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Average User Score: 7 (40 sources)

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supercin721

-1

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I love the original that much more. The rat's song at the fairgrounds was just too funny and is sorely missing here. However, I still enjoyed this 2006 update. Julia Roberts' voice is whimsical, dreamy, just soothing, and fit the role of...
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I love the original that much more. The rat's song at the fairgrounds was just too funny and is sorely missing here. However, I still enjoyed this 2006 update. Julia Roberts' voice is whimsical, dreamy, just soothing, and fit the role of Charlotte perfectly. The voice of Wilber had the perfect sound of childhood innocence and joy. It was fun watching the DVD extras and catching just how this child recorded his lines. The movie felt real and the CGI just added to it. It was well done. As for the story, it's timeless. It's a tale of love, friendship, devotion, sacrifice, life, death, truth...great story, great movie.

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Posted feb 2, 2008 11:39 pm pt

Bountyhunterc28

-1

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Charlotte's Web based off of the popular children's book, and 1973's animated film is about a pig named Wilbur and the incredible friendship he forms with a spider named Charlotte.

After he owner Fern (Dakota Fanning) sells Wilbur to...
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Charlotte's Web based off of the popular children's book, and 1973's animated film is about a pig named Wilbur and the incredible friendship he forms with a spider named Charlotte.

After he owner Fern (Dakota Fanning) sells Wilbur to her uncle, Wilbur meets all sorts of animals who are voice by an all-star cast, including Reba McEntire, Kathy Bates, Cedric the Entertainer, Steve Buscemi and Julia Roberts as Charlotte.

To make sure Wilbur does not become Christmas dinner Charlotte starts spinning words in her web describing Wilbur, such as terrific, some pig, and finally humble.

I enjoyed the movie, the crows where a couple of my favorite characters Thomas Haden Church did an excellent job as Brooks.

It just goes to show that you that you may make friends in the most unusual people.

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Posted jun 4, 2007 4:30 am pt

afq2846

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When I first found out that this movie was going to be remaked I cringed. After watching this movie I realized there was something to cringe about. This is a timeless novel which was made into a wonderful animated movie many years ago. Somebody...
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When I first found out that this movie was going to be remaked I cringed. After watching this movie I realized there was something to cringe about. This is a timeless novel which was made into a wonderful animated movie many years ago. Somebody somewhere decided to make the novel into a live action movie for no reason I can see. I really think the animated movie is far superior than this version. The basic premise is a pig is in a farm and he is going to go to the smoke house unless someone saves him. Therein comes charlotte who is a spider and is able to spin words into her web. Its very interesting to see the way they show the spider spinning her webs and such but the whole live action aspect becomes annoying quickly. Part of the problem with this movie is that the animated movie is out there and its hard not to compare. When you have a near perfect version of a novel why remake it is beyond me. Yes this movie has all the trimmings of the live action celebrity voices. From oprah winfrey to julia roberts but they cannot save this movie. I really think if you want to show this movie to children definately get the animated version and skip this one. Not to say that this movie is a bad movie its just that it does not measure up. I really cannot recommend this movie with the animated version out there.

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Posted apr 28, 2007 1:49 am pt

joshkedwards

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a big disappointment, the animal interaction was charming but the humans were just plain stupid. fanning character makes the lovable fern just plain bland! the animated movie is still the classic in my mind.

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Posted apr 10, 2007 9:11 pm pt

nirvanaphoenix

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The best interperatation of the book by far. The selling point of this film isn't the A-list celebrities, or the family-friendly humour but the loveable characters. The relationship between Wilbur and Charlotte tugged at a few heart strings in my...
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The best interperatation of the book by far. The selling point of this film isn't the A-list celebrities, or the family-friendly humour but the loveable characters. The relationship between Wilbur and Charlotte tugged at a few heart strings in my family and the audience and there was the ver-loveable Templeton, who puts on a "tough guy, or The Rat, in his case" but underneath is a nice guy, rat.

It's aa family film, and a decent one at the that. The humour is kinda wasted on me though, aimed more towards kids but the story is a classic and very well interperated.

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Posted mar 12, 2007 5:47 am pt

RogerC44

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Seriously this movie was a lot better in it's cartoon version. The cartoon version made me watch it over and over again. But for this one I only watched it once. I don't know why but that's the way it is. It's better as a rent.

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Posted mar 1, 2007 4:39 pm pt

pokeyfz

-1

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A good remake. Funny for the whole family to see. The graphics are great too.

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Posted feb 18, 2007 6:50 am pt

withsilverwings

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Excellent movie - what you think of when you think of the book translated to the screen.

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Posted feb 1, 2007 11:10 am pt

NoOneIsAlone

-1

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I thought that the story was going to be better. I have seen the previous version, and thought that this movie was going to be great. I was not dissapointed, but I think that they could have done better, I still think that it was okay.

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Posted jan 26, 2007 4:06 am pt

minimax34

-1

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I was really surprised by how addicted I was to the characters after only a few minutes of the movie. I was also surprised by the quality of the movie. It's a fabulous story, but I was disappointed at some moments.

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Posted jan 25, 2007 1:07 pm pt

• [+] The Hollywood Reporter
  
  100
  The endearingly enduring 1952 E.B. White novel about friendship and salvation, has been turned into a beautifully rendered motion picture that's full of warmth, wit and wonder.

  by Michael Rechtshaffen | Read Full Review »
• [+] San Francisco Chronicle
  
  100
  There's an edge to this exemplary family movie, just as there is in the story.

  by Ruthe Stein | Read Full Review »
• [+] Entertainment Weekly
  
  91
  What hooks you from the start is Dakota Fanning's unfussy passion as Fern.

  by Owen Gleiberman | Read Full Review »
• [+] Baltimore Sun
  
  91
  It's the whole constellation of relationships that Winick and company create in and around the barn that brings the movie its kaleidoscopic charm.

  by Michael Sragow | Read Full Review »
• [+] USA Today
  
  88
  Kids should enjoy the comic performances of the animals, and adults will appreciate the film's gentle poignancy, powerful enough to induce a lump in the throat.

  by Claudia Puig | Read Full Review »
• [+] Portland Oregonian
  
  83
  Charlotte's Web is worth seeing (even if you don't have the excuse of a child to bring along with you) simply because it is so enduring after more than 50 years.

  by Christy Lemire | Read Full Review »
• [+] Salon.com
  
  80
  Best of all may be the narration, by Sam Shepard: His voice, the kind of voice God might have if he'd ever smoked Camels, frames this gentle but potent little story with good-natured authority, making it feel modern and ageless at once.

  by Stephanie Zacharek | Read Full Review »
• [+] The New York Times
  
  80
  May not be perfect, but it honors its source and captures the key elements -- the humor and good sense, as well as the sheer narrative exuberance -- that have made White's book a classic.

  by A.O. Scott | Read Full Review »
• [+] Seattle Post-Intelligencer
  
  75
  What results is, for a film purporting to reflect the nobility of a beloved book, the propensity to slip occasionally into the fart and belch slapstick that passes for humor in just about every present-day animated movie. It's a misstep that pulls us out of our awe for the carefully studied world the filmmakers have lovingly labored to create.

  by Paula Nechak | Read Full Review »
• [+] Chicago Tribune
  
  75
  Now, about the spider. Julia Roberts voices Charlotte in a way that suggests ... not much, I'm afraid. She may be a genuine movie star and can be a good actress, but her voice -- and what she does with it -- never has been one of her strengths.

  by Michael Phillips | Read Full Review »
• [+] TV Guide
  
  75
  No, it 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.

  by Maitland McDonagh | Read Full Review »
• [+] Charlotte Observer
  
  75
  Everything from the book is inserted with wisdom and care, and everything added to pander to kids with short attention spans or adults who need an overtly religious message is unnecessary.

  by Lawrence Toppman | Read Full Review »
• [+] Philadelphia Inquirer
  
  75
  A perfectly lovely, if uninspired, movie that suffers from following on the trotters of "Babe," the one about the piglet advocate of barnyard brotherhood.

  by Carrie Rickey | Read Full Review »
• [+] ReelViews
  
  75
  Charlotte's Web has all the requisite elements that a family film needs to succeed and endure: humor, drama, pathos, and an emotionally satisfying ending.

  by James Berardinelli | Read Full Review »
• [+] Washington Post
  
  70
  Remember the peaceful atmosphere of bedtime storytelling? The kind that allows parent and child to take satisfaction in the story, not the teller? That's how "Charlotte" draws you into its web.

  by Desson Thomson | Read Full Review »