The Rat is Happy!!
Written: Feb 19 '07
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great visual effects, nice adaptation of the story, voice acting (especially Buscemi and Cleese)...
Cons: ... not much in it for adults though (apart from nostalgia), a bit too sugary
The Bottom Line: This film is a very nice adaptation of the classic children's tale, but they could possibly have done a bit more for adults watching it.
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| captaind's Full Review: Charlotte's Web |
Charlotte’s Web is the story of a spider. Well, a spider and a pig actually. In fact, a spider, a pig, and a little girl. And some sheep. And cows, geese, and a horse. And, of course, a rat.
When little piglet Wilbur is born he faces an early death – being the runt of the litter (and purely a case of mathematics – the show had 10 teats, 11 piglets), he was for the chop almost as soon as he had come into the world. That is, until Fern (Dakota Fanning) convinces her dad to let her raise him and look after him. As time goes on Wilbur, a spring pig (so-called because he was born in the spring, not because he can bounce) learns that he’s probably only being saved till he’s fat enough to be lunch in the winter. His only hope lies in the most unlikely of sources – his new-found friendship with the spider who lives in the barn…
As far as I can remember, this film version sticks fairly closely to the book – having said that I read the book about 10 years ago, so I wouldn’t trust my memory!! It’s a really nice adaptation with very clever use of animal actors and CGI, and the voice cast boasts some great talent. It’s not without its problems though – I found it to be just a bit too saccharine-coated (as was Julia Roberts’ voicing of Charlotte), and it under-uses a lot of the funnier characters. John Cleese as the voice of one of the sheep (the one who doesn’t simply want to follow all the time) was hilarious, but sadly in very few scenes. The same could be said of most of the other animals, including a couple of geese – or rather, a geese couple (voiced marvellously by Oprah Winfrey and Cedric the Entertainer – he seems to get his voice into just about every animated movie these days!) and the horse who’s afraid of spiders (voiced by Robert Redford), and two very negative cows (voices courtesy of Kathy Bates and Rebe McEntire). The comedy element is geared almost entirely towards the younger members of the audience, but at least some of these are still funny even for older ones.
Without a doubt though the real star of the show is Templeton, the rat with a heart (but don’t let anyone know). I’m a big fan of Steve Buscemi and his voicing of this character was just perfect.
The human actors do well enough to, with Dakota Fanning (Uptown Girls) as usual very good. It will be interesting to see how successful the child prodigy is when she’s older, and what sort of parts she will play. Beau Bridges managed to be memorable in his few brief scenes as Dr Dorian. His character, as really the whole film does, points out how many little miracles we see every day in creation without stopping to realise just how wonderful they are. When everyone is talking about how amazing what Charlotte’s webs have becomes, he points out just how amazing they were in the first place. (Not just the artistry is amazing, but consider the fact that ounce for ounce, spider’s dragline silk is 6 times tougher than steel. ”Scientists estimate that if dragline silk could be faithfully reproduced with the thickness of a pencil, it would be strong enough to stop a large jet plane in flight.” - taken from http://www.ia.ucsb.edu/pa/display.aspx?pkey=671.)
It’s a very sweet story (naturally enough as it’s based on the much-loved book by E B White, and it’s well told. Even with a sad ending though it seemed just too sugary, and I just didn’t feel involved with what was going on until near the end of the film. On the other hand it is very impressive visually and the sequences showing Charlotte actually spinning her web were phenomenal. As a movie for adults it’s a little lacking, but as an adaptation of a classic children’s book it is very good indeed. Thus I am rating it as a 4-star movie.
Other Details
Director: Gary Winick (13 Going On 30 with Jennifer Garner)
Year of Release: 2006
Runtime: 97 minutes
Rating: U (UK) G (USA)
Cast
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 the Pig (voice)
Sam Shepard ... Narrator (voice)
Abraham Benrubi ... Uncle the Pig (voice)
Dakota Fanning ... Fern
Kevin Anderson ... Mr. Arable
Essie Davis ... Mrs. Arable
Louis Corbett ... Avery
Julian O'Donnell ... Henry Fussy
Robyn Arthur ... Teacher
Siobhan Fallon ... Mrs. Zuckerman (as Siobhan Fallon Hogan)
Gary Basaraba ... Homer Zuckerman
Nate Mooney ... Lurvy
Nicholas Bell ... Minister
Beau Bridges ... Dr. Dorian
See also:
Top Ten Children's Movies
Top Ten Movies of 2006
Recommended:
Yes
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