It’s a dicey business bringing a much-loved children’s book to the big screen. So it is with Charlotte’s Web, E.B. White’s brilliantly told tale of a runty pig named Wilbur (voiced by Kay) and his spider friend and savior, Charlotte (voiced by Roberts). Updated only slightly to accommodate the sensibilities of today’s kids, with their affection for digitally enhanced creatures and wisecracking sidekicks, this new version manages to lose very little of the sentimental sweetness and plainspoken nobility of the original. In fact, for modern-day kids fare, it’s a remarkably temperate and quiet movie. What Charlotte’s Web has always had going for it, and what I imagine kids will always cling to (regardless of technological advances), is a sweet, simple, and timeless story about the power of friendship and the acceptance of loss, a story that’s told faithfully here. And that ending is still a doozy.
This article appears in December 15 • 2006.