Charlotte's Web

A runt piglet born on a farm is about to be killed when the farmer's daughter saves him. Wilbur grows and goes to live in the barn. Learning he will be slaughtered in the autumn, he panics. Charlotte, the spider in the corner, says she will help him and begins weaving words into her web. The subject is not the rescue but explaining death to a child. The film does not change the ending: Charlotte dies, and it is shown plainly in an animated feature. The narrative places it not as tragedy but as part of the seasons. The form sits at the level of seventies television animation: limited movement, static backgrounds, simple drawing. The songs are by the Sherman brothers and are one reason the film is remembered. The source is E. B. White's novel. The author is known to have disliked this adaptation, particularly its musical form and its sentimentality; even so the film was shown in schools for generations and children who never read the book learned the story here. Debbie Reynolds voices Charlotte and Paul Lynde voices Templeton the rat, whose sequence at the fair is the most entertaining part of the film. Who it is for: viewers who like classic children's animation and readers of the book. Who it is not for: anyone expecting visual quality; the animation is cheap and no different from the television work of its day.