Breathe easy, E.B. White fans: Gary Winick’s new live-action Charlotte’s Web does not screw up one of the seminal works of children’s literature. In fact, the film manages to modernize White’s classic tale without losing its gravity or the dignity of its grappling with mortality. Winick skillfully undercuts the seriousness of the subject matter—Wilbur, the porcine protagonist, is essentially on death row for the film’s entirety—with contemporary sarcasm and a liberal dose of potty humor.
While Dakota Fanning does well by the pig-loving heroine Fern and Julia Roberts supplies the voice of the tenderhearted arachnid Charlotte, John Cleese, with his clipped British delivery, is the real scene-stealer as elitist sheep Samuel. Steve Buscemi as scheming Templeton the rat and the dependably hilarious Thomas Haden Church as an addled crow add perfectly pitched comic relief. The only true weak spot in this basically charming adaptation, alas, is Wilbur. The cardinal sin in children’s movies is crossing the line from cute to cloying, and Dominic Scott Kay’s high-pitched, precocious whine is more saccharine than sweet. Still, this Charlotte’s Web won’t disgrace your childhood memories of its stellar source material—or your child’s.
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