Charlotte's Web: Similarities and Differences in Book and Movie

Charlotte's Web, written by E.B. White, is a warm-hearted, classic children's novel that received a Newbery Honor Award in 1953. True friendship and loyalty is the central theme throughout the entire story. The movie, although recently released in 2006, proved to mostly stay true to the memorable and popular book.
After reading and watching Charlotte's Web, I discovered many similarities in both the book and the movie. The characters in the story remained the same as in the book. Fern, Mr. and Mrs. Arable, Avery, Homer and Edith Zuckerman, Lurvy, Henry Fussy, Dr. Dorian, modest Wilbur, loyal Charlotte, obnoxious Templeton, the sheep, the geese, and the cows all appeared in the movie and possessed many of the same character traits. In addition, much of the dialogue between the characters were very similar. I did note, however, there was a good deal of added dialogue among the barn animals, especially between the cows, in the movie that did not appear in the book.
Furthermore, the majority of the events embedded in the movie were also found in the book. For example, both book and movie began with Fern preventing her father, Mr. Arable, from killing the runt pig and then promising to take care of the animal whom she named, Wilbur. In addition, when Wilbur got too bundlesome to take care of, Fern's family sent Wilbur to live nearby in Uncle Homer's barn, where Fern frequently visited Wilbur. In both forms of the story, Wilbur was not thrilled to be in the new barn when he first arrived and felt like a stranger. However, Charlotte, a grey spider, noticed Wilbur and befriended him. After Wilbur discovered that his chances of survival were minimal and he would not see snowfall, Charlotte promised him she would devise a plan that would save his life and indeed she succeeded with a little help from the rat Templeton. Templeton helped Charlotte unrelentingly by scurrying around trying to locate words Charlotte could use. By cleverly working and weaving 'SOME PIG,' 'TERRIFIC,' 'RADIANT,' and 'HUMBLE' in her web in an effort to describe Wilbur, Wilbur not only gained the Zuckermans' attention, but also the townspeople's attention as well. They were all amazed at the miraculous signs from the web. In both the book and movie, the people never understood how the words appeared in the spider's web. Although Mr. Zuckerman decided to enter Wilbur at the County Fair, an enormous pig named Uncle won the blue ribbon. However, because Wilbur was admired by so many people, he was honored with a medal of appreciation. Toward the end, before Charlotte died, she completed her masterpiece filled with 514 eggs. Because of Charlotte, Wilbur got to experience his first snowfall. He, in turn, faithfully watched Charlotte's little sack for weeks upon weeks. Finally, springtime arrived and tiny spiders came out of the sack. All of Charlotte's children floated away except for three little ones, whom they named as Joy, Aranea, and Nellie. Wilbur pledged his friendship year after year to Charlotte's children and grandchildren, but they never took the place of his beloved friend in his heart.
While there were numerous similarities between the book and the movie, I detected several small differences as well. For example, a minor variation from the book and the movie was where the story took place. While the book never mentioned a particular setting, the movie created a specific setting, Somerset County. Another difference I found at the beginning of the movie was when Fern sneaked Wilbur in her shirt and then took him to school. This particular scene was not in the book. Furthermore, in the book Mr. Zuckerman bought Wilbur from Fern for six dollars. This, however, was not even mentioned in the movie. Additionally, Wilbur's escape when he first arrives at the barn is told differently in the book and movie. In the book, the goose told Wilbur that a board was loose on the fence and that is how the pig escaped. In the movie, on the other hand, Wilbur tried several times and finally succeeded at knocking the fence over without any help from the other barn animals. Moreover, in the book the old sheep told Wilbur about him being killed. In the movie, though, Templeton was the one who told Wilbur about his fate.
Even though there were differences in the book and movie, I truly enjoyed reading and watching Charlotte's Web. The story's theme of true friendship and Charlotte's unique qualities of loyalty and selflessness are to be admired and enjoyed by children and adults for years to come.