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Charlotte's Web [2006]
from Paramount Home Entertainment
starring Dakota Fanning, Kevin Anderson
directed by Gary Winick

Features:

• PAL

Editorial Review:

E.B. White's classic tale gets a Babe-like makeover in Charlotte's Web, a delightful and well-made film that is sure to become a family classic. Directed by Gary Winick (13 Going on 30), the new version eschews the musical numbers of the 1973 cartoon and mixes CGI with live-action animals. Dakota Fanning brings the right amount of chutzpah to Fern, the young farm girl who rescues a runt, Wilbur, from death and visits him every day at her Uncle Homer's farm. But it's Wilbur's friendship with Charlotte the spider (voiced by Julia Roberts) that ultimately saves him from the "smoke house" (a kid-friendly alternative term to the slaughterhouse), for Charlotte's talent for weaving praiseworthy words about Wilbur into her web turns the Zuckerman farm into a tourist attraction. The more tragic elements of the book are handled sensitively by Winick, working from a script by Susannah Grant (Erin Brockovich), and Roberts' soothing, maternal voice (who knew it would work so well?) makes it all go down easy. It turns out to be just one of many perfect celebrity voice-casting choices, for the farm animals, voiced by an all-star cast including Oprah Winfrey (the goose), Robert Redford (the horse), Steve Buscemi (Templeton the rat), and John Cleese (the sheep), lend plenty of sharp humour. But it's two corn-hungry crows, voiced by Thomas Haden Church (Sideways) and OutKast's Andre "3000" Benjamin who steal the show. -- Ellen A. Kim

Customer Reviews:

• Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0

• Great family entertainment, and more.
  This is a film that is simply a great story well told. The effects are amazing and it contains some big names doing the voices of the animals, but it is something that people of all ages will enjoy for a whole multitude of reasons. You will definitely enjoy it.

• A little slow
  Some might ask why I watched a kids' film, but I just wanted to see what it was about. I never read this as a kid, but knew a few people who raved about it.
  I wasn't really that impressed by the story which I found a bit slow at times. The effects are good, the voice acting is okay and the cast is great, although maybe a little wasted by the script-writers.
  The reason I have given it four stars is that the story does not shy away from the subject of mortality and what actually happens to livestock... more info

• A GREAT FAMILY FILM
  Plot: Fern (Dakota Fanning) walks up in the middle of the night in time to save a young pig she names Wilbur (Dominic Scott Kay). As it gets older she has to give it to her uncle where he will take take of it on his farm. With the help of a spider named Charlotte (Julia Roberts) Wilbur must find a way to keep from becoming Christmas dinner.
  The Good News: The film starts right into the plot and doesn't let up. Four minutes into the movie Fern has already saved Wilbur which makes out for a very fast... more info

• Awww...
  Coming from an adult, I actually cried at this movie. It's just pure brilliance from start to finish. This is supposed to be a kids' film, I know, but I found this a touching and amazing film. BUY!!!

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