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Review #340 of 365
Movie Review of Charlotte's Web (2006) [G] 113 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $11.75
Where Viewed: Colorado Cinemas Cherry Creek 8, Denver, CO
When 1st Seen: 17 December 2006
Time: 9:15 p.m.
Film's Official Website
DVD Release Date: unscheduled
Directed by: Gary Winick (13 Going on 30 )
Screenplay by: Susannah Grant (Erin Brockovich) and Karey Kirkpatrick (Over the Hedge)
Story by: Earl Hamner Jr. ("A Walton Easter") based on the book by E. B. White
Featured Cast (Where You Might Remember Him/Her From):
Julia Roberts (The Ant Bully) • Steve Buscemi (Monster House) • John Cleese ("Fawlty Towers") • Oprah Winfrey (Beloved) • Cedric the Entertainer (The Honeymooners [2005]) • Kathy Bates (Failure to Launch) • Reba McEntire ("Reba") • Robert Redford (An Unfinished Life) • Thomas Haden Church (Over the Hedge) • André Benjamin (Idlewild) • Dominic Scott Kay (The Wild) • Sam Shepard (The Return) • Dakota Fanning (War of the Worlds) • Kevin Anderson ("Carry Me Home") • Essie Davis (The Matrix Revolutions) • Louis Corbett ("Blue Heelers") • Beau Bridges ("Stargate SG-1")
Soundtrack: Download now from 
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Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word or less review of this film]
It's not that I didn't know better. I knew that the film would not be as good as the book. It's why I have a hard and fast rule of not reading books until after I see the movies. Unfortunately, I read E. B. White's Charlotte's Web when I was a little kid. Even, long before the animated film version was released. So, I went in worrying that the film was not going to be as good but planning to evaluate it fairly outside the realm of comparisons to the book. In any case, Gary Winick's adaptation of Charlotte's Web is a very good film, mostly appropriate for the season with only some minor cautions for parents and guardians regarding content and some mis-casting that, perhaps, makes more of a difference than it should. I almost feel funny giving a synopsis to a film as faithfully adapted as this one from the original story, but here goes: A runty pig is born and rescued from death at the hands of Fern Arable's father (Kevin Anderson). Fern (Dakota Fanning) adopts the runt telling her father that she won't let him kill it, names him Wilbur, and hand-raised the pig successfully until he gets too big for their barn when he is transferred to her Uncle Homer's barn across the road. It is within Uncle Homer's barn that Wilbur (voiced exuberantly by Dominic Scoot Kay) finds himself without a friend. The cast of characters includes: Templeton the Rat (Steve Buscemi) Samuel the Sheep (John Cleese), Gussy the Goose (Oprah Winfrey), Golly the Goose (Cedric the Entertainer, Bitsy the Cow (Kathy Bates), Betsy the Cow (Reba McEntire), and Ike the Horse (Robert Redford). Each has his or her own idiosyncrasies. Mostly they are a mostly cynical, unfriendly, and self-important lot preoccupied with their mundane lives and have no idea what to make of a tiny pig who wants to play in the mud and make friends. Things are pretty lonely, despite Fern's daily visits, for Wilbur, that is, until he meets a kindly spider named Charlotte (Julia Roberts). Instantly they become best friends. Ultimately, though, it is Templeton who spills the beans about the human family's intentions for Wilbur come Christmas Dinner, and Charlotte who hatches the ingenious plan to save him by weaving extraordinary words into her web so that people won't want to turn him into smoked ham and bacon.
My first realization upon seeing the film is that the story of Charlotte's Web is not as timeless as I had always thought. With an ever-growing number of young people turning to vegetarianism and healthy eating, the very idea of a family raising a pig for Christmas dinner is mostly awful. The book, in fact, is fairly dated too when it comes to cultural sensitivity, assigned familial gender roles, and stereotypes. Much like it's counterpart of the summer, the Walden Media's adaptation of How to Eat Fried Worms some of Charlotte's Web, the film, leaves a more modern viewer either to enduring a bit of squirming or feeling a little squeamish. In any case, I recall loving the book so much, I wanted to name my first born-daughter Charlotte and son Wilbur, however, I did not leave the film with the same feelings. Other than the outdated material, the incredible voice cast for the animals far outshined the digitally animated farm animals. The voices were either too recognizeable, as in the case of Julia Roberts, as to cause distraction or too mismatched as to cause complete befuddlement as in the case of Steve Buscemi for Templeton. Maybe I am too sentimental, for I don't recall either of these issues applying to the animated version of the film made in the 70s. And I think the only voice cast s I recall for certain were Paul Lynde's perfectly sardonic vocal performance as Templeton and Debbie Reynolds's deeply charming Charlotte. When it comes to the human casting of the film, Dakota Fanning was not a good choice. Though she is the female child actress phenom du jour, she does not have the warmth of temperament required to be Fern. She has the child prodigy / girl from the future sent back in time to save humanity look. There was something that didn't quite match up when it came to the casting of her parents Kevin Anderson and Essie Davis, that didn't work either. They became more like doormats than real, loving and understanding parents. And this, actually, may be the key to why the film is not as good as the book nor the animated film version. From just after the opening picture animated credits narrated very effectively by Sam Shepherd (who is by far the most fitting of all the voice casting choices), the film never causes a sense of endearment for any of the characters. Fern is frosty, her parents are more concerned with her mental health right down to seeking a doctor's advice as to how good it is for her to be seeing so much of a pig, and the voice-cast, animated animals are mostly sterile and uninteresting.
It is not impossible, I suppose, that try as I might, I am really incapable of not recalling the magic of the book and my love of the characters I adopted while in 2nd grade when we would get to take turns reading a few pages a day in class. If that is the case, I apologize to the all involved with the making of the film. It deserves to stand or fall on its own merit.
My first realization upon seeing the film is that the story of Charlotte's Web is not as timeless as I had always thought. With an ever-growing number of young people turning to vegetarianism and healthy eating, the very idea of a family raising a pig for Christmas dinner is mostly awful. The book, in fact, is fairly dated too when it comes to cultural sensitivity, assigned familial gender roles, and stereotypes. Much like it's counterpart of the summer, the Walden Media's adaptation of How to Eat Fried Worms some of Charlotte's Web, the film, leaves a more modern viewer either to enduring a bit of squirming or feeling a little squeamish. In any case, I recall loving the book so much, I wanted to name my first born-daughter Charlotte and son Wilbur, however, I did not leave the film with the same feelings. Other than the outdated material, the incredible voice cast for the animals far outshined the digitally animated farm animals. The voices were either too recognizeable, as in the case of Julia Roberts, as to cause distraction or too mismatched as to cause complete befuddlement as in the case of Steve Buscemi for Templeton. Maybe I am too sentimental, for I don't recall either of these issues applying to the animated version of the film made in the 70s. And I think the only voice cast s I recall for certain were Paul Lynde's perfectly sardonic vocal performance as Templeton and Debbie Reynolds's deeply charming Charlotte. When it comes to the human casting of the film, Dakota Fanning was not a good choice. Though she is the female child actress phenom du jour, she does not have the warmth of temperament required to be Fern. She has the child prodigy / girl from the future sent back in time to save humanity look. There was something that didn't quite match up when it came to the casting of her parents Kevin Anderson and Essie Davis, that didn't work either. They became more like doormats than real, loving and understanding parents. And this, actually, may be the key to why the film is not as good as the book nor the animated film version. From just after the opening picture animated credits narrated very effectively by Sam Shepherd (who is by far the most fitting of all the voice casting choices), the film never causes a sense of endearment for any of the characters. Fern is frosty, her parents are more concerned with her mental health right down to seeking a doctor's advice as to how good it is for her to be seeing so much of a pig, and the voice-cast, animated animals are mostly sterile and uninteresting.
It is not impossible, I suppose, that try as I might, I am really incapable of not recalling the magic of the book and my love of the characters I adopted while in 2nd grade when we would get to take turns reading a few pages a day in class. If that is the case, I apologize to the all involved with the making of the film. It deserves to stand or fall on its own merit.
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Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
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Other Projects Featuring Charlotte's Web (2006)
Cast Members
Julia Roberts
• Steve Buscemi • John CleeseOprah Winfrey
• Cedric the Entertainer • Kathy BatesReba McEntire
• Robert Redford • Thomas Haden ChurchAndré Benjamin
• Dominic Scott Kay • Sam ShepardDakota Fanning
• Kevin Anderson • Essie DavisLouis Corbett
• Beau BridgesDirector
Gary Winick
Co-Screen Writers
Susannah Grant
• Karey Kirkpatrick| Book | CD Soundtrack | DVD |
| Video Game | Related DVD | Related DVD |
Charlotte's Web (2006) Review-lite [150-word cap]
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