White's book, and live-action/CGI remake of Paramount's 1973 animated feature film produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions.

The film stars Dakota Fanning, Kevin Anderson, and Beau Bridges, with voices provided by Dominic Scott Kay, Julia Roberts, Steve Buscemi, John Cleese, Oprah Winfrey, Thomas Haden Church, André Benjamin, Cedric the Entertainer, Kathy Bates, Reba McEntire, Robert Redford, and Sam Shepard as the narrator.

[2] During springtime on a farm in Somerset County, Maine, young Fern Arable discovers her father John about to kill a runt of a litter of newborn pigs.

She successfully begs her father to spare the piglet's life; Fern names him Wilbur and nurtures him lovingly.

Mr. Arable feels slightly concerned for his daughter’s behavior and one night, prevails upon Fern to stay home, do her homework and go straight to bed without visiting Wilbur.

While there, Charlotte produces an egg sac containing her unborn offspring while Wilbur, despite not winning the blue ribbon, is later given a bronze medal and celebrated by the fair's staff and visitors, making him too prestigious to justify killing him.

Wilbur sadly bids goodbye to her as she remains at the fair and dies shortly after his departure, but he manages to take her egg sac home with the help of Templeton.

[4] The visual effects supervisor for the film was John Berton, who noted that a live-action version of Charlotte's Web has become much more practical in recent years due to advances in technology.

The site's critical consensus reads, "Kids will be entertained by the straightforward plot and cute animals, and adults will be charmed by how quiet and humble the production is, a fine translation of E.B.

[12] Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly stated that the film was "a bit noisy" but praised the director for putting "the book, in all its glorious tall-tale reverence, right up on screen".

"[13] Conversely, Colm Andrew of the Manx Independent gave the film a score of six out of ten, saying that the main problem was "the ultra-cute characterisation of Wilbur, resulting in half the audience rooting for his demise" although overall it was "a competent retelling of a classic story that won't offend".

[16] In addition to the instrumental score by Danny Elfman (composing his second film for Nickelodeon Movies, following Nacho Libre, which released the same year), the soundtrack includes the song "Ordinary Miracle" by Sarah McLachlan, which she herself performed during the opening ceremonies of her hometown Vancouver Winter Olympics.