A pig who thinks he’s a sheepdog.

That’s it.

That’s the premise of a film that earned seven Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, grossed over $250 million worldwide, and turned James Cromwell into a household name. Thirty years later, Babe remains one of the most disarmingly sincere films ever made, and Kino Lorber’s new 4K UHD makes it look better than it ever has.

Based on Dick King-Smith’s 1983 novel The Sheep-Pig, the film follows an orphaned piglet won at a county fair by the taciturn Farmer Hoggett (James Cromwell, Big Hero 6) and brought home to a farm run with cheerful, iron-willed efficiency by his wife Esme (Magda Szubanski, Memoir of a Snail). There, Babe (voiced by Christine Cavanaugh) is adopted by border collie Fly (Miriam Margolyes, My Happy Ending), befriends a rooster-impersonating duck named Ferdinand (Danny Mann, The Grinch), and gradually discovers he has a gift for herding sheep — not through intimidation, the way Fly’s fierce husband Rex (Hugo Weaving, Cloud Atlas) does it, but through simple politeness.

Elderly ewe Maa (Miriam Flynn, National Lampoon’s Vacation) becomes his unlikely champion among the flock, and even Duchess the scheming house cat has a role to play in Babe’s journey toward the sheepherding trial that gives the film its climax. It’s a deceptively rich ensemble told with the structure of a storybook, complete with chapter headings read aloud by a trio of singing mice, and it works because everyone involved — human, animal, and animatronic — commits to the material without a trace of irony.

Cromwell nearly turned down the role. His friend convinced him by saying that if the movie tanked, it wouldn’t be his fault — it would be the pig’s. He later said the film turned his entire life around and meant he never had to audition again. The performance earned him an Oscar nomination and, perhaps more importantly, turned him into a lifelong ethical vegetarian. In fact, the film had a major impact on compassionate farming and changed views towards vegetarianism. That’s the kind of film this is: one that changes people who get close to it.

Chris Noonan directed from a screenplay he co-wrote with producer George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road), and the production was groundbreaking for its time. Forty-eight real piglets were used over the course of filming because the Large White breed grows too fast. They were supplemented by animatronic puppets from Jim Henson’s Creature Shop and pioneering CGI mouth work from Rhythm & Hues and Animal Logic. The visual effects rightfully won the Oscar, and they still hold up remarkably well. Nigel Westlake’s score threads classical pieces by Saint-Saëns, Fauré, and Bizet through his original compositions, giving the whole film a warm glow of peacefulness.

Kino Lorber’s 4K disc features a new HDR/Dolby Vision master from a 4K scan of the original 35mm camera negative, and the upgrade is significant. The pastoral Robertson, New South Wales locations look gorgeous, with natural greens, warm golden-hour light, and strong detail throughout. The extras package is one of Kino’s best because it keeps it straightforward: a new commentary from historian Julie Kirgo and filmmaker Peter Hankoff, the original George Miller commentary, a new interview with Cromwell, a new Miller interview on making pigs talk, archival making-of featurettes, and the theatrical trailer. Besides missing a more robust visit with the voice cast, it’s a comprehensive tribute to a film that deserves one.

The American Film Institute ranked Babe among America’s most inspiring movies. New York Magazine listed it among the best films that lost Best Picture at the Oscars. None of that captures what makes it special and so long-lasting, though. Babe is a film with zero cynicism and absolute conviction, and it earns every ounce of emotion it asks for. That’ll do, pig. That’ll do.