Where's the pork? In words to live and laugh by

Robert Denerstein, Rocky Mountain News

Friday, December 15, 2006

It ain't you Babe. No. No. No. It ain't you Babe.

That's the starting point for Charlotte's Web, which (like Babe) prominently features a talking pig. To make the comparison only slightly more apt, both movies were shot in Australia.

OK, Charlotte's Web may not be Babealiciousness, but that doesn't mean that the movie, an often charming adaptation of a classic E.B. White story, doesn't succeed on its own.

Employing real animals, a stellar voice cast, computer wizardry and a small troupe of actors, director Gary Winick (13 Going on 30) creates a touching version of the story of Wilbur, a pig who's saved from the slaughter by Fern Arable (Dakota Fanning), a farmer's daughter.

Once reprieved, Wilbur (voice by 10-year-old Dominic Scott Kay) is sent to live with Fern's uncle. The only bad part of the deal: Wilbur must give up the house privileges he had with Fern and reside in the barn.

The other animals don't immediately take to Wilbur, but his lot begins to improve when Charlotte, a spider (voice by Julia Roberts) befriends him.

Winick follows White's lead, telling a story in which Charlotte must figure out ways to keep Wilbur from becoming Sunday dinner. He's a spring pig, and isn't supposed to live to see winter.

A cast that includes Steve Buscemi (as Templeton, the self-absorbed Rat) and Robert Redford (as Ike, the horse) supplies fine voice work. And, yes, some of those other voices you'll hear belong to Oprah Winfrey, Cedric the Entertainer, Kathy Bates and Reba McEntire.

Thomas Haden Church and Andre Benjamin (of OutKast) provide the voices for a couple of crows aimed heavily at comic relief.

Winick adds other dashes of humor, but the movie successfully delivers White's messages about the importance of friendship, the need for tolerance and the sobering realization that all life is mortal.

Kids have been reading White's book since it was first published in 1952, so it's probably not asking too much of a new generation of youngsters that they, too, be exposed to some of the themes that long have been part of fairy-tale lore, but often are deemed too dark for gooey kids' fare.

In all, Charlotte's Web augments its charm by putting a little meat on the bone.

No offense, Wilbur.