REVIEWED - CHARLOTTE'S WEB:Funny and touching, Charlotte's Web captures the idyllic poetry of EB White's much-loved novel, writes Michael Dwyer
ANY film that follows the fortunes of an adorable little piglet inevitably invites comparisons with Babe, the enchanting 1995 Australian movie. Charlotte's Web comfortably holds its own in such distinguished company. Its source material, EB White's enduring 1952 novel, pre-dates The-Sheep-Pig, the book on which Babe was based, by over 30 years, and one can assume that the long delay in bringing Charlotte's Web to the screen was dictated by the wait for the technology that enabled it to be brought vividly to life.
The book was made into an animated feature in 1973, but this new version, seamlessly blending live action footage with unshowy computer animation, is more ambitious in every respect. It is set at an unspecified time in a folksy rural community in Maine (although it was shot in Australia) with Dakota Fanning, the hardest working child actor in cinema today, ideally cast as the sweet-natured Fern, the only significant human in the tale.
Charlotte is a spider (tenderly voiced by Julia Roberts) who conspires with Fern to save cute piglet Wilbur (Dominic Scott Kay) from going on the menu for the family's Christmas dinner. "Few spring pigs live to see the snows of winter," observes Charlotte who, in one of the movie's understated contemporary references, brings her own distinctive flair for spinning to bolster Wilbur's image and keep him alive.
Fern's mother frets that her daughter's only friends are geese, sheep and a pig, but this menagerie provides entertaining company for Fern and for the audience. The impressive voice cast includes Oprah Winfrey as Gussie Goose, Kathy Bates and Reba McEntire as sibling cows Bitsy and Betsy, Steve Buscemi as Templeton, the cynical rat, and Robert Redford as an arachnophobic horse.
Director Gary Winick infuses the film with the warmth and humanity he brought to his engaging bodyswap comedy, 13 Going on 30, for a touching, appealing and thoroughly amusing treatment that taps into the emotional heart of White's novel. The film is shot in gorgeous, resonant hues by the gifted Irish cinematographer, Seamus McGarvey.
