History Film / CharlottesWeb

--> '''Fern's father:''' A little girl is one thing. A runty pig is another.

--> '''Fern:''' If I'd been born small, would you have killed me?

* BaitAndSwitch: The film has one for those not familiar with the story. After Fern says she absolutely will not let her dad kill the small piglet, the movie immediately cuts to bacon being fried; and then after ''that'' it cuts to Fern holding the small piglet and bottle-feeding it, so as to make clear that the bacon is from some ''other'' pig.

When Fern Arable (Creator/DakotaFanning) learns that her father, John (Kevin Anderson), plans to kill the runt of a litter of newborn pigs, she successfully begs him to spare the piglet's life. The farmer gives the tiny pig to Fern, who names him Wilbur (voiced by Dominic Scott Kay), and raises him as her pet. To Fern's regret, when Wilbur grows into an adult pig, Fern is forced to take him to the her uncle Homer Zuckerman (Gary Basaraba)'s farm, where he is to be prepared as dinner in due time.

Charlotte (Creator/JuliaRoberts), a spider, lives in the space above Wilbur's sty in the Zuckermans' barn; she befriends Wilbur and decides to help prevent him from being eaten. With the help of the other barn animals, including a a gluttonous rat named Templeton (Creator/SteveBuscemi), she convinces the Zuckerman family that Wilbur is actually quite special, by spelling out descriptions of him in her web: "Some pig", "Terrific", "Radiant" and "Humble". Charlotte gives her full name as "Charlotte A. Cavatica", revealing her as a barn spider, an orb-weaving species (''Araneus cavaticus'').

The farm family, Wilbur, Charlotte, and Templeton go to a fair, where Wilbur is entered in a contest. While there, Charlotte produces an egg sac. She cannot return home with Wilbur because she is dying. Wilbur tearfully says goodbye to Charlotte but manages to take her egg sac home, where hundreds of offspring emerge. Most of the young spiders soon leave, but three, named Joy, Aranea and Nellie, stay and become Wilbur's friends.

* AdaptationExpansion: The film doesn't add any new plot threads, but does flesh out the other barnyard animals, gives them [[NamedByTheAdaptation names]] – Gussy and Golly the Geese, Samuel the Sheep, Bitsy and Betsy the Cows, Ike the Horse, and Elwyn and Brooks the Crows – and emphasizes their growth from individualistic [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Jerks with Hearts of Gold]] to a kinder, happier community as they become friends with Wilbur and Charlotte.
* AdaptationalEarlyAppearance: Invoked. Unlike the book and animated movie where Fern first sees Wilbur at daylight, this film alters this much earlier so she meets him before dawn.

* AdaptedOut: The old ram who warns Wilber he's going to be slaughtered. He was replaced with Samuel for the film, while his mentioned role was given to Templeton.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Charlotte is modeled with head moving independently from thorax. Real spiders have fused cephalothorax.

* BittersweetEnding: While Wilbur lives, Charlotte dies soon after the fair. Also Fern doesn't visit Wilbur as often as she used to as she grows up and starts dating Henry Fussy. Yet Charlotte's children live on, and Wilbur is happy to while away the years in the barn with generations of Charlotte's descendants.

* BrutalHonesty: A major theme of both the book and its adaptations, with Charlotte, who says she sees no point in withholding unpleasant information from a friend, representing an especially noble variety of it, and Templeton, who is rather overt about his selfish motives for what he does, representing a rather less-than-noble variety. In the book and animated adaptation, the sheep represents a sort of middle ground, telling Wilbur about what farms do to pigs, while the live action version gives that role to Templeton, bringing his brutal honesty even further.
-->'''Templeton:''' What? You're going to lie to the future football here? Okay, but it's a sad statement when ''I'm'' the most honest guy in the place.

** While Templeton is visiting the junkyard to look for a word for Wilbur, Brooks and Elwyn swoop down to attack him. Luckily, Templeton lures the two crows into a trap, causing them to crash into some sand and pink paint, and they vow revenge.

** Ike passes out when Charlotte mentions that she drinks fly blood. [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes (he's arachnophobic.)]]

* FilthyFun: Wilbur is the only barn animal to like rain, because with rain comes mud, which he likes to play in.
* FinalSpeech: Charlotte's last words as Wilber is leaving the fair.

* HeelRealization: Mr. Zuckerman after Wilbur accepts his award which leads him to allow Wilbur live his whole life.

** Charlotte's full name is Charlotte A. Cavatica. She is also a barn spider, and the scientific name for a barn spider is Araneus cavaticus. When her daughter learns that mother's middle initial was "A", she decides to name herself Aranea.

** Then when Charlotte reveals to Wilbur that she drinks flies blood, Ike faints to the ground with a loud THUD. Then as Charlotte climbs down next to the fallen horse:

* UselessProtagonist: Wilbur, who pretty much does nothing the whole book. It could be argued he's more of a DecoyProtagonist (along with Fern), if you prefer to think of Charlotte as the ''actual'' main character. Or that the point of his character arc is his maturing from a passive piglet who needs to be rescued to a proactive, mature pig who ensures the safety of Charlotte's egg sac and watches over her children after her death.
* WeAreAsMayflies: The unspoken reason Charlotte helps Wilbur. She lives only a year, and values the friendship for what little life she will enjoy.
* WhatsInItForMe: It's a continued theme that Templeton repeatedly asks this question, and is repeatedly answered with ''very'' strong incentives. One has to wonder why Templeton hasn't learned to expect it. Only twice is Templeton ''not'' threatened - and those are the two final times, first with promises of miles of food at the fair, and last of all when Wilber promises to let him eat first from his trough for the rest of his life in return for bringing him Charlotte's egg sack.

'''Templeton''': That'd be a change.\\

** Fainting in fear is still Wilbur's CharacterTic, just like [[Literature/CharlottesWeb the book]]