| Charlotte's Web | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Gary Winick |
| Screenplay by | |
| Based on | Charlotte's Web byE. B. White |
| Produced by | Jordan Kerner |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Seamus McGarvey |
| Edited by |
|
| Music by | Danny Elfman |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 97 minutes |
| Countries | United States Germany |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $85 million[1] |
| Box office | $144 million |
Charlotte's Web is a 2006 live-action animatedfantasy film based on the1952 novel byE. B. White. Directed byGary Winick and written bySusannah Grant andKarey Kirkpatrick, it is the second film adaptation and remake of E. B. White's book since the1973 animated feature film produced byHanna-Barbera Productions. The film starsDakota Fanning,Kevin Anderson, andBeau Bridges, with voices provided byDominic Scott Kay,Julia Roberts,Steve Buscemi,John Cleese,Oprah Winfrey,Thomas Haden Church,André Benjamin,Cedric the Entertainer,Kathy Bates,Reba McEntire,Robert Redford, andSam Shepard as the narrator.Danny Elfman composed the film's score.
Produced byWalden Media,Jordan Kerner's The K Entertainment Company andNickelodeon Movies, the film premiered inAustralia (where it was shot) on December 7, 2006, and was released theatrically byParamount Pictures on December 15, 2006, in the United States. The film received mostly positive reviews from critics, yet was only modestly commercially successful. It grossed $83 million at the US box office and $61 million elsewhere for a worldwide total of $144 million against an $85 million budget, as well as grossing an additional $95.2 million in home media sales.[2]Avideo game of the same name was derived from the movie.
During springtime on a farm inSomerset County, Maine, 11-year-old Fern Arable discovers that her father John about to kill a runt of a litter of newborn pigs. Fern successfully begs him to spare the piglet's life, whom she names Wilbur and nurtures him lovingly. The next morning, Fern sneaks Wilbur into her school, and when a teacher overhears Wilbur, they both get into trouble and are sent to the principal's office.
When Wilbur has matured, Fern is regretfully forced to take him to her uncle Homer Zuckerman's barnyard. Mrs. Arable feels slightly concerned for her daughter's behavior and one night, prevails upon Fern to stay home, do her homework and go straight to bed without visiting Wilbur. During this time, Wilbur feels abandoned and is left yearning for companionship, but is refused by the other barn animals - a comedic, mischievous, rebellious, misunderstood, and "potentially dangerous"rat named Templeton; a serious and steadfastsheep named Samuel; a fun-loving and kindlygoose couple named Gussy and Golly; two beautiful and laid-backcow sisters named Bitsy and Betsy; and a cowardly and humoroushorse named Ike - until he is befriended by Charlotte A. Cavatica, a beautifulbarn 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 byChristmas, Charlotte promises to hatch a plan guaranteed to save Wilbur's life. With the help of Templeton, Charlotte convinces the Zuckerman family that Wilbur is actually quite special by spelling out descriptions of him in herweb such as "Some pig", "Terrific", "Radiant" and "Humble" in the opening to the barn for the Zuckermans to see. These descriptions are even posted in newspapers that the whole town read and came out to see.
Eventually, the Arables, Zuckermans, Wilbur, Charlotte and Templeton go to a fair where Wilbur is entered in a contest. While there, Charlotte produces anegg sac containing her unborn offspring while Wilbur, despite not winning the blue ribbon, is later given a bronze medal and celebrated by the fair's staff and visitors, making him too prestigious to justify killing him. Exhausted from laying eggs, Charlotte can't return home because she is dying. Wilbur tearfully bids farewell to her as she remains at the fair and dies shortly after his departure, but he manages to take her egg sac home with the help of Templeton.
Wilbur then lives to witness his first Christmas and by the next spring, hundreds of Charlotte's offspring emerge; most of the young spiders soon leave, but three named Joy, Aranea and Nellie stay and become Wilbur's friends.
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Middle:Oprah Winfrey,Cedric the Entertainer andKathy Bates voice Gussy, Golly and Bitsy
Bottom:Reba McEntire,Robert Redford,Thomas Haden Church andAndré Benjamin voice Betsy, Ike, Brooks and ElwynThis particular adaptation ofCharlotte's Web was produced without any involvement from E. B. White's estate.[3] It was the first film based on a book by E. B. White since 2001'sThe Trumpet of the Swan.
Major shooting was completed in May 2005. It was filmed on location inBallan, Victoria and suburbs inMelbourne. The fair scene in the story was filmed inHeidelberg inMelbourne atHeidelberg West Football Club's football ground. The school scenes were filmed at Spotswood Primary School.
The talking-animalvisual effects were done by various visual effect studios such asRising Sun Pictures, Fuel International, Proof,Rhythm & Hues Studios (which also animated 1999'sStuart Little, another film based on an E. B. White book, as well as its 2002 sequelStuart Little 2), Digital Pictures Iloura,Stan Winston Studio, andTippett Studio. Many of the animals were live-action with the exception of Charlotte and Templeton. Much of the film was shot with a hybrid of live-action and CGI.[4] The visual effects supervisor for the film wasJohn Berton, who noted that a live-action version ofCharlotte's Web has become much more practical in recent years due to advances in technology.[5] Winick "was adamant" that Charlotte and Templeton should be realistic and not stylized, although they did give Charlotte almond-shaped eyes.[6] John Dietz, visual effects supervisor forRising Sun Pictures, notes that there was a debate over whether to give her a mouth and that in the end, they decided to have herchelicerae move in what he describes as being almost like a veil as if there were a mouth behind it. The software used for fur was “Furocious”, RenderMan was used for rendering and SoftImageXSI was used for modeling, rigging, and animation.[7]
The film was scheduled for a June 2006 release, but was pushed back to December 15, 2006, to avoid competition with two other films fromNickelodeon Movies -Nacho Libre andBarnyard - as well asOver the Hedge (which also featured Thomas Haden Church in the cast) andCars among other films.[citation needed]
Charlotte's Web was released onDVD on April 3, 2007, in the United States and Canada and on May 28, 2007, in the United Kingdom. On October 6, 2008,Paramount Home Entertainment released a DVD which bundled the film together with the 1994 version ofLassie and the 1998 filmPaulie (which had originally been owned byDreamWorks prior to 2006).[8]It was then released onBlu-ray on March 29, 2011, alongsideThe SpongeBob SquarePants Movie.[9] Almost 10 years later, the film was re-released on DVD on January 24, 2017.
The film debuted in third place at the box office with only $11 million. Having spent 14 weeks in theaters, the film grossed $82 million domestically and $61 million overseas for a worldwide total of $144 million before closing on March 22, 2007.[1]
Review aggregation websiteRotten Tomatoes gives the film a 79% rating based on 147 reviews with an average rating of 7.0/10, and a 62% audience recommendation based on 250,000+ reviews. The site's critical consensus reads, "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."[10] OnMetacritic the film has a score of 68 out of 100 based on 28 critics, indicating "generally favourable reviews".[11] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.[12]
Michael Medved gave the film three-and-a-half out of four, calling it "irresistible" and "glowing with goodness". Medved also said that Dakota Fanning's performance was "delightfully spunky".[13]Owen Gleiberman ofEntertainment Weekly stated that the film was "a bit noisy" but praised the director for putting "the book, in all its glorious tall-tale reverence, right up on screen". He later went on to say that "What hooks you from the start is Dakota Fanning's unfussy passion as Fern."[14] Conversely, Colm Andrew of theManx Independent gave the film a score of six out of ten, 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".[15]
The film won the 2006 Critics' Choice Award for Best Live-Action Family Film,[16] and Fanning won the Blimp Award for Favorite Movie Actress at the2007 Kids' Choice Awards.
| Year | Award | Category | Receiver | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
2006 | Phoenix Film Critics Society | Best Family Film | Charlotte's Web | Winner |
2006 | St. Louis Film Critics Association | Best Animated or Children's Film | Charlotte's Web | Nominated |
| 2006 | Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards | Best song | David A. Stewart & Glen Ballard | Winner |
| Best Family Film | Charlotte's Web | Winner | ||
| 2007 | Visual Effects Society | Excellent visual effects in a movie | Karin Joy, Blair Clark & John Dietz | Nominated |
| Excellent performance of an animated character in a live action movie | Grant Adam, Daniel Fotheringham, Avi Goodman & Paul Buckley | Nominated | ||
| Excellent performance of an animated character in a live action movie | Todd Labonte, Jason Armstrong, Sven Jensen & David Richard Nelson | Nominated | ||
2007 | BMI Awards | Best Music | Danny Elfman | Winner |
| 2007 | Critics' Choice Movie Awards | Best Family Film (Live Action) | Charlotte's Web | Winner |
| Best Young Actress | Dakota Fanning | Nominated | ||
| Best song | Sarah McLachlan | Nominated | ||
2007 | Genesis Awards | Best Family Feature Film | Charlotte's Web | Winner |
2007 | International Film Music Critics Association | Best Original Score for an Animated Film | Charlotte's Web | Nominated |
2007 | Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards | Favorite female movie star | Dakota Fanning | Winner |
2007 | Satellite Awards | Best Youth DVD | Charlotte's Web | Nominated |
| 2007 | Movieguide Awards | Best Fantasy Film | Charlotte's Web | Winner |
| Best Family Film | Charlotte's Web | Winner | ||
| 2007 | Young Artist Awards | Best Performance in a Dubbing Role: Young Actor | Dominic Scott Kay | Winner |
| Best Performance in a Feature Film - Young Lead Actress | Dakota Fanning | Nominated | ||
| 2007 | Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films | Best Fantasy Film | Charlotte's Web | Nominated |
| Best special effects | Karin Joy, John Andrew Berton Jr. & John Dietz | Nominated |
| Charlotte's Web | ||||
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| Film score by | ||||
| Released | 2006 | |||
| Danny Elfman chronology | ||||
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Charlotte's Web: Music from the Motion Picture was released bySony Classical on December 5, 2006.[17] In addition to the instrumental score byDanny Elfman (composing his second film for Nickelodeon Movies, followingNacho Libre, which released the same year), the soundtrack includes the song "Ordinary Miracle", composed byGlen Ballard andDave Stewart, and performed bySarah McLachlan, which she also performed during theopening ceremonies of her hometown Vancouver Winter Olympics.[18] In order to compose the score forCharlotte's Web, Elfman would drop out ofSpider-Man 3.[19] A CD compilation of "Music Inspired by the Motion Picture" was issued on December 12, 2006.
Avideo game based on the movie, developed byBackbone Entertainment and published bySega, was released on December 12, 2006, for theGame Boy Advance,Nintendo DS, andPC.
Another game based on the film was released in Europe for thePlayStation 2 by Blast Entertainment on April 5, 2007.[20]
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