Charlotte's Web (2006 film)

Theatrical release poster

***Charlotte's Web*** is a 2006 American live-action feature film based on the 1952 children's novel of the same name by E. B. White. It was directed by Gary Winick and produced by Paramount Pictures, Walden Media, The K Entertainment Company, and Nickelodeon Movies. The screenplay is by Susannah Grant and Karey Kirkpatrick, based on White's book.

It is the second film adaptation of White's book, preceded by a 1973 cel-animated version produced by Hanna-Barbera for Paramount Pictures.

## Plot

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One spring, on a farm in Somerset County, Maine, Fern Arable finds her father John about to kill the runt of a litter of newborn pigs. She successfully begs her father to spare the piglet's life. John gives the piglet to Fern, and she nurtures the piglet lovingly, naming him Wilbur. To her regret, when Wilbur has matured, Fern is forced to take him to her uncle, Homer Zuckerman, in whose barnyard he is left yearning for companionship but is snubbed by other barn animals, until befriended by Charlotte, a spider who lives in the space above Wilbur's sty in the Zuckermans' barn. When the other animals reveal to Wilbur that he will be prepared for dinner in due time, Charlotte promises to hatch a plan guaranteed to spare Wilbur's life.

With the help of the other barn animals, including a comedic rat named Templeton, Charlotte convinces the Zuckerman family that Wilbur is actually quite special, by spelling out descriptions of him in her web: "Some pig", "Terrific", "Radiant", and "Humble". She gives her full name to be Charlotte A. Cavatica, revealing her to be a barn spider, an orb-weaver spider with the scientific name *Araneus cavaticus*.

The Arables, Zuckermans, Wilbur, Charlotte, and Templeton go to a fair, where Wilbur is entered in a contest. While there, Charlotte produces an egg sac containing her unborn offspring, and Wilbur, despite winning no prizes, is later celebrated by the fair's staff and visitors (thus made too prestigious alive, to justify killing him). Exhausted from laying eggs, Charlotte cannot return home because she is dying. Wilbur bids an emotional fairwell to her as she remains at the fair and dies shortly after Wilbur's departure, but Wilbur manages to take her egg sac home, where hundreds of offspring emerge. Most of the young spiders soon leave, but three, named Joy, Aranea, and Nellie, stay and become Wilbur's friends.

## Cast

### Live-action actors

* Dakota Fanning as Fern Arable
* Kevin Anderson as John Arable
* Beau Bridges as Dr. Dorian
* Louis Corbett as Avery Arable
* Essie Davis as Phyllis Arable
* Siobhan Fallon Hogan as Edith Zuckerman
* Gary Basaraba as Homer Zuckerman
* Nate Mooney as Lurvy, the Zuckermans' farmhand worker

### Voice actors

* Dominic Scott Kay as Wilbur the Spring Pig
* Julia Roberts as Charlotte A. Cavatica the Spider
* Steve Buscemi as Templeton the Rat
* John Cleese as Samuel the Sheep
* Oprah Winfrey as Gussy the Goose
* Cedric the Entertainer as Golly the Gander
* Kathy Bates as Bitsy the Cow
* Reba McEntire as Betsy the Cow
* Robert Redford as Ike the Horse
* Thomas Haden Church as Brooks the Crow
* André Benjamin as Elwyn the Crow
* Abraham Benrubi as Uncle the Pig
* Sam Shepard as the Narrator

## Production

*Charlotte's Web* was produced without any involvement from E. B. White's estate. It was the first film based on a book by E. B. White since 2001's *The Trumpet of the Swan*. Paramount had distributed the film as a result of its acquisition of DreamWorks, whose animation division became its own company in late 2004.

Major shooting was completed in May 2006. It was filmed on location in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria and suburbs in Melbourne, Australia. The fair scene in the story was filmed in Heidelberg in Melbourne, Australia at Heidelberg West Football Club's football ground. The school scenes were filmed at Spotswood Primary School.

Visual effects are by Rising Sun Pictures, Fuel International, Proof, Rhythm and Hues Studios, Digital Pictures Iloura and Tippett Studio. The visual effects supervisor for the film as a whole was John Berton, who noted that a live-action version of *Charlotte's Web* has become much more practical in recent years due to advances in technology. Winick "was adamant" that Charlotte and Templeton (the film's two entirely computer-generated characters) should be realistic and not stylized, although they did give Charlotte almond-shaped eyes. John Dietz, visual effects supervisor for Rising Sun Pictures, notes that there was a debate over whether to give her a mouth and that in the end, they decided to have her chelicerae move in what he describes as being almost like a veil as if there were a mouth behind it.

## Release

The film was at one time intended for a June 2006 release, but was pushed back to December 2006 to avoid competition with two other films from Nickelodeon Movies - *Nacho Libre* and *Barnyard* - as well as *Over the Hedge* and *Cars* among other films.Template:Citation needed

### Home media

*Charlotte's Web* was released on DVD on April 3, 2007, in the United States and Canada and May 28 in the United Kingdom. It was released on Blu-ray on March 29, 2011, along with *The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie*. About 10 years later, the film was re-released on DVD on January 24, 2017.

## Reception

Reviews were generally positive, especially with respect to Dakota Fanning's portrayal of Fern. The film currently holds a 78% "Certified Fresh" rating at Rotten Tomatoes. Michael Medved gave *Charlotte's Web* three and a half stars (out of four) calling it "irresistible" and "glowing with goodness". Medved also said that Dakota Fanning's performance was "delightfully spunky". *Entertainment Weekly*Template:'s Owen Gleiberman complains that the film is "a bit noisy" but applauds the director for putting "the book, in all its glorious tall-tale reverence, right up on screen." He goes on to say that "What hooks you from the start is Dakota Fanning's unfussy passion as Fern."

Colm Andrew of the Manx Independent gave the film 6/10, saying that the main problem was "the ultra-cute characterisation of Wilbur, resulting in half the audience rooting for his demise" although overall it was "a competent retelling of a classic story that won't offend".

The film was awarded a 2006 Critics' Choice Award for Best Family Film in the live-action category, and Fanning won the Blimp Award for Favorite Movie Actress at the 2007 Kids' Choice Awards.

The film debuted in third place at the box office with only $11 million. The film performed very well after spending 14 weeks in theaters for a total of $82 million, $61 million elsewhere, for a total of $144 million before closing on March 22, 2007.

## External links

Template:Portal

* Template:Official website archived at Wayback Machine
* Official website at Nick.com, archived at Wayback Machine
* Official website at Walden Media, archived at Wayback Machine
* Template:IMDb title
* Template:Tcmdb title
* Template:Amg movie

 ***Nickelodeon Movies***

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