The review

Farmer Hoggett is a quiet man who bets his reputation on a pig. That bet is the film's courage, and it is not loud. Babe's method, asking rather than biting, is a picture of authority that does not need humiliation. The sheep are not props. The cat is a snob and the film knows it. There is a darkness under the charm, the way a farm is actually a place where animals die, and the story does not fully hide it.

A child can watch this and understand competence as a form of love. When Hoggett says the kind sentence to the pig, the room should be quiet. That sentence is worth more than a speech about believing in yourself.