Just-OK animated musical adapted from the beloved children's book by E.B. White. Barnyard pig is saved from slaughter by a quick-thinking spider. The kids of the piece no longer look rural as they did in the book's illustrations (they're pinkish-white, chubby-cheeked and city-fied) and the animals are thickly-drawn with big round eyes. Everyone looks well-fed, and really nothing is delicate or graceful except for the spider and her webs. The songs aren't too bad, but I did get tired of Henry Gibson's on-the-verge-of-tears line readings as Wilbur the Pig. Children should love it; I did when I was eight or nine--but today it looks a bit flat and inexpressive. Debbie Reynolds (talking for Charlotte) has a plaintive tear in her voice too, but she still gets to me. Get out the Kleenex. **1/2 from ****
Review of Charlotte's Web
