Charlotte's Web (2006)

Wilbur the pig is scared of the end of the season, because he knows that come that time, he will end up on the dinner table. He hatches a plan with Charlotte, a spider that lives in his pen, to ensure that this will never happen.

Director:

Gary Winick

Writers:

Susannah Grant (screenplay), Karey Kirkpatrick (screenplay),

Stars:

Julia Roberts, Steve Buscemi, Oprah Winfrey

7 wins & 9 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Julia Roberts	...	Charlotte the Spider (voice)
Steve Buscemi	...	Templeton the Rat (voice)
John Cleese	...	Samuel the Sheep (voice)
Oprah Winfrey	...	Gussy the Goose (voice)
Cedric the Entertainer	...	Golly the Goose (voice)
Kathy Bates	...	Bitsy the Cow (voice)
Reba McEntire	...	Betsy the Cow (voice)
Robert Redford	...	Ike the Horse (voice)
Thomas Haden Church	...	Brooks the Crow (voice)
André Benjamin	...	Elwyn the Crow (voice)
Dominic Scott Kay	...	Wilbur (voice)
Sam Shepard	...	Narrator (voice)
Abraham Benrubi	...	Uncle the Pig (voice)
Dakota Fanning	...	Fern
Kevin Anderson	...	Mr. Arable

Storyline

Wilbur the pig is scared of the end of the season, because he knows that come that time, he will end up on the dinner table. He hatches a plan with Charlotte, a spider that lives in his pen, to ensure that this will never happen.

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Plot Keywords:

pig | spider | rain | springtime | fried bacon | 

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Taglines:

Honk if you love pigs.

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Genres:

Comedy | Family | Fantasy

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Certificate:

G

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [es] Paramount Pictures [us]

Country:

USA Germany

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 December 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

La telaraña de Charlotte

Filming Locations:

Attwood, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

£1,892,120 (UK) (9 February 2007)

Gross:

£10,738,495 (UK) (23 March 2007)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures, Walden Media, Kerner Entertainment Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

DTS SDDS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This was the first film based on a book by E.B. White since Stuart Little 2, which used plot elements directly from the original Stuart Little book. Later entries in the Stuart Little film franchise used wholly original stories.

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Goofs

When the two crows are discussing the scarecrow at the junkyard, one comments it has to be the same guy because he's wearing the same hat. The cutaway to the scarecrow shows no hat present.

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Quotes

Charlotte A. Cavatica: Wilbur... we're born, we live, and when our time comes, we die. It's just the natural cycle of life.
Wilbur: No! Just climb down, I'll carry you the rest of the way! We'll go back to the barn and I'll take care of you!
Charlotte A. Cavatica: No, Wilbur... I don't even have the strength to climb down.

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Crazy Credits

The Nickelodeon logo segues into an animated series of farmyard illustrations. More illustrations of the storyline appear over the end credits.

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Connections

Referenced in Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: Episode #7.49 (2008)

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Soundtracks

"Wilbur's Lullaby"
by Danny Elfman

User Reviews

Radiant!

Bring your Kleenex. Maybe it's just coz I'm female, or maybe it's coz my mother read this book to me when I was little -- but every time a new word appeared in that web -- tears rolled down my cheeks!

It's very charming. They have kept to the time frame of the book -- it looks like the 1930s-1950s. They haven't tried to "modernize" it with pop culture references and silly jokes like so many kids' movies nowadays do.

Fern isn't break dancing with the pig. (No, there are no musical numbers.)

Fart jokes were kept to a minimum. (I think they are required by law nowadays to put fart jokes in all children's entertainment.)

They didn't dumb down the lovely words E.B. White used -- Charlotte uses her grand language as she speaks to Wilbur and spins her webs.

I kept thinking of "Babe" at the start of the movie. A white runt pig saved. Similar barnyard companions. Even the voice of Wilbur sounds like the voice of Babe. (Even tho Babe was voiced by a 32 y.o. woman and Wilbur by a 9 y.o. boy!) But I think the writers of Babe must have been fans of the classic "Charlotte's Web".

Steve Buscemi as the voice of Templeton the Rat is just perfect. (Poor guy even has a rat-like face -- is that why they cast him?) And the CGI animation is flawless. You can't tell the animated animals from the real ones. Flawlessly blended.

That little pig is SO cute at the beginning -- I just wanted to watch him play in the mud for 10 minutes. (But no, they kept the story moving along.) They even tried to make the spider cute, but that's quite a challenge. Still Julia Roberts' soothing motherly voice helps. (Nevertheless, the little girl next to me climbed into her grandma's lap when the spider appeared.)

And Dakota Fanning, as always, is a darling.

So go -- and if you loved the book as a child, bring plenty of Kleenex!