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I really enjoyed the little segments
involving the crows trying to outwit the scarecrow. Their obsession with
getting past the scarecrow that they’re convinced is following them
since he’s in every corn field, is pretty funny. Andre Benjamin and
Thomas Haden Church do a bang up job with voice work, and it’s a very
good bright spot for the film. The mismatched friendship between a pig
and a spider is touching, only because this spider is keeping this runt
of a pig from dying.
What makes “Charlotte’s Web” works, even in
this sub-par form, is the ability for these two individuals to find
friendship in spite of their differences.
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Wilbur in his infinite naiveté
and ignorance is able to look past Charlotte’s creepy
appearance and see the soul within her, because he’s simply
never met a spider before. As the others are horrified by
her, he manages to see behind her and the friendship is
utterly touching. I was interested in the chemistry between
the two characters yet again, and Julia Roberts adds her own
unique touch to Charlotte with her soft unimposing voice
that manages to keep Charlotte from completely disgusting
audiences. |
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Kids will adore the friendship, as well as
the comic relief that never manages to drown out or push aside the
overall conflict. Not to mention, Winick and company never undercut the
themes of life and death, and the fact that everything will eventually
die. And best of all, it never turns into a religious message. The moral
is universal and reaches almost all audiences.
I don’t like to feel flim flammed, and
“Charlotte’s Web” nags at me that perhaps I am. I spent ninety minutes
watching what I perceived as a remake or “adaptation” of the original
novel that was turned into a classic cartoon. But I really feel like I
was watching a remake of “Babe.” If this star studded, bloated
monstrosity didn’t feel like such a con, perhaps I’d have liked it
better. As a remake/adaptation, “Charlotte’s Web” really doesn’t have a
lot in its favor. Especially when it’s been topped by a cartoon that
managed to get the story right. We all know the story already, so why
did we have to see a remake?
Talking
animals are big these days, and that’s a fact; but can “Charlotte’s Web”
even entertain when we’ve seen about ninety talking animal films in the
last twenty years, ten of which were released since 1999? I didn’t write
off this film completely, I mean kids will love this, but my loyalties
lie in the animated movie, mainly because it touched on the emotions of
friendship and loyalty more. But “Charlotte’s Web” has the misfortune of
making its animal cast seem downright creepy, another reason why
animation is the true form for this story. The animated Charlotte had
eye lashes, a soft voice, and looked like a sweet woman. Here, she’s a
really creepy large spider. In the animated movie, Templeton was a
snively and weasely rat who was in it for himself. In here, he’s is just
downright creepy, and too realistic to be likable.
Kids will love it, I just kind of liked it.
For my money the 1973 original is still the sweetest and saddest, while
this is just an almost good film with the touching friendship of Wilbur
and Charlotte in tact and still pretty darn gripping; it’s no big deal
in the end, but it’s not terrible, either.
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