Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de)
"Rennschwein Rudi Rüssel" or "Rudy, the Racing Pig" is a German movie from 1995, so this one had its 20th anniversary already 2 years ago. It was directed by Peter Timm and the novel as well as the script are by Uwe Timm and despite the name I think they are not related strangely enough. Ulrich Mühe and Iris Berben play the grown-ups in the center of the story, but this one is much more about the kids. Actually, one of these is played by the very young Constantin von Jascheroff in his very first performance. Other known names though not with that much screen time are Edgar Selge, Peter Franke and Horst Krause. Maybe other German film buffs will know even more, but in my opinion these are the biggest names. Back to the film: It runs for 1.5 hours approximately and of course this one coming out briefly after the extremely successful "Babe" is certainly not a coincidence at all. But I am fairly certain it is far from the same level. Actually I am a bit surprised to see a great character actor like Mühe in here. Not surprised with Berben though as she isn't talented. But yeah, we should talk about the story and about Rudi instead. I think there are moments that were okay, almost a bit touching, but then there are moments that feel as if they are depicting that this film really does not care about pigs (you could even say animals) at all and it is all just make-believe for the commercial success. I don't know. Admittedly the Ferkel song towards the end is pretty fun and has a nice message. But the few pros are equalized by bigger cons, like the marriage drama and the waste of a solid actor like Selge for a really crappy story line like him constantly drooling over Berben's character. Yep the negative here is definitely more frequent than the positive. I don't think you should check this one out. It really is nothing more like a poor man's "Babe" as you perhaps guessed correctly by the rating here on IMDb already. No need for a sequel either, seriously! Watch something else instead.
