NEWEST `CHARLOTTE' BRINGS HOME THE BACON.

Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Critic

E.B. White was none too keen on the 1973 animated musical version of his book, ``Charlotte's Web,'' and, having endured that innocuous movie with my 6-year-old daughter, I think I have a small window into his pain. (Why, again, does the little girl, Fern, look like the grown-up Julie Andrews?)

Were White around today, I think he'd feel a little bit better about the new live-action ``Charlotte's Web,'' which excises the songs and, for the most part, tries to maintain the contemplative nature of his book. White was big on keeping the animals behaving like animals and not anthropomorphizing them into a barnyard of Disney creations, and director Gary Winick honors that notion, maintaining Charlotte the spider's balance of warmth and weirdness.

Given that one of the main characters is a talking pig, ``Charlotte's Web'' will inevitably bring to mind ``Babe.'' Like that 1995 movie, the pig seems destined for the holiday dinner table. A strength of both of the movies is an unwillingness to sugarcoat the gravity of the situation. Mortality is a central theme in ``Charlotte's Web,'' and, thankfully, the filmmakers pay it the respect it deserves.

Winick and writers Susannah Grant and Karey Kirkpatrick have made the barnyard a little busier, fleshing out the supporting animals in generally pleasing ways to show the inspiring power of Wilbur's friendship with Charlotte (beautifully voiced by Julia Roberts). Less endearing is the potty humor, partly because it's so overdone in kids' movies these days and partly because it feels tacked on, like Winick got a note to include a couple of flatulence jokes and grudgingly went along with it.

The filmmakers are smarter than that. Take the cut from the scene where Fern (Dakota Fanning) saves the runt Wilbur from her dad's ax.

``I won't let you kill him,'' she says. Cut to the next morning with Mom sizzling some bacon in the frying pan. It's a pithy summation of our modern disconnect between the food we eat and where it comes from.

Of course, as my daughter noted after the movie, Wilbur isn't any ordinary pig. As Charlotte writes in her web, he is ``some pig.'' That, he is, and here he gets his just due with a movie that honors his humility and grace in fine fashion.

Glenn Whipp, [phone]

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CHARLOTTE'S WEB - Three stars

(G)

Starring: Dakota Fanning, with the voices of Julia Roberts, Steve Buscemi and John Cleese.

Director: Gary Winick.

Running time: 1 hr. 36 mins.

Playing: In wide release.

In a nutshell: E.B. White's beloved children's book gets a fine big-screen treatment that honors that source material's contemplative nature and essential dignity.

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Fern, played by Dakota Fanning, understands that Wilbur is ``some pig'' and helps spare him from the frying pan. The new ``Charlotte's Web'' film retains the book's dignity and grace.