Seen: July21st, 2007
Format: DVD
Rating: 8
I have a personal affinity for spiders. I'm not sure why, but they fascinate me and I find it impossible to kill one and spend more time watching them than clearing their webs or sweeping them away. You might think, based on that, that I'd be a sucker for a kids' film with a spider as the wise protagonist.
You'd be right.
I enjoyed this film start to finish. The story is a classic, and this outing an honest and true rendition of it.
The only quibble I have with this film is the CGI work. I'll admit that it was much less intrusive than I thought it would be. It's prominence actually faded a bit as I became immersed in the story. But it never really went away. The anthropomorphization of the characters, particularly Templeton, was a bit much at times, sometimes to the point of distraction.
The voice acting is of very high caliber here. The cast is one that many director would simply fall over themselves to work with, much less put into supporting roles. Roberts is spot on as Charlotte, I can't imagine a better rendering. Buscemi's Templeton is over-the-top, sometimes gratingly so, but I attribute this to writing and direction. The live action actors are excellent as well. There was a lot of potential here to overdo, and I'm surprised as how well the restraint shown by the entire cast. Fanning, in particular, avoided the temptation to overplay Fern's emotional attachment to Wilbur.
Danny Elfman continues to show why he's one of the best in the business. His score is simply fantastic.
This film took me back to my childhood, which is a good thing. See this film with some kids, your own if you have them. Read the book with them first if possible, so you can get a head start on turning them into little film critics.
The Good: Material and voice acting
The Bad: A bit too cute at times
The Ugly: The Smokehouse
No comments:
Post a Comment