I watched this with my son while we were at Grandma's house. Not a bad version of the classic E.B. White book. The animal effects were well done for the most part. They didn't stray from the story, kept it all nice and tidy. Dakota Fanning is cute in the lead role. A decent children's film, that won't bore adults to death.

But they went completely overboard with the celebrity casting. I think it all started with Robin Williams in Aladdin, that's where stars took over, and it became more important to get a name, than a good voice. In Charlotte's Web, every single animal is a recognizable voice, it really took me out of the film. From Oprah to Steve Buscemi, (Could you get more obvious casting for a rat?) every voice I pictured the actor reading the lines behind some microphone, instead of becoming involved with the characters. I'm all for good actors lending their voice to animated films, but not when it's merely so they can add another name to the top of the poster. I couldn't believe it when I felt that the normally annoying Julia Roberts was the best cast of all the celebrity animals.