by ANNE MARIE MARKO

Pockets crammed with napkins from the concession stand, I took my seat with the other lambs going to slaughter and prepared to wail like a colicky baby. Why? Because I knew that pig + spider + girl = tragedy and that Hollywood + animals + children = cart-load of maudlin, manipulative, predictable malarkey and that alone is enough to make me bawl my eyes out. But this latest film adaptation of E.B. White’s novel Charlotte’s Web, which features live action along with some snazzy animatronic and CGI technology, tells a beautiful and simple story simply and beautifully.

Born a runt, Wilbur the piglet (voiced by Dominic Scott Kay) is adopted by Fern (Dakota Fanning), a sensitive young girl who reads him stories, lets him share her bed, wheels him through town in a baby carriage and brings him to school. When her parents grow concerned that their daughter is a weirdo, they convince her to sell Wilbur to the farm across the road where she can still visit him every day. Happily accustomed to Fern’s companionship and love, life in the barn is lonely for the vivacious Wilbur. None of the animals say hello, play games with him or care to know his name.

Except for Charlotte (Julia Roberts), the placid and wise spider who, spinning her intricate web in silence every night, wishes only that some day she will find a true friend. But Wilbur’s a spring pig and come winter, he will be a Christmas ham! Promising to save her friend from his smokehouse destiny, Charlotte commits the ultimate act of friendship and devises a spectacular plan to tell the world just how extraordinary a pig Wilbur really is.

I am a sucker for animal stories but I ain’t a fool. Director Gary Winick deftly bypasses the predictable Hollywood trappings by maintaining the integrity of the story and delivering performances from a cast who elegantly reinforce and illustrate the film’s themes: the preciousness of friendship, the power of love and the possibility of miracles. And, yeah, I cried like a baby— but for all the right reasons.

Charlotte’s Web opens this Friday, Dec. 15

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