Babe, the incredibly wholesome 1995 family film about a polite talking pig who learns how to herd sheep, was surprisingly nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director.

A closer look

Babe, the incredibly wholesome 1995 family film about a polite talking pig who learns how to herd sheep, was surprisingly nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. What makes this cinematic triumph even more absurd is that the visually stunning animatronic pig effects and the complex farm animal voice-overs were produced by George Miller, the same chaotic genius who created the hyper-violent Mad Max franchise. The idea that a director could pivot directly from a post-apocalyptic wasteland featuring leather-clad maniacs fighting over gasoline to a heartwarming tale of a pig trying to find his purpose in society is absolutely staggering. It just proves that true artistic vision cannot be confined to a single genre, even if that means shifting your creative focus from brutal vehicular manslaughter to teaching a border collie how to properly negotiate with livestock