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Very cute dvd I would recomend to everyone with kids or if they are a kid at heart.
Now, every spider they see they call Charlotte though we have taught them that not all spiders are friendly. The product came earlier then promised. Thank you for the great service and the wonderful movie. They loved it so much they had my wife read the book to them. It was in the promised condition. My grandchildren loved the movie.
It always comes down to the writing, and it simply isn't very good in this version of Charlotte's Web. It does, so in that sense I suppose it works, but it's laziness on the part of the filmmakers to feel it's necessary.In sum, what should be a magical, uplifting movie comes off as flat and, in fact, a little boring. Ditto Templeton the rat, who is turned from an irascible malcontent into an outright bully. Such characterizations are completely unnecessary and in fact detract from the story.
The animated '73 film was wise enough not to try; it showed Charlotte in just enough detail to give her form and features, and left it that. As with Walden's first adaptation--The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe--this is an okay movie that could have been vastly better. It has its heart in the right place, and doesn't stray far from the original book in actual plot, for which I have to commend it at least three stars, but it's more interested in being a comedy made for kids than a drama made for smart people, young and old. Julia Roberts was simply the wrong voice for Charlotte. Roberts' voice is simply too flat and nasally, and becomes actually grating. I like the actors who played the various parts, but they too come off as lifeless.
Seems to be a Walden thing).This ties into a problem with the casting in general. It is a superior adaptation to Wardrobe, in that it follows the source material more faithfully both in story and characterization, but it still fails most in those key areas, and in important ways that the animated version didn't.The most off-putting and probably most egregious error on director Winick's part is to make Fern such an impertinent, downright snotty little girl. Director Winick should have had the sense to realize that there's no way to make a spider cuddly in close-up. I found myself wishing they'd stayed with the neat animation that introduced the movie. The whole affair is simply flat, which is ironic considering the wondrousness of the tale attempting to be told.And then there's the decision to go with hyperrealistic special effects. The casting on the rest of the animals was fine (though the body humor got old after the second "joke"; I long for the days when body "humor" wasn't considered simply part of kids' movie genre), but of the humans only Beau Bridges stands out. Maybe one of these days the film industry will discover that special effects and high-caliber casts aren't enough to save a lackluster script. This is why the '73 version continues to hold my kids in thrall after at least a score of viewings, but they were so bored on a second watching of this new film that they wanted to leave early.
In the book Fern is determined, but not rude. The '73 version had the good grace and foresight to cast Debbie Reynolds as Charlotte. This one, again like The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, wants to show off at the expense of the story.Some of the non-book material is witty, but for the most part it's not and obviously tacked on to tickle kiddies' funny bones. Neither is her father the milquetoast that he's made to be in the film. Instead we're treated to super-macro shots of a spider worthy of an electron microscope. There is life and wonder and hope in it. (Which again was the core failure with The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Reynolds' soothing, melodic voice was perfect for a creature meant to be soothing and enchanting.
This one does too. This movie is amazing with the "talking" animals, similar to "Babe". The book and animated movie always made me cry.
This is one of my favorite movies. It arrived within a few days of purchase and was in excellent shape. Excellent family movie. I bought Charlotte's Web new.
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