Charlotte's Web (2006)
Directed by Gary Winick
Wilbur the pig is scared of the end of the season, because he knows that come that time, he will end up on the dinner table. He hatches a plan with Charlotte, a spider that lives in his pen, to ensure that this will never happen.
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7 films that influenced Charlotte's Web
What critics say influenced Charlotte's Web
Scott Kay's vocals may be a bit too reminiscent of Christine Cavanaugh's "Babe" work, but what worked once works again here.
George Miller's Babe drew deep inspiration from Charlotte's Web, with less showbiz pretense and infinitely better results.
Evidently modeled on the familiar 1973 animated film (which featured Debbie Reynolds and Henry Gibson as Charlotte and Wilbur), but sensibly dispensing with the eminently forgettable songs, this new live-action version carries the additional burden of following in the hoofprints of a modern classic in the genre, George Miller's "Babe."
The other is the 1995 film Babe, which pioneered live-action talking animal movies, and remains the standard by which they are judged.
Comparisons to Babe are expected and warranted, but one thing missing form this story is James Cromwell.
It may not have the perkiness of "Babe," that hoof-warming winner of 1995, but "Charlotte's Web" -- another movie featuring an animatronic pig -- plays to its biggest strength: the magic of a good story simply told.
I didn�t even recognize Redford�s work as the horse and in retrospect, found it even funnier (including the best horse gag since Animal House) and thankfully free of any reference to whispering.
Though computer-animated, Charlotte looks real, and in close-ups she mirrors the menacing arachnids of Eight Legged Freaks and other fright fare.
But when Wilbur gets bigger and must be farmed out to Homer Zukcerman (Gary Basaraba, "Unfaithful") across the way, a second promise will save Wilbur from the smokehouse when his qualities are advertised in "Charlotte's Web."
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The animals have been enhanced by computer animators and given voices by a talented cast led by Julia Roberts, whose Charlotte conveys just the right motherly tone (perhaps the one Roberts uses around her twins) and by 10-year-old Dominic Scott Kay (Tom Cruise's son in "Minority Report"), whose ability to express Wilbur's joy at staying alive makes you appreciate anew what a wonderful gift that is.
Wilbur the pig's voice is that of child actor Dominic Scott Kay, who shone as Kyra Sedgwick's overindulged son in Loverboy, but who veers toward the cloying here.
The director (Gary Winick, “13 Going on 30,” “Tadpole”) knows what he’s doing, and get this: One screenwriter, Susannah Grant, has written chick flicks (“In Her Shoes,” “Erin Brockovich”), while the other, Karey Kirkpatrick, has written kids’ movies (“Over the Hedge,” “Chicken Run”).
Director Gary Winick ("Tadpole") never varies the film's dirge-like rhythm as he walks through the plot like he's passing around a collection plate at a late night church service.
Take E.B. white's beloved classic, faithfully adapted as an animation in 1973, and give it the "Babe" treatment and you have an idea of what director Gary Winick's ("Tadpole," "13 Going on 30") 2006 edition is like.