PIGTALE.

Byline: - Glenn Whipp

`Charlotte's Web'' director Gary Winick isn't exactly worried about comparisons between his version of E.B. White's children's classic and the 1973 cartoon musical version.

``The animation is so-so and ... well, don't get me started,'' says Winick. People love it because it's a great story. It's a hard thing to mess up.''

Which is why Winick is terrified, of course. Everyone loves ``Charlotte's Web,'' the tale of a wordy spider who befriends a pig and saves him from the slaughterhouse. Published in 1952, White's book has sold tens of millions of copies and has been translated into 23 languages.

``It's a message movie about friendship, trust and sacrifice, but the message comes from a relationship between a pig and a spider, so children aren't put off by it,'' Winick says. ``They are the unlikeliest friends.''

Winick's movie mixes live action and computer effects with Julia Roberts providing the voice of the computer-animated spider. Special effects are also used to make the real animals look like they're talking.

Asked which was harder to work with, animal trainers or animators, Winick says: ``Animators. There's a frustration factor with animals, but you know their limitations. With visual effects, it's so time-consuming, it seems endless.''

The movie used 47 pigs, rotating them out when they became too big to play Wilbur. The studio found each pig a good home, Winick reports.

``We get pictures all the time,'' Winick says. ``It's like, `Here's Flacka, this piglet that used to be so cute and fit in the palm of my hand. Now she's 800 pounds and enormous.' They can't stay like Wilbur forever.''

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``CHARLOTTE'S WEB''

Dakota Fanning Dec. 20