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by Willie Waffle

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Charlotte's Web

If you are taking your kid to see Charlotte’s Web, you better not plan on serving ham for Christmas dinner.  After seeing this tale, something tells me there will be plenty of tears if it’s not turkey.       

Based on the popular novel by E.B. White, Charlotte’s Web is the story of little Wilbur (voice by Dominic Scott Kay) - one amazing pig living on a farm that appears to be modeled on  a Norman Rockwell painting.  Thanks to the intervention of Fern (Dakota Fanning, who saves Wilbur like she saved Dreamer), he escapes the horrible fate that usually befalls the runt of the litter, but our little pig finds himself living on her uncle’s farm, where another horrible fate may await him.  All of the other animals in the barn have a feeling Wilbur is getting plumped up to be the Christmas Ham, but a kind and loving spider named Charlotte (voice by Julia Roberts) promises to do what she can to save Wilbur, so he can see the winter snow instead of the dinner table.   

Is Wilbur destined for the ominous smokehouse across the way?  What does Charlotte have planned? 

Charlotte’s Web is a sweet, simple movie for the kids, and the rekindling of a childhood memory for adults.  Director Gary Winick knows what the kids want to see (and that would be talking animals, because talking animals are funny), but also takes advantage of the story’s more mature plot lines to have just as much impact on the adults in the audience.  He approaches it all with a soft touch, so children don’t get too scared, but so that everyone in the audience understands the danger Wilbur faces in the normal order of farm life.  Best of all, Winick makes the most of the movie’s fun parts as we see Wilbur bringing new life, community and love to a farm where all of the animals seem to be strangers until his antics and plight draw them together like a family.  Sadly, our live actor is the one who has the most problems.        

Dakota Fanning's performance is my biggest complaint about Charlotte’s Web.  I hate to say something negative about everyone’s favorite little blonde cherub (and I’ll probably get coal in my Christmas stocking for it), but this is not her best performance.  Fanning is stiff and never seems to find a comfort zone within the character that makes her come off as realistic and smooth.  Fern is supposed to be a withdrawn and quiet child, but Fanning takes it a bit too far, and lacks that magic you usually get in her portrayal of characters.    

Meanwhile, writers Susannah Grant and Karey Kirkpatrick fill Charlotte’s Web with plenty of funny dialogue that helps the movie’s big stars come off funnier and wittier than they ever have before, relying on a decent mix of slapstick comedy and a well written script.  From Oprah as Gussy the Goose to Robert Redford as Ike the Horse (who is afraid of spiders) to John Cleese as Samuel the Sheep, the big stars all have some special moment to shine in the movie, but none shines brighter than Steve Buscemi as Templeton the Rat.  

I have never been a big fan of rats (and often campaign for their elimination and extinction from the planet), but Buscemi, with his world weary sarcasm and quick one-liner deliveries, steals the show from the bigger names in one of the best vocal performances you will see (or, more appropriately, hear) in a movie.  He makes the character into a lovable rogue, with equal parts charm and revulsion.  Finally, Roberts does a wonderful job as the warm, motherly figure, and delivers in the movie’s climax in a way that is sad, but easy for young children to handle (this totally redeems her after The Ant Bully). 

The animation is amazing as the audience gets to see real emotion in all of the animals’ faces, and the ending is just about as wonderful as you remember it being the first time you read the book, but Charlotte's Web is just a touch too simple for me (but it’s for kids, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised). 

3 ½ Waffles (Out Of 4)

Charlotte's Web is rated G  

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