Directed by:
Charles A. Nichols, Iwao Takamoto
Cast: Debbie Reynolds, Paul Lynde, Henry Gibson
Narrated by: Rex Allen
Story by: Earl Hamner Jr.
Based on Charlotte's Web by: E. B. White
Music by: Richard Sherman (Songs), Robert Sherman (Songs), Irwin
Kostal (Score)
Released: February 22, 1973
Plot: Early one morning, Fern Arable prevents her father John
from slaughtering a piglet as the runt of the litter. Deciding
to let Fern deal with nurturing the piglet, John allows Fern to
raise it as a pet. She nurtures it lovingly, naming it Wilbur.
Six weeks later, Wilbur, due to being a spring pig, has matured,
and John tells Fern that Wilbur has to be sold (his siblings were
already sold). Fern sadly says good-bye to Wilbur as he is sold
down the street to her uncle, Homer Zuckerman. At Homer's farm,
a goose coaxes a sullen Wilbur to speak his first words. Although
delighted at this new ability, Wilbur still yearns for companionship.
He attempts to get the goose to play with him, but she declines
on the condition that she has to hatch her eggs.
Wilbur also
tries asking a rat named Templeton to play with him, but Templeton's
only interests are spying, hiding, and eating. Wilbur then wants
to play with a lamb, but the lamb's father says sheep do not play
with pigs because it is only a matter of time before pigs are
slaughtered and turned into smoked bacon and ham. Horrified at
this depressing discovery, Wilbur reduces himself to tears until
a mysterious voice tells him to "chin up", and waits until morning
to reveal herself to him. The following morning, she reveals herself
to be a spider named Charlotte A. Cavatica, living on a web on
a corner of Homer's barn overlooking Wilbur's pig pen. She tells
him that she will come up with a plan guaranteed to spare his
life.
Later, the
goose's goslings hatch. One of them, named Jeffrey, befriends
Wilbur. Eventually, Charlotte reveals her plan to "play a trick
on Zuckerman", and consoles Wilbur to sleep. Fern and Avery visit
the barn that same day. Avery tries to capture Charlotte, but
is foiled by the stench of a rotten egg. The next morning, Homer's
farmhand, Lurvy, sees the words, SOME PIG, spun within Charlotte's
web. The incident attracts publicity among Homer's neighbors who
deem the praise to be a miracle. The publicity eventually dies
down, and, after a hornet lands in Charlotte's web and ruins the
SOME PIG message, Charlotte requests the barn animals to devise
a new word to spin within her web. After several suggestions,
the goose suggests the phrase, TERRIFIC! TERRIFIC! TERRIFIC!,
though Charlotte decides to shorten it to one TERRIFIC.
The incident
becomes another media sensation, though Homer still desires to
slaughter Wilbur. For the next message, Charlotte then employs
Templeton to pull a word from a magazine clipping at the dump
for inspiration, in which he returns the word RADIANT ripped from
a soap box to spin within her web. Following this, Homer decides
to enter Wilbur in the county fair for the summer. Charlotte reluctantly
decides to accompany him, though Templeton at first has no interest
in doing so until the goose tells him about all the food there.
After one night there, Charlotte sends Templeton to the trash
pile on another errand to gather another word for her next message,
in which he returns with the word, HUMBLE. The next morning, Wilbur
awakens to find Charlotte has spun an egg sac containing her unborn
offspring, and the following afternoon, the word, HUMBLE, is spun.
However, Fern's brother, Avery, discovers another pig named Uncle
has won first place, though the county fair staff decides to hold
a celebration in honor of Homer's miraculous pig, and rewards
him $25 and an engraved, bronze medal. He then announces that
he will allow Wilbur to "live to a ripe old age".
Review: Charlotte's
Web is a heart warming film about love and acceptance. The animation
is splendid and the storyline is full of wisdom and insights into
the insecurities that many of us carry through life. The main
protaganist is Charlotte, a young pig, who has been harshly removed
from her mother and the life she had thought she was going to
enjoy. Now living somewhat precariously at a farm.
When moving
to the farm she soon meets a range of interesting characters.
They each teach her about life and offer advice as to how to be
useful so as to avoid becoming the main course at the table. Some
advice, such as the singing mice, has rather funny results when
Charlotte tries and sing for her safety.
The interactions
with the sheep lead Charlotte to a whole new aspect of life. She
learns she can be more than useful, she can find love, respect
and a place to call home. The film is worth watching with the
little ones.
M J Flack