In New York City, a little boy named George is excited for the day. He is supposed to have a new brother.

After getting George on the bus to school, his parents, Eleanor and Fredrick go to a local orphanage to adopt a child. However, while there, they meet this anthropomorphic mouse named Stuart. Stuart is smart and enthusiastic. So, Fredrick and Eleanor adopt him.

They take him to their home, which is a house in the middle of two apartment buildings. Then they show him pictures of the family. And then their cat, Snowbell, tries to eat him, which angers Fredrick and Eleanor.

Shortly after, George comes home and is excited to meet his new brother… until he discovers that his new sibling is a mouse. Snowbell, who only talks to other animals, including Stuart, is unable to accept having a mouse as an owner.

The next morning, George and Stuart are getting ready. However, Eleanor accidentally puts Stuart in the washing machine while intending to rinse George’s laundry. Poor Stuart is trapped in there with no one to get him out—not even Snowbell. Luckily, Eleanor finds him in there and saves him.

At some point, the Littles’ relatives come to meet Stuart. They all bring him gifts.

Unfortunately, George is still unsatisfied with having Stuart as his brother. He even denies him being his sibling and says that he’s just a mouse.

Regardless of that, though, Stuart and George do form a bond. George is building a boat with his father to race in Central Park. But he is not looking forward to losing to other kids, as he has before.

When the day of the boat race comes, George is nervous. If that’s not bad enough, some kids bully him. And a random person accidentally steps on his remote to control his boat.

That being said, Stuart happily rides the boat and steers it. Despite the bullies trying to destroy the boat with their remotes, Stuart ends up okay. Even better—George wins.

Back at home, the Littles and their extended family celebrate. They even take a picture of George, Stuart, and their parents together.

However, not long after, the Littles meet the Stouts, Reginald and Camille. They say that they are Stuart’s biological parents and how they made a tough decision to give him up. Poor Stuart, who loves being part of the Little family, needs to now go with the Stouts. Even George is sad about him leaving.

But Mrs. Keeper, who runs the orphanage Stuart had come from, reveals that Stuart’s parents died many years ago. The Stouts are not his parents. This prompts the Littles to make a police report.

Meanwhile, while with the Stouts, Stuart learns that they were forced to pose as his parents thanks to a cat. Stuart escapes with the car George had given him.

But he gets lost. And by the time he does return to the Littles’ home, he finds them missing. Snowbell also claims that they were celebrating his absence. Stuart won’t believe that, though.

However, Snowbell shows them the picture that was taken when George won the boat race. Stuart’s face was cut out. This devastates him.

What will happen next?

This film drew me in all the way through with its fast pacing and ability to keep me engaged. Although it’s classified as a comedy, it did not make me laugh a lot. But there were a lot of strengths. One of them is characterization.

All the characters were well-developed. I admired Stuart’s relationship with the Littles. It was so sweet. George also had a nice relationship with his parents.

Snowbell was fun to dislike. I also can’t help but find it amusing for this other cat, Monty, to laugh over the idea of a cat being a mouse’s pet.

The plot was also interesting. Like with any good movie, it had a lot of twists and turns.

That being said, some parts felt a little strange. For example, there was an orphanage in modern-day (as of 1999) New York City. But America got rid of all its orphanages by the 1970s, already phasing them out during the 60s. So, Stuart would’ve been in a foster home.

Also, Eleanor and Fredrick’s reaction to seeing Stuart for the first time didn’t feel natural. They likely would’ve screamed and needed to get used to a talking anthropomorphic mouse. Unless they already knew about talking anthropomorphic animals and have seen them several times before, their response wasn’t that believable.

Yes, this is a movie. And it’s not uncommon for films to have unrealistic premises and situations (i.e. Billy Madison, which focuses on a grown man going back to elementary through high school). But I think in this case, those moments discussed above might have been more pleasing if they were a bit more credible.

However, those were minor flaws for me. Overall, I enjoyed Stuart Little. I saw it in the theaters as a kid and enjoyed it as an adult. And it is worth it for anyone to watch.

I give it 5 out of 5 stars.