Meet Stuart Little's Wiseacre Daddy

Best known from his multiple roles on Rowan Atkinson's hilarious Blackadder series, Hugh Laurie is used to variety. After all, the British character actor's done everything from Sense and Sensibility to Spice World! Thus, it's no surprise to see him reprise his role as the wholesome head of the Little household in Stuart Little 2.

"I've got a sweet tooth," the 43-year-old Laurie admits. "I love all that stuff. Right from the first moment I read the script, I was tickled. In a world where we're kind of obsessed with dysfunction in every movie and TV show, [the Little family's] functionality becomes quite interesting, I think just out of rarity. They're so sweet, they made me laugh."

Laurie also enjoys chuckling at Little's improbable premise: "Why the hell would these people be adopting a talking mouse? Well, that I can't answer. As we speak there are papers and dissertations on this subject being composed at Harvard and all the great universities around the world.

"Far be it from me to comment," he jokes. "A statement will be released shortly."

One thing this Cambridge grad can explain is why a movie like Stuart Little 2 would never fly in the UK. "The English," he says, "don't idealize family in quite the same way [as Americans]." Why is that? "We're just miserable misanthropic sons of bitches, that's why."