Charlotte's Web while not a perfect animated movie was a charming and sweet one with likable characters and lovely animation. Now I'll give some credit, I do not consider this sequel the worst animated sequel ever, that's The Secret of NIMH 2, but along with the FernGully and Jungle Book sequels it is one of the most disappointing ones, and it was somewhat unnecessary too. Apart from some pretty backgrounds, a good voice cast and the fact I liked the three girl spiders(Charlotte was much more endearing though), what made Charlotte's Web so charming is sorely lacking here.
Why do I say that? Well the music really isn't great. The music wasn't the biggest strength admittedly in Charlotte's Web, but at least it was memorable and mostly fitted with the story. The music here doesn't, and came across as very forgettable. That's not all, apart from the three spiders, the characters are not the same. Wilber is underused and no longer brave or adorable in fact he is a wimp here, Fern is not as warm or as loving, Templeton is now annoying with asides that make you groan rather than laugh and the fox villain is weak in pretty much everything. The most irritating character though was Cardigan. I did find Cardigan adorable once upon a time, but not anymore, quite the opposite actually, with an annoying voice and some ugly character animation.
While the backgrounds are really pretty and colourful, the character designs I feel aren't so great, especially on the farmyard animals and the fox. The biggest failures however are in the script and the story. The story is really charmless and predictable, and feels way too rushed. The ending especially was really out of the blue and had a that's it? feel to it. The script was in general terrible, what was meant to be funny came across as cringeworthy and what was meant to be poignant or heart warming came across as sappy and cloying. I've already spoken about Templeton, the less said about him and his asides and sarcasm the better, but that's not the whole story. Nothing anybody said made me care about what was going on pretty much, and anything that tried to be quirky made me want to hit the wall with my head. Finally, the film is too short and rushed, consequently I felt next to nothing for anything that made Charlotte's Web work so well, no characters to care about, no asides or jokes to laugh or smile at, no music to hum along to and after and no story that feels special.
Overall, a big disappointment. If you want charm, fun or likability, skip this and watch Charlotte's Web. 3/10 Bethany Cox
Why do I say that? Well the music really isn't great. The music wasn't the biggest strength admittedly in Charlotte's Web, but at least it was memorable and mostly fitted with the story. The music here doesn't, and came across as very forgettable. That's not all, apart from the three spiders, the characters are not the same. Wilber is underused and no longer brave or adorable in fact he is a wimp here, Fern is not as warm or as loving, Templeton is now annoying with asides that make you groan rather than laugh and the fox villain is weak in pretty much everything. The most irritating character though was Cardigan. I did find Cardigan adorable once upon a time, but not anymore, quite the opposite actually, with an annoying voice and some ugly character animation.
While the backgrounds are really pretty and colourful, the character designs I feel aren't so great, especially on the farmyard animals and the fox. The biggest failures however are in the script and the story. The story is really charmless and predictable, and feels way too rushed. The ending especially was really out of the blue and had a that's it? feel to it. The script was in general terrible, what was meant to be funny came across as cringeworthy and what was meant to be poignant or heart warming came across as sappy and cloying. I've already spoken about Templeton, the less said about him and his asides and sarcasm the better, but that's not the whole story. Nothing anybody said made me care about what was going on pretty much, and anything that tried to be quirky made me want to hit the wall with my head. Finally, the film is too short and rushed, consequently I felt next to nothing for anything that made Charlotte's Web work so well, no characters to care about, no asides or jokes to laugh or smile at, no music to hum along to and after and no story that feels special.
Overall, a big disappointment. If you want charm, fun or likability, skip this and watch Charlotte's Web. 3/10 Bethany Cox