Charlotte’s Web is a book written by E.D White in 1952, and one that school children all around the world will instantly recognise, being one of the main books read to them in classes that will forever be in their memory. The story of a spider saving a pig being raised for slaughter is one that is incredibly simple while also being very charming and surprisingly grown-up, talking about the loss of innocence and youth as well as fears of the future but still coming back to cherishing the wonders of the world in all its glory. It was a hugely successful book that’s enjoyed by adults as strongly as it is by children, enough so that it resulted in two film versions being created; a live-action Nickelodeon film made in 2006, and (the one of topic today) the 1973 animated version. When a young girl named Fern (voiced by Pamelyn Ferdin) saves a runt pig from being killed by her father, she raises the pig as her pet, calling him Wilbur (voiced by Henry Gibson). This friendship is cut short when Wilbur comes of age and he’s sent off to another farm where he is soon to be slaughtered for food. When hope seems lost, it comes back in the form of a spider named Charlotte (voiced by Debbie Reynolds) who decides to help Wilbur and find a way to keep him from being turned into Christmas dinner, using her web to create words that will turn him into a very famous animal. With a story that is almost impossible to mess up, the feature film does things identically to the book and produces a fairly nice film with likeable characters, decent animation, and pleasant music.

The book’s story is one that would work very well in movie format as its quiet nature mixed with its subtle adultness makes a simple yet powerful tale that could be utilised very smartly in a visual format. The team behind this made the appropriate call to have the film be directed by Charles A Nichols, who has worked on a lot of animated Disney material, and Iwao Takamoto, who worked on a lot of Hanna Barbera material. These two animation studios are different in terms of quality but mixing Barbera’s simplistic drawing style with Disney’s atmospheric emotional nature leads to a good pairing.  The story of the book was incredibly good at keeping readers invested despite how little was actually going on in the story. On the surface, the narrative seems to be heavy on talking instead of physical activity as well as relying on a single simple location outside of many. The pace of the plot matches the speed and quickness of the writing, which was described as being like a ‘’rope swing at a farm’’ and that mellow tone along with its charming atmosphere, surprisingly heavy undertones, a clear and very impending threat and motivation, and a bittersweet ending, proved it was smarter than any typical kids book and left a mark on children’s minds when it was finished. The movie seems to get that done relatively well by sticking very closely to the original source and remaining very relaxed and chill throughout the entire film. The movie doesn’t have the luxury that the book does with its inner monologue from the main character being able to express far more because of no time limit. This leaves the film feeling slightly rushed, leaving a lot of the exposition to a narrator which is still effective, but not as flowing and organic. Thankfully, the emotions of the film, which is one of the books strongest and key driving elements, are still present and still manage to work as the key story beats are still present and clearly stated.

The characters seem to match their counterparts from the books pretty well and since they weren’t the most complex characters, they translate well into a visual format without needing too much work on how to handle them. Being basic looking animals means that their designs cannot be too odd-looking and keeping them to normal proportions might have led to not as much expression or emotion, but through the animation lenses, anything can have emotion. The voice cast for the film is mostly pretty good with a lot of the voices seeming like perfect matches for how they were described in the book, especially with Debbie Reynolds as Charlotte. Reynolds was already an actress that almost never put in a bad performance, but here her motherly tone mixed with her sweet yet determined nature made her a welcome friendly presence to a character that many didn’t want to see go when the eventual end came about. While all the other animals are cast pretty well, one of biggest oddballs is the choice of voice for Wilbur. What should be the voice of a young child or at least a teenager is instead a middle-aged man pretending to have a young voice, it’s very unnatural and even a bit uncomfortable in moments. The voice actor, Henry Gibson, has done a lot of acting and voice work in the past and doesn’t do a bad job by any means, but it doesn’t fit as nicely as all the other actors do. Most of the side characters are not really utilised that much, outside of the rat Templeton, voiced by Paul Lynde, and he gets some good moments throughout the film.

The animation for the film has a very strong Hanna Barbera style to it, in that it relies much more on color than it does on movement. While the budget for this movie makes it far more impressive looking than a majority of their tv work, there is a simplicity to its style that leads to some bland designs (mainly in the humans) and some nice but fake-looking backgrounds. Also the movements of the characters are far more sporadic than smooth, but  it still looks nice enough with good colors, decent enough linework and simple yet not ugly designs (for the most part excluding some specific shots). The film’s calmer nature and slower pace allows the film to get away with less motion and rely more on the character’s talking without it feeling to out of place. The music in this film is a massively unfortunate contradiction. On the one hand, the songs are catchy, have very impressive lyrics and incredibly catchy melodies, mainly because they were written by the Sherman Brothers, the two that were responsible for the songs behind movies like Mary Poppins, Winnie the Pooh, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and the score was composed by Irwin Kostal, who worked on musicals like The Sound of Music and West Side Story. Their lyrical talent is so amazing that they use words that are far out of children’s understanding level, yet they flow so effortlessly between each rhyme that its almost hypnotising how steady the whole song feels, and the melodies are certainly catchy enough to leave people humming. While this is all impressive and the team behind it are certainly talented people, these songs are completely irrelevant to the main story: they add nothing, are more-so used to waste time and any reason for a song in the film is nothing worthy of a song number. Despite how well written they are, they don’t further the story or characters in a meaningful way and instead feel like timewasters to keep the kids occupied.

Charlotte’s Web is a timeless story that appeals to both adults and kids in a smart, mature, and meaningful way. It left its mark on kids’ literature and has never been forgotten about even years later. This film may have had a similar effect as the devoted fanbase for the film was strong enough to even earn itself a direct-to-video sequel. The movie handles the story in a good way; incorporating the major pieces and emotions felt within the words and portray them with a similar atmosphere, tone, and even artistic look. It’s nothing ground-breaking and maybe could have been taken a few steps farther if the book elements were expanded upon more, but for a direct adaptations, this is a pretty good one to show your kids. A humble story with a radiant effect, this pig story is something truly terrific and truly something else.