Review of Charlotte's Web (2006) by Markb. — 25 Jan 2007

One of 2006's more noteworthy cinematic quirks was Michael Winterbottom's amusing stab at filming Laurence Sterne's (The Life and Opinions of) Tristram Shandy, a work that has been catalogued as completely unfilmable even by those who DID get through reading it.

(Winterbottom's approach was to make it a spoof halfway between the styles of Christopher Guest and the Zucker brothers; this was probably as valid as any other and certainly more watchable.) E. B.

White's masterpiece Charlotte's Web--a bonafide classic that doesn't need the slightly condescending designation 'children's' since it's a great book no matter what the reader's age--is the opposite of Sterne; it's seemingly impossible NOT for anyone to be able to make a decent movie out of it.

This was proven in 1973 when Hanna-Barbera Studios, whose Saturday morning cartoon product had by this time plumbed new depths in cheesy animation, sloppy scriptwriting and derivative plot and character work, STILL managed to make a rousing, good-looking and utterly charming film version.

(But a lot of H-B's stuff from the previous decade: Yogi Bear, the Flintstones, the Jetsons, Jonny Quest and more, still ranks in the 'very-good-to-near-great' category. Rest in peace, Joe, Ed and Iwao.

) The eventually inevitable live-action do-over equals or tops the cartoon in most areas because White's themes are so universal and his foundation so solid, and the vocal performances are so much on the mark.

Julia Roberts is wonderfully warm, beguiling and nonsaccharine as the compassionate, wise title character, a spider who "spins" a publicity campaign to save her friend Wilbur the pig from the smokehouse--between this and The Ant Bully she's emerging as the cinema's prime interpreter of creatures with more than four legs! (Her vocals also help remedy the necessary hurdle of Charlotte's visual depiction; while all the farm animals are played by a seamless blend of real critters and realistic CGI, she's a very obvious visual effect: obviously cuter than any real arachnid gets to be, but out of sync with the rest of the creatures.

) Steve Buscemi as the gleefully self-centered Templeton the rat manages the near-impossible: he matches Paul Lynde's peerless 1973 work, while Robert Redford's offbeat casting as a slightly cowardly horse is a more subdued delight.

The director is equally well-cast; Gary Winick's two biggest previous ventures Tadpole and 13 Going on 30 dealt with the differences between adults and adolescents, and a major theme of White's book is growing up--whether by Wilbur reaching emotional maturity and independence or by his young master Fern growing less attentive to pigs and more so to boys.

A few tonal changes don't hurt the original story but are worth mentioning: although the death of a very sympathetic character was treated by White not as a calamity or a disaster but as a very natural part of life (and may have been for some children who haven't lost loved ones or friends their first introduction to this concept), it's somewhat downplayed here perhaps to guarantee a G rating.

In introducing two hungry crows (voiced by Andre Benjamin and Thomas Haden Church) who weren't in the book, the moviemakers have actually made Templeton's reluctance to search the junkyard for items that could save Wilbur's life somewhat more justifiable than sheer laziness and selfishness were in the original, since he definitely qualifies as a blue-plate special for the predatory birds! It's also an indication of how much times have changed that in the late 1970s/ early 1980s network showings of Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles had slashed the legendary "bean scene" (so what was the point of showing it on TV in the first place?) but in this age of Captain Underpants, fart jokes in kids' movies are seemingly as essential as climactic boxing matches are in Rocky films.

No exception is made here, but at least the obligatory passing of gas doesn't seem as contrived or out of place.