Fern Arable (played by Dakota Fanning) is a girl who saves a pig from almost being killed by her father because of its small size. Fern promises to take care of the pig so it won’t be killed. In a short while Fern falls in love with the pig and even names him Wilbur. She loves him so much that she takes him to school with her. But alas, Fern gets busted by her teacher and told by her parents that she must get rid of Wilbur and sell him to her Uncle Homer’s farm.

Once he is in the barn, Wilbur (voiced by Dominic Scott Kay) starts to try to make friends with the farm animals like Templeton the rat, Goosey the goose and Ike the horse. What he doesn’t know is that when Christmas comes, he will have the honor of being Christmas dinner! But that is when Wilbur meets a friendly spider named Charlotte (Julia Roberts) who promises to make sure Wilbur does not get eaten for dinner.

Let’s face it, everyone has read this story or seen the 1973 animated version of this movie, so let’s talk about why it was different. I liked the new characters they added to the story; two dim-witted crows who think they keep seeing the same man (a scarecrow) in all of the fields. They were funny. Also, the people who made this movie did not take any scenes out of the book, and I liked that too. Templeton the rat was once again one of the funniest characters, and Steve Buscemi did as good a job as Paul Lind.

I’m not sure what they could have done better in this movie.

Stuff yourself with some pork chops and head out to see it with your family!

Rated G for Great Pig!

***1/2

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