Synopsis
The Little family adopts Stuart, a mouse with a human personality, as their new son. While young George struggles to accept his unusual brother, the family cat Snowbell fears losing his place in the household. Stuart faces rivalry, danger, and prejudice as he tries to prove that courage and loyalty matter more than size or appearance.
Factoids & Trivia
- The film is a live-action and computer-animated adaptation of E. B. White's 1945 children's novel, although it changes Stuart's nature: the movie presents him as an actual mouse rather than a tiny human being.
- Sony Pictures Imageworks created Stuart and handled the film's principal visual effects. The work earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Visual Effects.
- The cats shown in the film were real animals trained for production. Their visual effects were supplied by several effects companies, including Rhythm & Hues Studios and Centropolis Effects.
- Principal photography took place in New York City and at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California. Soundstage sets were used for the Little family's neighborhood and the boat-race sequence.
- A painting visible in the Little family's home was later identified as Robert Bereny's long-lost 1920s work "Sleeping Lady with Black Vase." An art historian recognized it while watching the film in 2009; the painting had reportedly been bought for set decoration for $500 and was later sold at auction for 229,500 euros.
- The film became the starting point for a franchise that continued with *Stuart Little 2*, an animated television series, and the direct-to-video film *Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild*.