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Charlotte's Web (2006)

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Synopsis

An adaptation of the much loved children’s classic about a spider who makes it her mission to save a pig from slaughter.

Movie review

From Time Out Chicago

There are pigs and geese and horses and sheep and a spider and a rat in this new film adaptation of E. B. White’s beloved children’s book. There’s also an elephant in the room, and its name is Babe. Comparisons to that film are inevitable. Charlotte’s may not live up to Babe, but it’s reasonable family entertainment. Screenwriters Susannah Grant and Karey Kirkpatrick have remained pleasingly faithful to the book. Strong-willed little Fern (Fanning) saves Wilbur (Kay), the runt of a pig litter, from the ax, then sends him across the road to her uncle’s farm. There, Wilbur learns the fate that awaits pigs on farms (rhymes with Macon), a discovery that causes him understandable distress. But he also makes a new friend in Charlotte (Roberts, all gentleness and silk), the spider who makes her web above his pigpen. To save Wilbur, Charlotte begins writing words of praise about him in her web (“Some pig”). The humans buy the advertising and take Wilbur to the county fair, where his friendship with Charlotte faces a final heartbreaking test. The fundamental sweetness of the message is nicely tempered (as it is in the book, which we highly recommend revisiting) by the cruel facts of life. Creatures are born and die, and what matters in between is the friends you make. Not a bad message for the kids, and it’s delivered pretty effectively.

Author: Hank Sartin 2007-06-21 22:55:28

Time Out Chicago Issue 94: Dec 14–27, 2006