Esme is shown as being stronger than she looks, given the way she effortlessly throws away a menacing biker who was taller than her and how she manages to wrestle herself free from the chefs restraining her shortly before the movie's climax. This may be (other than simple adrenaline rushes) because she has spent all her life on the countryside and on farms. Many farm chores are often physically demanding, and someone who has spent long years doing them will likely develop a good level of strength.
Ferdinand tries to follow Babe on his trip to the city, with a flock of pelicans as his guides. Once he arrives, however, he does so on the beak of one of the pelicans, having apparently tricked the larger bird into giving him a lift. This may be due to more than just laziness on Ferdy's part: he's a farm duck, and probably never had to fly any long distances in all his life. He just wasn't ready to handle this flight on his own.
When the rubber suit underneath Fugly's old clown costume begins inflating in the climax while Esme is wearing it, it's implied that it's not something very comfortable, as Esme can be heard grunting and moaning as it expands. It's already fairly odd that a simple and normal-looking clown costume can do this to begin with, but it becomes even stranger if it really feels as unpleasant as it sounds. But it's possible that she only reacted this way due to how fast it happens and not knowing the suit could do that in the first place. She had no time to anticipate or brace herself for the sudden inflation and wasn't used to going through such things in the first place. She probably didn't even know that clothes like this even existed, and thus may have assumed it was dangerous instead of a humiliating but ultimately harmless gag. As a result, she could simply be panicking and overreacting due to not understanding what is happening to her, or misjuding it as being worse than what it really is. After all, who wouldn't be at least a bit startled if the clothes they were wearing, and thought were perfectly normal, suddenly revealed themselves to be inflatable and began to turn them into a humanoid balloon?
Or, perhaps, the rubber suit does feel a bit uncomfortable on the wearer's body when it begins to fill itself with air. Fugly may have been already used enough to it to not be bothered anymore, but Esme, who was hardly a showwoman like him, definitely wasn't.
In addition, while Esme and everyone else in the ballroom (including the animals) reacts to her suit inflating in a stunned and frightened way, Thelonious remains unsurprised, calm, and quiet. Why? Not just because that's just his default state, but also because he was the most devoted of all the ape assistants of Fugly, and probably saw his old master wearing these types of suits and performing such gags many times before. He also decides to help Esme after it happens because he can tell that this was a very bad time for the costume's unexpected trick to be activated and that this new "master" is not as experienced at handling herself in the gag suit as Fugly was.
Also, while it was indeed a highly embarrassing experience to go through in public, Esme can actually thank the waiter who accidentally caused her suit to inflate in hindsight. When the ballroom's chandelier crashes down and causes her to quickly fall down as well, the bloated rubber suit shields her body from the floor and causes her to merely bounce around like a ball. While it wasn't exactly a smooth or dignified landing, and she likely still got hurt (especially considering her age and not very athletic frame), if the costume wasn't in its inflated and "bouncy" shape, she could have gotten seriously injured from the fall, not to mention crushed by the chandelier. Much like in the court scene, there was a silver lining to her misfortune.
While it's never revealed in detail, there's little chance that the bull terrier's backstory is a very happy one. He was tied to a junkyard with apparently little to no human contact and believed it was his "job" to be vicious to any intruders. But he's clearly not really as bad as he believes, since he's very quick to become Babe's friend and protector after the later saves his life. It's very likely that his previous masters were cruel and abusive to him and forced him to be nothing more than a killer, and that Babe was the very first creature to treat him with any sort of compassion. No wonder he grows so fond of his new friend.
In the climax, one of the chefs wastes no time in grabbing Babe and trying to take him away. Even after Esme comes to Babe's aid, he refuses to give up. There's really one likely reason why he's so determined to claim the poor pig for himself, and it's not exactly a very pleasant one.
It gets even worse when Esme arrives and makes it clear that Babe belongs to her. He could have simply returned him once it was clear that this was a pet pig, but he didn't. He was more than willing to kidnap and cook someone's pet, all while shooting smug looks to said pet's owner while she tries to rescue him. Even for the darker and less hospitable environment of Metropolis, this is really messed up.
Even worse, originally, in a deleted scene, as the chef literally tries physically seizing Esme and swings her around the ballroom by her elastic clown shoes, showing he has no problems hurting an older woman. The fact that he is violently pulling Esme's stockings off could imply a darker meaning, given he is ripping a woman's undergarments off. What intentions could he have had?
Now that the Flealands Hotel has been sold and turned into a nightclub, how will any future visitors of Metropolis with pets find someplace that will accommodate them?
