Charlotte's Web (Widescreen Edition) | 
| Director: Gary Winick
Actors: Dakota Fanning, Julia Roberts, Oprah Winfrey, Steve Buscemi, John Cleese
Studio: Paramount
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.98
Buy Used: $2.20
You Save: $12.78 (85%)
New (52) Used (64) Collectible (2) from $2.20
Rating:  104 reviews
Sales Rank: 6870
Format: Ac-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Dvd, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Dubbed)
Rating: G (General Audience)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 97 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: 342754
UPC: 097363427544
EAN: 0097363427544
ASIN: B000NA6CPE
Theatrical Release Date: December 15, 2006
Release Date: April 3, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
E.B. White's classic tale gets a Babe-like makeover in Charlotte's Web, a delightful and well-made film that is sure to become a family classic. Directed by Gary Winick (13 Going on 30), the new version eschews the musical numbers of the 1973 cartoon and mixes CGI with live-action animals. Dakota Fanning brings the right amount of chutzpah to Fern, the young farm girl who rescues a runt, Wilbur, from death and visits him every day at her Uncle Homer's farm. But it's Wilbur's friendship with Charlotte the spider (voiced by Julia Roberts) that ultimately saves him from the "smoke house" (a kid-friendly alternative term to the slaughterhouse), for Charlotte's talent for weaving praiseworthy words about Wilbur into her web turns the Zuckerman farm into a tourist attraction. The more tragic elements of the book are handled sensitively by Winick, working from a script by Susannah Grant (Erin Brockovich), and Roberts' soothing, maternal voice (who knew it would work so well?) makes it all go down easy. It turns out to be just one of many perfect celebrity voice-casting choices, for the farm animals, voiced by an all-star cast including Oprah Winfrey (the goose), Robert Redford (the horse), Steve Buscemi (Templeton the rat), and John Cleese (the sheep), lend plenty of sharp humor. But it's two corn-hungry crows, voiced by Thomas Haden Church (Sideways) and OutKast's Andre "3000" Benjamin who steal the show. (Ages 4 and older) -- Ellen A. Kim Beyond Charlotte's Web 
Other Children's Book Adaptations on DVD | 
Charlotte's Web by E. B. White | 
The Original 1973 Charlotte's Web Cartoon | Stills from Charlotte's Web (click for larger image)
Product Description
"'Charlotte's Web' is absolutely one of the best films of the year." Now you can share the magic as a tiny spider spins a great tale of friendship and adventure in this dazzling film version of E.B. White's beloved children's book. Joel Siegel, Good Morning America
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| Customer Reviews: Read 99 more reviews...
 great little movie! June 23, 2009
Kimberly S. Brochin
Very cute dvd I would recomend to everyone with kids or if they are a kid at heart.
 Charlotte's Web (Full Screen Edition) June 8, 2009
Thomas M. Franklin
The product came earlier then promised. It was in the promised condition. My grandchildren loved the movie. Now, every spider they see they call Charlotte though we have taught them that not all spiders are friendly. They loved it so much they had my wife read the book to them. Thank you for the great service and the wonderful movie.
 The 1973 animated version is much better March 24, 2009
Clint D. Hayes (Dallas, TX USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
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 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. In the book Fern is determined, but not rude. Neither is her father the milquetoast that he's made to be in the film. 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. (Which again was the core failure with The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Seems to be a Walden thing.)
This ties into a problem with the casting in general. Julia Roberts was simply the wrong voice for Charlotte. The '73 version had the good grace and foresight to cast Debbie Reynolds as Charlotte. Reynolds' soothing, melodic voice was perfect for a creature meant to be soothing and enchanting. There is life and wonder and hope in it. Roberts' voice is simply too flat and nasally, and becomes actually grating. 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. I like the actors who played the various parts, but they too come off as lifeless. 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. I found myself wishing they'd stayed with the neat animation that introduced the movie. Instead we're treated to super-macro shots of a spider worthy of an electron microscope. Director Winick should have had the sense to realize that there's no way to make a spider cuddly in close-up. 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. 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. 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. 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. It always comes down to the writing, and it simply isn't very good in this version of Charlotte's Web. 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. 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.
Charlotte's Web DVD January 6, 2009
R. L. Bongiorno (Myrtle Beach, SC)
This movie is amazing with the "talking" animals, similar to "Babe".
The book and animated movie always made me cry. This one does too.
Review of Charlotte's Web November 28, 2008
Marilyn J. Root (Lewiston, ID USA)
Excellent family movie! I bought Charlotte's Web new. It arrived within a few days of purchase and was in excellent shape. This is one of my favorite movies!
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