PARAMOUNT PICTURES Charlotte’s Web
Last updated: April 2, 2024
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Product Details
In our analysis of 57 expert reviews, the PARAMOUNT PICTURES Charlotte's Web placed 6th when we looked at the top 8 products in the category. For the full ranking, see below.Expert Reviews
What reviewers liked
The film is more distinctive when it remembers that its heart and soul is the unique relationship between lonely piglet Wilbur and the compassionate barn spider who befriends him, vows somehow to save his life and finds the inspiration to do it. Wilbur alone finds Charlotte beautiful (well, she is pretty cute at that). Her qualities and his admiration for her show the barn’s other arachnophobic residents that every being is special and has a purpose, which plants the seed of an uplifting moral with some dark and sad undertones.
- Empire
And “Charlotte’s Web” is a sneakily sophisticated fable. White certainly appreciated the joys of life on the farm (while evading some of its bloodier aspects), but the book is really about the benevolent, even miraculous power of celebrity. It is, most simply, the story of a spider, Charlotte A. Cavitica, who saves the life of a pig named Wilbur by making him famous. She is a gifted writer whose chosen genre is what we might now call the pull quote — her oeuvre consists of the words “terrific,” “radiant,” “some pig” and, in a stroke of public relations genius, “humble,” all emblazoned in webbing for the world to see.
The animals come to life with enough credibility that it's not out of the question that a few tears may be shed for a CGI creature.
The film stresses repeatedly that making friends and standing by your commitments to others is essential in life. When Wilbur asks the other standoffish animals if they are friends, they hem and haw but assure him that they all get along fine in the little barn. But the pig calls their bluff by responding, "I'm not sure that being in the same place is the same as being friends." When Wilbur finally finds a pal in Charlotte, he literally jumps for joy. The other animals wonder out loud how an ugly spider could cause such a reaction and express their disdain, to which Wilbur says, "I think she's beautiful," and points out her attributes.
Winick's film doesn't just tell the story of "Charlotte's Web"; it captures the spirit, the essence, and the significance of E.B. White's classic. It gets the big picture, the broader strokes of what White's book does so well. It's more than a movie about Some Pig, it's a story about exalting in life, celebrating change, and finding hope in death. Charlotte's Web isn't just a good adaptation, it's a great film. A piece of moving poetry, the kind of movie that just might broaden young minds in the same way the book has for so many years.
This isn't as magically enchanting as the 1952 children's classic by E.B. White, any more than a museum-shop print of La Giaconda is as mysteriously beguiling as Leonardo's original. But this respectful, live-action adaptation of White's gentle tale about an undersized pig, a clever spider and the everyday marvels that too often pass unnoticed is a charmer nonetheless.
- TV Guide
What reviewers didn't like
The only real bad mark goes to the usually deft Danny Elfman, whose uncharacteristically mawkish score wells up intrusively every time something terrific or touching happens.
- Empire
Strangely, even with plucky Dakota Fanning fronting for the human actors, the film loses some of its magic when it moves outside of the barn. Comparisons to Babe are expected and warranted, but one thing missing form this story is James Cromwell.
Although Fern's desire to protect and care for Wilbur is honorable, she does show disrespect to her father while fighting to get her way. She also sneaks the pig into school and lies to her teacher about stowing him in her desk.
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