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Rating:  - A haunting tale of friendship, life, death and the miracle of it all...
Paramount Pictures brought for us a beautiful animated adaptation of one of the modest charming classics in modern American children's literature, "Charlotte's Web". This 1973 production has grown on me since I first saw it years ago, shortly after finishing the original novel. One could and would say, perhaps, that the film suffers from a few flaws, one of which is weaker animation than what one may be accustomed to. Though, compared to Disney's 1973 output, "Robin Hood", "Charlotte's Web" isn't really too disappointing in terms of technical quality. The film captures the essence of the story beautifully, adding charm to it without altering the original. Good memorable songs, good writing among other things make this a wonderful film for family viewing.
Based on E.B. White's now-classic children's story of the same name, "Charlotte's Web" is the story of a little pig named Wilbur who was born a runt. John Arable sees the size of the pig and decides that he must do away with it, for it would probably die anyways. When Fern Arable, his daughter, hears of this, she is bewildered and shocked and begs to be allowed to keep the pig. Mr. Arable is convinced and allows Fern to keep the pig, whom she names Wilbur, and the two become fast and loving friends. Sadly for Fern, when Wilbur grows into a fine pig, Mr. Arable tells her that it is time for him to go and the pig is sent away down the road to Fern's uncle's farm. At Mr. Zuckerman's barn, Wilbur makes a great deal of new friends, all of which are too busy to play with him. Among his new companions are Templeton, a rat, a goose, sheep and other animals. Though Wilbur finds his new home pleasant and beautiful, and he is visited often by Fern, he soon learns a terrible truth: when he grows fat and good enough to eat, Mr. Zuckerman will kill him for his meat. Wilbur is shocked and frightened and determined that he wants to live. The next day, Wilbur meets Charlotte, a beautiful, wise and intelligent gray spider who lives on the hollow doorway leading inside the barn. Charlotte promises Wilbur to be his friend and that she'll try and save his life. Very skilled with her spinerets and a good writer, Charlotte finds the perfect solution: to write small words on her web that'll capture the attention of the humans and let them know that Wilbur is one especial pig. Charlotte's clever idea is successful and Mr. Zuckerman, his family and friends find the apparition of the messages to be unexplainable miracles. Charlotte then dedicates her life to her good friend, and with the help of Templeton the rat, sees that Wilbur's life is placed out of harm's way, thus giving a bold meaning to her own life as well.
Touching and bittersweet from beginning to end, the story of "Charlotte's Web" is one that never ceases to enchant me as both sweet and tragic. Like many other delightful children's stories, the theme of "the circle of life" is present here and is carried out marvelously. There's also a strong message about friendship as well as the miracles of life and death. The Sherman Brothers, responsible for the scores to such Disney classics as "The Sword in the Stone" (1963), "Mary Poppins" (1964), "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" (1971) and "The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh" (1977), give this film its musical appeal through a delightful score, which captures the both the joy and purity of the happiest and also the most touching scenes, as well as a handful of wonderful songs; most notably, "Charlotte's Web" and "Mother Earth and Father Time", both songs which set out two important themes for this delightful musical story. Tough some of the vocal work could be considered clichéd, the script is fantastic. Debbie Reynolds gives her voice to Charlotte the spider, and many of her lines of wisdom stay with me when the film is over; "I'm thinking of your life, Wilbur. Nothing can harm you now." at the same time, chilling me to the bone. Seeing this film before going to sleep for me means troubled sleep, for the tragic, yet happy, story of Charlotte and Wilbur haunts me for a long time after every time I watch it. Some parents could be disturbed by this if their children felt the same way, but to me, the best films out there are not the ones that make you laugh out loud, or that feature incredible animation, but rather, films that can awaken in you strong emotions that live within you for a long time, that's what the best of stories are made of. Charlotte's Web is a grand adaptation of E.B. White's classic story that should not be missed, even if you've skipped it to see the 2006 version, of which I can say nothing as I haven't seen it. Wonderful story, highly recommended.
Rating: - Wonderful Family Movie!
A Wonderful Family Movie. Good movie for all ages! Package arrived on time!
Rating: - SHERMAN BROS SCORE & DEBBIE REYNOLDS MAKE "CHARLOTTE'S WEB" A TIMELESS CLASSIC!
Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman were the most prolific songwriting team for original film musicals in the 1960's, mostly for Walt Disney studios. They supplied Broadway quality song scores for Mary Poppins, The Happiest Millionaire & The Jungle Book to name a few of their most memorable films. But their song score for the superbly faithful 1973 Hanna-Barbera animated film adaptation of E.B. White's touching 1952 family novel, "Charlotte's Web", is their masterpiece. The Shermans seem to have instinctively known that the songs would act as a buffer to the darker aspects of visualizing Charlotte's Web on film and indeed the music succeeds admirably in this respect but never gets in the way of White's original narrative. The brilliant voice casting adds to this film's timeless appeal. Debbie Reynolds as Charlotte was a stroke of genius as, unlike Julia Roberts' dull lifeless paint by numbers reading in the 2006 live action version, Reynolds brings a level of humanity to this beloved literary character that is the heart of the entire film. The use of name actors for the majority of the character voices in an animated film was innovative in 1973, and "Charlotte's Web" utilizes this concept wonderfully with Henry Gibson as Wilbur, Agnes Moorehead as the goose, and Paul Lynde as Templeton. Tony Randall, not Lynde, was the original actor chosen to play the rat but when the directors asked him to give the character's voice a more nasal quality, Randall remarked if they wanted that they should have hired Paul Lynde, which they did. Debbie Reynolds was in terrific voice when this film was made as she was preparing for her legitimate stage debut in "Irene" and she brings a poignant quality to Charlotte's songs that very few singers could match much less surpass. Especially noteworthy songs from this fantastic score are "Deep in the Dark", "We've Got Lots in Common" and Reynolds' beautiful rendition of "Mother Earth and Father Time." It is unfair to compare this 1973 musical version of "Charlotte's Web" with the live action 2006 version, which while not a remake of the animated film, also uses H.B. White's novel as its basis. With the exception of the severely inadequate Julia Roberts as Charlotte and the totally unnecessary toilet humor, the new version is quite enjoyable on its own terms.
As I said at the beginning of this review, the Sherman Bros. outdid themselves with this score, which is by a wide margin, better than 90 percent of what has been passing for musical theatre on Broadway the last 20 years. Decca Broadway, the current owners of the sound track album to this 1973 version of "Charlotte's Web", should reissue this fantastic score, which has been out of print for over 20 years, and has never been released on CD. Hopefully, if the recent live action version of "Charlotte's Web" is a success, Paramount will do what Disney have done recently and allow this excellent Sherman Bros. score to get reintroduced to a new audience in a Broadway musical based on "Charlotte's Web".
Rating:  - Mostly unobjectionable
All I can say is casting Paul Lynde as Templeton the rat was a stroke of genius. Can you say *C*A*M*P* Boys and Girls?
But the queeny sub-text will escape the intended audience, so not to worry Mom and Dad.
E. B. White would probably object to most of the changes made here, but compared to the execrable and unconscionable changes made to his "Stuart Little" it is not even comparable and sticks somewhat to the original text.
However, I strongly recommend that this story be reserved for five to seven year olds, for the theme of death of a loved one from the perspective of an innocent may be too much to bear for younger viewers.
But if you can avoid watching this until you've read the original E. B. White story to your children you will have given them a treasure of memorable American narrative prose.
Rating: - Excellent
This was a gift for my sister who says it reached her in good condition.
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