It questionable why it took a long time for a live action version of the classic E.B. White story to be made, because the only version you may know is the Debbie Reynolds/Hanna-Barbera 1973 cartoon, but they did. So you know the story, Wilbur the Pig (Dominic Scott Kay) is born a runt, and little girl Fern (War of the Worlds' Dakota Fanning) saves him from the chop. Then when he's big enough he is taken to the farm across the road belonging to Fern's uncle Homer Zuckerman (Gary Basaraba) to live in a large barn with a bunch of other animals. There is Samuel the Sheep (John Cleese), Gussy (Oprah Winfrey) and Golly (Cedric the Entertainer) the Geese, Bitsy (Kathy Bates) and Betsy (Reba McEntire) the Cows, Ike the Horse (Robert Redford) and Templeton the Rat (Steve Buscemi). As time goes by he still isn't aware that being a spring pig has certain consequences, but he has his new friend Charlotte the Spider (Julia Roberts) to distract him until this is found out. Of course when he does find out that he is going to be urned into bacon, sausage or chops, Charlotte makes him a promise that she will help save his life. So she comes up with a plan to spin her web to read the words "SOME PIG", and the gullible humans will believe it is a miracle. As time goes by, the words "TERRIFIC" and "RADIANT" also get spun into Charlotte's web, and Mr. Zuckerman gets a leaflet in the post for the county fair, and he is convinced Wilbur could win first prize. Charlotte initially doesn't want to leave the barn because she is expecting, and Templeton with his words duty isn't interested, but Charlotte doesn't want to miss Wilbur's big moment, and Templeton has all the fair food to guzzle. It looks like Wilbut has lost first place to the pig next door, but the head of the fair takes him to the stage, not long after the word "HUMBLE" appeared in the web, to receive an honorary medal. This has confirmed that Wilbur will stay alive the rest of his natural life, but Charlotte is dying after finishing her nest sack for her 514 baby spiders. Wilbur returns to Zuckerman's barn with Charlotte's babies safe and sound, and they hatch in the spring, with all but three flying away, to live happily ever after. Also starring Sam Shepard as Narrator, Thomas Haden Church as Brooks the Crow, Julian O'Donnell as Henry Fussy, Men in Black's Siobhan Fallon Hogan as Mrs. Zuckerman and Beau Bridges as Dr. Dorian. The voices do pretty good, I suppose Fanning is more bearable than her other films, and the Babe style animation does reasonably well accompanied by the CGI needed fro Charlotte. It isn't an improvement on the cartoon, it is pretty much the same kind of standard, but it is a likable part-animated fantasy comedy drama film for all the family. Worth watching!
Review of Charlotte's Web
