La telaraña de Charlotte

This is a truly wonderful children's movie. It tells the story of some barnyard animals who interact one summer, but gently, and on a level a child can understand, also analyzes some deep truths about life itself.

The story introduces us to a variety of animals (who possess the ability to talk when humans are absent) with unique personalities. One is a frightened pig named Wilbur (voiced by Henry Gibson) who learns his days are numbered in a pig's cruel fate. Another is the scheming and selfish rat Templeton (Paul Lynde in a great comic relief role). Finally, there's Charlotte the spider (Debby Reynolds) who uses the only tool she has at her disposal to try to rescue her friend Wilbur. There are a variety of other amusing creatures in the barnyard, voiced humorously by wonderful actors who are fun to identify as the movie progresses.

Humans have an external role in the action. By that I mean they're on the outside looking in (although there are some subplots about the human characters). Many things that are done by the animals are for the humans' benefit. I love Pamela Ferdin's voice for Wilbur's owner, Fern. Human characters change, like the animals do, in parallel stories that emphasize the story's morals about life. Rex Allen's cool country voice, so familiar from Disney nature movies, is perfect for the narration.

Several of the songs are great, too. The haunting title song is as "lovely and lyrical" as the web it's describing. "Mother Earth and Father Time" beautifully describes the story's main theme. Templeton's mad feast of garbage while singing "At the Fair" is lots of fun.

This is "some terrific, radiant, humble" movie that presents the best of old school cartoon animation. A sweet story of friendship, love, loyalty, and other positive elements. It's being remade as a live action movie, and I'm not certain how that'll translate from animation; but this original version is recommended for fine family viewing.

So far, I've seen two completely different points of view in the comments for this movie. One was so-so, the other thought it was completely awful. Well, I would like to add a third: I thought it was charming.

"Charlotte's Web" is my absolutely favourite story, and one of the most treasured books in my personal library. This movie, while far from perfect, does stay very true to the original story (which, in case Negative Nellie may have missed, Disney does NOT do -- even though I love Disney, too).

It's true the animation isn't the best, but you have to realize that "Charlotte's Web" was made in 1973, WAAAAAY before the computer-animated wonders of the '80's and '90's. The animation in the '70's was still stuck in the Saturday-morning-cartoon format, where, instead of animating every single cel, the animators would animate every third or fifth cel. It saved time, money, and you still got animation -- just not very sophisticated animation. Disney and Max Fleischer were really the only ones that were trying to push animation beyond the extremely confined limits it was once stuck in. So you can't really fault the movie for that, it was a common fault 20 years ago to get stuck in a rut. (It's still happening today, or hasn't anyone watched "Godzilla", "Armageddon", or "Starship Troopers"? Just because the animation is more advanced doesn't mean that it isn't becoming redundant).

Other than the animation, "Charlotte's Web", taken from a purely entertainment level, is really not that bad. I still enjoy watching this movie, and the voice actors actually closely match the voices I've made in my head for the characters in the book over the years. Especially Templeton. His scene when he comes back from his night of gorging at the fair cracks me up. "In case you haven't noticed, there are over 8,000 eggs in that tiny little sac." "This HAS been a night!" HA!

The songs seem a little out of place at times, but on the whole, I still find this movie very enjoyable. It's not deep, it's not profound, it's a piece of mindless fluff, with some very nice performances from the voice actors and a lot of very cute moments. It's children's fare, folks, so just take it as such, and it's a lot easier to take. I liked it. So there.

Say what you will, but it is a great story. Sure there are lots of musical numbers that may not appeal to the adults, but that isn't the target audience of this flick. This animated story reminds me of how cartoons used to be made, not the latest ultra realistic computer generated images that to me, quite frankly, lose the artistic appeal and expression of days gone by (of course this movie being made in 1973 helps in this manner).

Bottom line, as an adult the movie is good, as a 3 year old (my daughter) the movie is fantastic. I'm glad I bought the DVD and not the tape, as this will be played over and over again (I've seen it 5 times in the last 8 days!).

This animated version of the E.B. White children's classic is short on spectacular animation but long on heart and boasts a wonderful cast of voice talents. Earl Hamner, Jr., of "The Waltons" fame, creates a seamless plot which retains the true flavor of the book while cleverly rearranging the order of events and giving some of the better lines to different characters. The story of Wilbur, the runt pig saved by Fern Arable and later shipped to her Uncle Zuckerman's farm, only to discover that he's slated for the butcher's knife, is lively and fun. Charlotte, the wise and well-spoken spider played wonderfully by Debbie Reynolds, devises a scheme to save Wilbur's life. Henry Gibson is right on as the naive and nervous but generally happy Wilbur. Agnes Moorhead shines as the haughty and stuttering goose: "I'm no flibberty-ibbity gibbet!" Paul Lynde easily steals the show as Templeton, the smarmy barn rat; his late-night gorge-fest at the fair is a hilarious highlight of the movie. The songs written for the movie are a bit on the syrupy side, but Debbie Reynolds' sweet singing voice and some clever, funny lyrics make them bearable to adults.

I think every kid has to see this movie. It's a charming and delightful little flick. I wish they would make more movies like this than all the fancy computer effect movies of today. I'm serious, I think this is more impressive as far as animation goes. Charlotte's Web is a great flick to watch. Even though I enjoyed the book more as a child, I still loved to watch this film. I would recommend it for children. It's a little cheesy at times. But it has good lessons and morals. Hence, why I say it's for kids. There are some catchy toons though. Even the adults might still get into it.

8/10