Charlotte's Web (1973)

Charlotte's Web is a 1973 American animated musical film based on the 1952 children's novel of the same name by E. B. White. It was directed by Charles A. Nichols and Iwao Takamoto, produced by Hanna-Barbera and Sagittarius Productions and distributed by Paramount Pictures.

It is the first of only three Hanna-Barbera features not to be based upon one of their famous television cartoons, Heidi's Song (1982) and Once Upon a Forest (1993) being the other two.

The film got a live-action version in 2006.

Plot
A litter of pigs is born at a farm, but when John Arable tries to kill one pig after it was called a runt, Fern saves the pig's life, calling it Wilbur. Later, Wilbur is sold to Homer Zuckerman's farm, where he meets some farm friends, as well as a spider named Charlotte.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) It's almost 100% faithful to the source material, taking only a few very minor changes.
 * 2) It has some very marvelous vocal performances from Henry Gibson as Wilbur, the late Debbie Reynolds as Charlotte, and Paul Lynde as Templeton.
 * 3) The film has a very timeless score by Irwin Kostal and the Sherman Bros.
 * 4) It has incredibly nice cel animation with its beautifully painted backgrounds.
 * 5) A lot of touching and emotional moments, for example, when Charlotte dies in the end.
 * 6) It has some beautifully written songs, like "Zuckerman's Famous Pig", "We've Got Lots in Common", "Chin Up!" and "Mother Earth and Father Time".

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The infamous direct-to-video sequel, mh:awfulmovies:Charlotte's Web 2: Wilbur's Great Adventure.
 * 2) E.B White (the original author) hated this film.
 * 3) At the end of the film, we see Templeton has a wife and she gave birth to kids, but she never appeared in any previous scenes, making it kind of come out of nowhere.
 * 4) The animation feels more or less like a TV special as opposed to a theatrical release.

Reception
Rotten Tomatoes reported that it has a 76% approval rating based on 21 reviews, with an average score of 6.6/10. Among retrospective reviews, Craig Butler of All-Movie Guide criticized the animation and the musical score, but called it a faithful adaptation, noting that "no attempt has been made to soften the existential sadness at the story's core". Dan Jardine criticized the songs and the "Saturday morning cartoon quality" of the animation, but also says that Hamner "retains just enough of White’s elegant prose in the dialogue and narration to keep the film from being simply a painfully well-intended experiment."

Videos
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