so entirely different from the original Babe movie - directed by Chris Noonan - meant that it was a box office flop, of course, and whilst a few notable critics loved it, the majority were quick to write it off as a misfire of the highest order. Well, no. Babe: Pig in the City is about as misunderstood as misunderstood movies come. Could there be good reason as to why Gene Siskel named it the best movie of 1998? Absolutely, yes, because this is wild, inventive and b*tshit crazy filmmaking; less a sequel to Babe than an excuse for Miller to live out his cinematic fantasies on glorious celluloid. The plot, which sees sheep-pig Babe travelling to a strange hybrid city that feels like a cross between New York, Los Angeles and Paris, is far darker than that of the first movie, which - for the most part - was a light-hearted affair. There are weird, disturbing jokes scattered throughout, genuinely scary scenes, and unexpected meditations on subjects like death. More than with any of his other PG efforts, Babe: Pig in the City feels like a genuine George Miller film - a work of auteur-like brilliance masquerading as a kids' flick.