Babe reinvented the talking animal movie by using (what seemed at the time) cutting edge effects to give the appearance that animals could talk just as much as any human could. It was a delightful fable of many charms. Such success never goes unnoticed by Hollywood, and Babe opened a floodgate of similar talking animal movies.
While technically on a par, most of these have failed to repeat the things that Babe did so well. What these imitators never understood about Babe was that it wasn't merely a special effects show. It was also a timeless story about clear, delineated characters we cared for, it had an involving plot and a genuine magic.
These other films by comparison let loose a litany of pop-culture gags, animal flatulence, and an all too familiar monotony. In the field, Babe was and still is the first and last word on the subject.
And so that brings us to Charlotte's Web, based on the classic children's book by EB White, and a perfect stable-mate to The Sheep-Pig. Thankfully, the film doesn't fall into the same company as Racing Stripes, a perfect example of how not to make a talking animal movie. But neither is it in the same league as Babe, by a very wide margin.
The story is so familiar that I really don't see the need to go into detail about it. Everything has been faithfully rendered. Wilbur the Pig, Charlotte the Spider, Templeton the Rat and Fern the Girl (Dakota Fanning).
And certainly the film starts well: Wilbur as a runt can't get any milk from his mother because all the other piglets are bigger than him; Fern saving Wilbur from the axe; bottle-feeding him; taking him to school; pushing him in a pram, etc. This all evinces a genuine affection for the character. For a time, it seems like Charlotte's Web is on the same wavelength as Babe.
But ironically, what kills the film stone-dead is the very thing that made Babe so magical. Once the animals start talking the novelty it once had has worn off. The effect has become blasé by now. There was something so natural to the first ten minutes, where Fern and Wilbur's budding friendship was warm and genuine, and not at all false and artificial.
But as soon as the voiceovers come into the film (Sam Shepard's narration is an especial irritation), it felt to me like Charlotte's Web was constantly nudging me to feel emotions at any given time. Practically underscoring every dramatic point with a bludgeoning heavy hand.
I can't say that's a surprise when the director is Gary Winick. Winick got off to a promising start with Tadpole, an insightful coming of ager. But he soon gravitated to throwaway fluff like 13 Going On 30, Charlotte's Web and the later likes of Bride Wars and Letters to Juliet, before a sudden death of brain cancer. Tadpole was the one shining light in an otherwise undistinguished career, where the success of that film must have been more to the script and the performers than anything on Winick's part.
All of Winick's typical shortcomings are present and correct on Charlotte's Web, where he feels the need to spell everything out to an audience in broad brushstrokes. The crucial failing of the film is that Winick lacks faith in the story's ability to tell itself. To see how it should be done, look no further than the 1973 version from Hanna-Barbara, where they got the essence of EB White's writing down perfectly. They managed to impart the same messages without having to lecture on anything.
Winick assumed he was a director of many faces. Coming of agers. Children's films. Rom-coms. But he was just a one-trick pony who put talented actresses like Jennifer Garner, Dakota Fanning, Anne Hathaway and Amanda Seyfried at the mercies of disposable material they were clearly uncomfortable with.
The biggest crime of the film is Winick lets an immensely gifted child actress like Dakota Fanning go to waste. As the plot progresses, he does very little with her, and allows her to fall by the wayside. She becomes less important to the film, and her relationship with a farmboy never connects.
The special effects are as good as you'd expect. Wilbur, Charlotte and Templeton all look and move with conviction. I barely saw the joins, but its a more gimmicky film than Babe. Babe used effects as a means and not the end. Charlotte's Web is constantly in your face with dazzling CGI shots of Wilbur backflipping or Templeton scrounging through the maze of his rathole. It really becomes quite tiring.
The fact that its a Walden Media production also says something about the film. Aside from Bridge to Terabithia and City of Ember, Walden's track-record has been banal at best. Charlotte's Web fits in nicely with they're production-line family fare with a vaguely Christian agenda. What else are you supposed to think when a film has the tagline "Help Is Coming From Above This Christmas."
With so many talented performers, Charlotte's Web is a real disappointment. There are no jive-talking animals and endless film references, so its more tolerable than most talking animal movies, but unlike Babe, this little piggy should have stayed home.
While technically on a par, most of these have failed to repeat the things that Babe did so well. What these imitators never understood about Babe was that it wasn't merely a special effects show. It was also a timeless story about clear, delineated characters we cared for, it had an involving plot and a genuine magic.
These other films by comparison let loose a litany of pop-culture gags, animal flatulence, and an all too familiar monotony. In the field, Babe was and still is the first and last word on the subject.
And so that brings us to Charlotte's Web, based on the classic children's book by EB White, and a perfect stable-mate to The Sheep-Pig. Thankfully, the film doesn't fall into the same company as Racing Stripes, a perfect example of how not to make a talking animal movie. But neither is it in the same league as Babe, by a very wide margin.
The story is so familiar that I really don't see the need to go into detail about it. Everything has been faithfully rendered. Wilbur the Pig, Charlotte the Spider, Templeton the Rat and Fern the Girl (Dakota Fanning).
And certainly the film starts well: Wilbur as a runt can't get any milk from his mother because all the other piglets are bigger than him; Fern saving Wilbur from the axe; bottle-feeding him; taking him to school; pushing him in a pram, etc. This all evinces a genuine affection for the character. For a time, it seems like Charlotte's Web is on the same wavelength as Babe.
But ironically, what kills the film stone-dead is the very thing that made Babe so magical. Once the animals start talking the novelty it once had has worn off. The effect has become blasé by now. There was something so natural to the first ten minutes, where Fern and Wilbur's budding friendship was warm and genuine, and not at all false and artificial.
But as soon as the voiceovers come into the film (Sam Shepard's narration is an especial irritation), it felt to me like Charlotte's Web was constantly nudging me to feel emotions at any given time. Practically underscoring every dramatic point with a bludgeoning heavy hand.
I can't say that's a surprise when the director is Gary Winick. Winick got off to a promising start with Tadpole, an insightful coming of ager. But he soon gravitated to throwaway fluff like 13 Going On 30, Charlotte's Web and the later likes of Bride Wars and Letters to Juliet, before a sudden death of brain cancer. Tadpole was the one shining light in an otherwise undistinguished career, where the success of that film must have been more to the script and the performers than anything on Winick's part.
All of Winick's typical shortcomings are present and correct on Charlotte's Web, where he feels the need to spell everything out to an audience in broad brushstrokes. The crucial failing of the film is that Winick lacks faith in the story's ability to tell itself. To see how it should be done, look no further than the 1973 version from Hanna-Barbara, where they got the essence of EB White's writing down perfectly. They managed to impart the same messages without having to lecture on anything.
Winick assumed he was a director of many faces. Coming of agers. Children's films. Rom-coms. But he was just a one-trick pony who put talented actresses like Jennifer Garner, Dakota Fanning, Anne Hathaway and Amanda Seyfried at the mercies of disposable material they were clearly uncomfortable with.
The biggest crime of the film is Winick lets an immensely gifted child actress like Dakota Fanning go to waste. As the plot progresses, he does very little with her, and allows her to fall by the wayside. She becomes less important to the film, and her relationship with a farmboy never connects.
The special effects are as good as you'd expect. Wilbur, Charlotte and Templeton all look and move with conviction. I barely saw the joins, but its a more gimmicky film than Babe. Babe used effects as a means and not the end. Charlotte's Web is constantly in your face with dazzling CGI shots of Wilbur backflipping or Templeton scrounging through the maze of his rathole. It really becomes quite tiring.
The fact that its a Walden Media production also says something about the film. Aside from Bridge to Terabithia and City of Ember, Walden's track-record has been banal at best. Charlotte's Web fits in nicely with they're production-line family fare with a vaguely Christian agenda. What else are you supposed to think when a film has the tagline "Help Is Coming From Above This Christmas."
With so many talented performers, Charlotte's Web is a real disappointment. There are no jive-talking animals and endless film references, so its more tolerable than most talking animal movies, but unlike Babe, this little piggy should have stayed home.