I think what's most valuable here is the gentle reminder that lives are short, friendship is priceless and words can make a difference. The movie Charlotte's Web isn't a classic, but the message is.
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12/30/06
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Charlotte's Web (2006)
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Reviews Counted:33
Fresh:24
Rotten:9
Average Rating:6.9/10
Consensus: Kids will be entertained by the straightforward plot and cute animals, and adults will be charmed by how quiet and humble the production is, a fine translation of E.B. White’s genteel prose.
Theatrical Release:2006
Box Office: $82,506,325
Synopsis: Gary Winick (THIRTEEN GOING ON 30) had a lot to live up to in remaking a beloved children's movie, itself based on the classic novel by E. B. White, but this 2006 live-action version more than... [More]
Starring: Dakota Fanning, Julia Roberts, Oprah Winfrey, Steve Buscemi
Director: Gary Winick
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Reviews for Charlotte's Web
Top CriticThere's too much talent and too strong a story to mess it up. There was potential for more here, but this incarnation is nothing to be ashamed of, and some of the actors answer the bell.
12/30/06
Top CriticWoe be to the child who doesn't mist up at this movie, since it's been made if not with zip, wit, or imagination, then at least with sweetness. But I hope no one will think the film is an adequate replacement for White's book. That would be a crime.
12/30/06
Top CriticCharlotte's Web has all the requisite elements that a family film needs to succeed and endure: humor, drama, pathos, and an emotionally satisfying ending.
12/18/06
Top CriticBest of all may be the narration, by Sam Shepard: His voice, the kind of voice God might have if he'd ever smoked Camels, frames this gentle but potent little story with good-natured authority, making it feel modern and ageless at once.
12/15/06
Top CriticCharlotte's Web, with its insistently 'magical' theme music, an overbearing climax and a trough full of bad jokes, is merely adequate.
12/15/06
Top CriticIt's a movie so modest and gentle, you'll hear your neighbour's popcorn crunch. But you may also hear your heart beating. And there's nothing wrong with that.
12/15/06
Top CriticCharlotte's Web, a splendid new screen adaptation of White's 1952 children's book, gloriously brings the classic to life. If you've never read it, this is a perfect introduction.
12/15/06
Top CriticThe movie may not be perfect, but it beautifully distills White's simple message. We are all born to die. But we are also born to befriend.
12/15/06
Top CriticUnfortunately, Charlotte's Web is an unremarkable collection of cute kids, talking animals and syrupy sentiment. There's little of White's original spare style and even less to entertain anyone but the very undemanding.
12/15/06
Top CriticLike its porcine protagonist, E.B. White's classic 1952 story Charlotte's Web manages to be both radiant and humble. If only the same could be said for Gary Winick's live-action adaptation, which is neither.
12/15/06
Top CriticThe ads promise magic, but apart from the requisite heart-tugging finale, what it delivers is uneventful.
12/15/06
Top CriticCharlotte's Web adapts a classic, which is not to say it is one.
12/15/06
Top CriticWhat do you say about a mediocre movie adaptation of a literary masterpiece? Could have been worse? Or, it could have been much, much better, but even then it probably wouldn't measure up to the original?
12/15/06
Top CriticHow could Charlotte's Web go wrong? It doesn't. It's a perfectly respectful, take-the-kids, down-home but enchanting-enough adaptation of the story of a pig who learns about life from a spider. Take the kids, especially the young, unsullied ones.
12/15/06
Top CriticFans of E.B. White's elegant, droll style will be happy to know it is wonderfully faithful to the book. I know because I read it as soon as I came home from the movie.
12/15/06
Top CriticOK, Charlotte's Web may not be Babealiciousness, but that doesn't mean that the movie, an often charming adaptation of a classic E.B. White story, doesn't succeed on its own.
12/15/06
Top CriticSome will bristle at liberties taken. Cows do indeed break wind. Yet the movie's use of flatulence is less a nod to rural truths than a reliance on what has become a go-to gag in movie's made for the booster-seat set.
12/15/06
Top CriticA whimsical and warmly appealing adaptation of the children's classic.
12/14/06
Top CriticChildren of all ages, even those not old enough to read, can enjoy the journey.
12/14/06
Top CriticLatest News for Charlotte's Web
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