Review: Charlotte’s Web

UK release date: 9th February

Author EB White’s classic animal fable gets the full Babe treatment in this warm, live-action family fantasy. Gently introducing younger viewers to the natural cycle of life, it explores how a clever spider called Charlotte (tenderly voiced by Julia Roberts) ingeniously uses her web-spinning talents to save a small pig from the chop.

While originally filmed as an animated feature in 1973, here the tale combines genuine critters and CGI effects, with delightful visual results. Like Charlotte herself, piglet Wilbur is so endearing that you can understand farmer’s daughter Fern (a likeable Dakota Fanning) begging for the runty porker’s life — though sadly the other crass creatures that inhabit Wilbur’s barnyard home don’t share this charm. Voiced by the likes of Robert Redford and Steve Buscemi, their tone-lowering flatulence and constant wisecracking dilutes the story’s central magic, making the finale less poignant than it should have been.

Radio Times rating:

***

UK cinema certificate U

Review by Sloan Freer

News: Dakota Fanning

The Shirley Temple of the early 21st century continues to ascend as the main human character in this week’s Charlotte’s Web. It’s an instantly recognisable name even if you can’t place her typically cutesy child star face – she was Tom Cruise’s daughter in War of the Worlds, and has also starred alongside Denzel Washington in Man On Fire since her breakthrough role as Sean Penn’s daughter in 2001’s I Am Sam. Not a bad list of co-stars for a twelve-year-old…

Next up she’ll be going dramatic again, taking the lead in Hounddog as a troubled teenager who escapes from the world via the music of Elvis Presley – and featuring one particular scene that has been the cause of much tabloid outrage and controversy, considering Fanning’s age.

After that she’ll lend her voice talents to the lead character in Coraline, based on the children’s novel by cult comic book writer Neil Gaiman, about a girl who discovers a portal to another world. Teri Hatcher, Ian McShane and Jennifer Saunders fill out the cast.

Finally it’s back to yet more deep drama with The Secret Life of Bees, exploring racism and bereavement in the 1960s Deep South. She looks to be going for an Oscar, this one. But does she have the talent? Unsurprisingly, at her age it’s rather too early to tell…