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‘Charlotte’s Web’
By Curt Holman
Movie Trailer
Measuring director Gary Winick’s
live-action adaptation of “Charlotte’s
Web” against the 1995 classic
“Babe” can set off a chicken-or-the-egg
kind of argument. Wilbur, the
porcine hero of the new film,
looks, behaves and even sounds
suspiciously like Babe, only without
the talent for herding sheep.
“Babe,” though, showed more
than a passing similarity to E.B.
White’s original book from 1952,
which also depicts a young pig’s
efforts to find a destiny beyond
somebody’s ham dinner. The more
pressing question turns out to
be whether Winick’s expensive
adaptation of “Charlotte’s Web”
keeps faith with one of the most
beloved children’s books ever
written. This generation’s “Charlotte’s
Web” makes some unfortunate concessions
to contemporary comedic styles,
but ultimately respects the values
of the book.
We enter the story from the
point of view of the only well-developed
human character, Fern (Dakota
Fanning), who begs her father
(Kevin Anderson) to spare a runty
newborn piglet from the chopping
block. As young Wilbur’s surrogate
mother, Fanning gives Fern an
almost severe intensity that stands
out amid the flat sappiness of
the human scenes.
Not a moment too soon, Wilbur
relocates to a neighboring farm,
where he and his barnyard bunkmates
speak with celebrity voices, including
John Cleese, Robert Redford and
Oprah Winfrey. The animals initially
give boyish Wilbur (Dominic Scott
Kay) a cold shoulder, and Templeton
the rat (Steve Buscemi) tells
him the hard truth about what
the farm’s smokehouse is for.
As domesticated animals, Wilbur
and company seldom leave the confines
of the barn, and Winick, seemingly
flummoxed by the plot’s restrictions,
relies on animal pratfalls and
other slapstick to keep the audience
interested. And while barnyards
can be synonymous for earthy humor,
the film’s bodily function jokes
seem too coarse for a G-rated
film, and would be unthinkable
in either the original book or
Hanna-Barbera’s upbeat but bland
1973 animated feature.
The film finds more successful
comic relief with the pair of
crows (Andre Benjamin and Thomas
Hayden Church) who crave corn
but keep getting psyched out by
a motionless scarecrow. Plus,
Templeton’s larger-than-life appetites
and gleeful selfishness give the
film some personality. If any
actor can be considered “typecast”
as a rat, it’s Buscemi, who rivals
Paul Lynde’s haughty Templeton
from the 1973 film. Templeton’s
twisty rat-holes, decorated with
odd and ends, provide one of the
film’s most intriguing images,
and there’s even an echo of Indiana
Jones when he tries to outrun
a rolling, rotten egg.
The film shifts its attention
to higher things when Wilbur befriends
Charlotte the spider (Julia Roberts),
who resolves to come up with a
plan to save Wilbur’s life. With
her spunk and erudition, Charlotte
seems like an irrepressible Julie
Andrews character, but Roberts
appropriately infuses the voice
with more low-key sensitivity
and wisdom. Charlotte also proves
the film’s subtlest computer-animated
creation, coming across as expressive
and friendly while having an undeniably
creepy arachnid face.
Despite some too-modern touches,
“Charlotte’s Web” doesn’t neglect
the book’s heartfelt aspects.
Charlotte argues that Wilbur qualifies
as “Some Pig” and deserves rescue
not for any particular thing he
does, but for who he is, an intriguing
message about valuing decency
(human or otherwise).
Even more, the plot conveys
the sacredness of the written
word. Credit White, who co-authored
the definitive writing handbook
“The Elements of Style,” with
writing a story that conveys a
love of words.
“Charlotte’s Web” builds to
an effective, tear-jerking climax
that doesn’t avoid the truths
of mortality, and the closing
credits charmingly imitate Garth
Williams’ illustrations from the
original book. Winick’s “Charlotte’s
Web” is unlikely to outlive either
“Babe” or White’s book, but its
rare lapses in taste don’t prevent
it from offering a warm family
outing. CV
‘Apocalypto’
By James DiGiovanna
Movie Trailer
Following Mel Gibson’s pre-release
drunken public rants, I was very
eager to see his latest movie,
“Apocalypto,” because I thought
it would explain once and for
all how the Jews were responsible
for the decline of the ancient
Mayan empire. However, instead
of an educational film on the
perfidious behavior of a cabal
of Mesoamerican chosen peoples,
“Apocalypto” turns out to be one
of the best-looking and most expertly
directed action films of the past
five years.
It begins with something never
before seen in a movie: a chase
sequence shot from the viewpoint
of a tapir. It’s the long-rumored
technological advance of tapir-vision!
As the desperate tapir runs through
the jungles of Guatemala, I assumed
that we would shortly see it being
chased by a group of hungry Jews.
But instead, the tapir is being
chased by a group of 16th-century
Guatemalan hunters. And this is
where we first see that “Apocalypto,”
unlike virtually every other film,
has a sophisticated, non-condescending
view of Native Americans. Instead
of portraying them as humorless,
noble savages who have something
important to teach us about the
earth, it shows them laughing,
having troubles with their mothers-in-law
and goofing around with a monkey:
you know, just like ordinary people
do.
One of the best bits involves
a great performance by Jonathan
Brewer as a hunter named Blunted
whose compatriots trick him into
eating tapir testicles as a practical
joke. This is the moment when
Gibson displays his sophisticated
comedic sense. Think about it:
A guy eating buffalo balls is
frat-boy humor. A guy eating tapir
balls? Genius.
The film is helped by the fact
that the Native Americans are
not played by Arquettes and Baldwins
in red-face makeup. Instead, Gibson
got actual native people, most
of who had never been in a film
before. Actually, that may account
for why they’re so good.
While the sophistication of
the acting and characterizations
are notable enough, where “Apocalypto”
excels is in the pace and plotting.
This is an action movie of the
rarest kind: one that’s neither
stupid nor boring.
It kicks into high gear when
a group of Mayan raiders sweep
into the sleepy little hunting
village, slaughtering and taking
prisoners. It turns out they work
for a king who wants to use the
imprisoned villagers to advance
his political career.
A tense sequence wherein the
prisoners are marched through
the jungle leads to one of the
most gorgeously photographed and
constructed sets I have ever seen:
a re-creation of an ancient Mayan
city.
It also features great action-star
acting by Rudy Youngblood as the
hunted hunter Jaguar Paw. He manages
to combine fear, desperation and
in-your-face defiance, all while
speaking an ancient Mayan language.
Seeing as Gibson’s been selling
this as a message film, its appearance
as a thriller was unexpected.
Sure, there’s a message in the
middle of the action, something
to the effect of “empires collapse
from within” or “when you start
sacrificing human beings, you
need to rethink your general political
ideology,” but it’s thinly presented,
which is best, because it doesn’t
interfere with the drama. Instead,
it provides a justification for
it.
“Apocalypto” takes the sensibility
of the movies that Gibson has
acted in (“Mad Max,” “Lethal Weapon,”
“Hamlet”) and dresses it up in
a level of smarts, precision and
directorial know-how that far
exceeds the crime-flicks and thrillers
that it draws from. In spite of
the fact that it’s easy to say
bad things about Gibson, he simply
can’t be faulted as an artist.
“Apocalypto” is one of the best
films of the year, and by far
the best of Gibson’s directorial
career. CV
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