Charlotte's Web 2: Wilbur's Great Adventure (2002 Video) User Reviews

Charmless sequel, that is sorely lacking in everything that made the original so charming

[TheLittleSongbird · 3/10 · 11 August 2010]

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

Not terrible, has a few good spots

[whisperstar · 5/10 · 2 July 2018]

I watched this movie a lot as a kid, so I don't think I have it in me to hate it, especially since it's clearly not trying to live up to the original film. But I re-watched it for the first time in years recently, and I have to say, I've never in my life laughed so hard just from watching a film.

The story is very simple. Wilbur has gone back to his normal life on the farm alongside Charlotte's three daughters - the bold and adventurous Nellie, the cautious worrywart Aranea, and the cynical, ironically-named Joy. When spring comes, he ends up befriending a newborn black sheep after everyone else on the farm mocks him for being different. After the sheep, named Cardigan, is sold to another farmer, Wilbur sets out to visit him and make sure he's doing alright, but ends up being mistaken for a wild pig after a fox makes off with some of the other farm's livestock. Bound by a promise he made to stay with Cardigan until his wool is shorn (yeah, that's really why he can't just leave and go back home), Wilbur has to find a way to prove his innocence before the gaggle of angry farmers hunts him down.

The relationship between Wilbur and Cardigan is one of the weirdest parts of the film - for starters, Wilbur spends the first twenty minutes teaching Cardigan to act like a pig, and none of the human characters ever take issue with this, even as Cardigan takes part in things like eating Wilbur's pig slop. I get that it's supposed to be heartwarming or something, but why not just have Cardigan act like a normal sheep while still being friends with Wilbur? One of the things I happen to remember about the original story was how Wilbur grew to like Charlotte in spite of the ways in which she was different from him, like her unsettling, albeit natural thirst for blood. I don't think they were deliberately trying to go against that moral here by having Cardigan be just like Wilbur instead - it was just a weird choice that wasn't completely thought through, I'm guessing.

There are also a lot of times where Wilbur and Cardigan sleep next to each other and cuddle together or nuzzle each other's noses...Rewatching it, I briefly found myself wondering if Cardigan was supposed to be a female. (As far as I know, he's not.)

But while the film had some...odd moments, it demonstrated some competence, too. I think the best parts of it were when it focused on Charlotte's daughters. The three of them get a subplot about trying to live up to their mother's legacy, complete with a song number as they try to spell out Wilbur's innocence in their web. Even as an adult, I found them to be pretty endearing as characters and I was sort of invested in their arc, and I wish more of the film's running time had been devoted to them. (Though this investment did make their subplot's payoff a little disappointing for me -- without giving too much away, the girls eventually manage to convey the truth about the situation to the human characters, but a few minutes later, it's revealed that a key piece of evidence was sitting just a few inches away during the entire scene, so the truth probably would've come out whether the spiders had been there or not.)

The film had a lot of songs sprinkled throughout, by the way -- many of them were fairly pointless, but I give credit that at least the tunes were a little catchy. The voice acting was alright, and there was a surprising amount of intentional humor that managed to hit its mark. Apart from the three spiders, one other character I was fond of was this sassy cow with a milk problem that Wilbur meets at one point; she turns out to be a lot like Templeton, in that she lays out the harsh truths of the situation the heroes are in and calls them out when they make stupid decisions and stuff. She didn't need to be in the film at all, but for a side character, she was surprisingly likable and contributed to a good deal of the comedy.

And the animation, particularly the backgrounds, always struck me as quite impressive for what the movie is -- whether it's during Wilbur's happy days on the farm or while he's running for his life from the farmers and their dogs, the visuals did a good job of drawing me into the events of the story and are probably one of the few soft spots I still have from this old childhood memory.

Even without the effect of slight nostalgia (and believe you me, it is very slight), I don't regard this movie as all that terrible, even if I'm comparing it to the legacy of its predecessor -- as general direct-to-video kids' movies go, it's just an innocent, slightly dumb, but cute little film to hold their attention. The only questionable thing about it is the whole "you should teach your friends to act exactly like you instead of embracing their own unique differences" thing with Wilbur and Cardigan, and even that isn't something I'd expect kids to think into that much. Overall, I consider it a harmless story whether a follow-up to the original or not.

One last thing I neglected to mention is the movie's villain; a fox who attacks both farms Wilbur is at throughout the film and is responsible for the aforementioned framing of him. I didn't explore him in detail in this review because there isn't more to him than what you would expect from a villainous fox character in a movie about farm animals. He's there, he does fine, he gets a pointless song, and I like his voice. Make of that what you will.

inferior to the original

[disdressed12 · 5/10 · 14 January 2008]

most kids will probably enjoy this movie,but maybe not as much as the original movie.it' has a pretty negative atmosphere throughout.it is more colourful and action oriented then the first one,as well.the pace is faster and the movie is louder,in general.the first movie is useful for helping children in their spelling and vocabulary.this one really isn't any help in that area.there is a little bit of a lesson on friendship and working together as a team,but not as much as the first one.however,this movie does not deal with any intense issues,such as death,like the first one did.again,there is nothing offensive here,and the movie is appropriate for any age group.overall,though i think this movie is inferior in most respects to the original movie.i'd give Charlotte's Web 2:Wilbur's Great Adventure a 4/10

Moody sequel but good voices and backgrounds

[burt-25 · 30 April 2004]

Sadly I have to watch this movie about 6 times a day, everyday. I think I know the script inside out now. The good points about this sequel is the 3 songs, they are quite good but it is best to listen to them without watching the movie as the acting? and out of sync suck. The voices are good, my favourites are Bessie and Nellie. The backgrounds are amazing, excellent artwork.

The bad points are that this movie sucks. It doesnt follow on from the original. It looks hurried and not planned. The script sucks, the jokes poor, and it has the most ugliest lamb I have ever seen as a character in a cartoon. The voice of the lamb makes you feel like smashing up your TV and then burn your house down - its damn grating and annoying.

At first I hated the film, now I just loathe it. I still enjoy listening to Bessie and Nellie as the voices are great, shame they are reading a crap script.

I agree with the other person that posted here, its not worth watching. The story sucks, the Wilbur character has been turned into a wimp you want to kick up the ass, the lamb is ugly and provokes anger, the jokes are from a christmas cracker, the script is from a TV commercial.

Feels incredibly padded

[aleusong · 2/10 · 28 October 2012]

Most video sequels (though inferior) at least try to build up a story with some form of plot, character development, and the like. But this sequel was just bland and boring. I would've taken a rehash of the original story where the attention was on Cardigan instead the story that we got here. The story is basically, Wilbur goes to visit Cardigan at his new home and a misunderstanding occurs where Wilbur must come to his rescue. It may sound interesting on paper but the movie stretches this plot way out to meet its 80 minute requirement with too slow unnecessary moments, dull songs, and goes nowhere with it really. I was expecting something a little more exciting or at least something with more depth to happen. But in the end it is so boring even for a video sequel.

I wasn't a big fan of the original. But it would've been more interesting to see them do something a little more with a sequel to this film. The other thing that might bother people is that they updated ALL the characters from the film with modern looks. Fern in this movie is a COMPLETELY different character (in looks and personality) than the one from the original. It barely qualifies as a sequel to the 1973 animated film because of this.

Not as good as the original

[davekeanu · 2/10 · 12 June 2016]

Well the first Charlotte's web was a beautiful film it was wonderful masterpiece and rather underrated 70s classic. I remember enjoying it and loving the jokes and the hidden message in that film. When I heard about their was sequel to the first film. I was looking forward to it, I rented it out on DVD at the video store and I thought it was going to be as good as the first. But it sucked it was so boring. And here are the reasons for it what happened to characters like Geoffrey the baby goose and the old sheep and Fern's brother. And what happened to Wilbur every one's favorite pig in the first one he was brave and kind but in this one he is complete loser and scared of every thing the fox as the villain was only likable character in this film. This movie has got nothing to do with the first film what so ever but when it does, it's are total slap stick in the face.

This movie is such a let down to the original film and this one is so forgettable the only good thing about this film was the soundtrack 2/10

A total unnecessary sequel to a timeless classic.

[ryanward-45039 · 2/10 · 7 December 2021]

Charlotte's Web while not a perfect animated movie was a charming and sweet one like 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 Land Before Time sequels, the Swan Princess sequels and many sequels to Disney classics, it is a disappointing trying to be like it's predecessor. There's little to like about this one because the original didn't need any continuation and neither did the source material, but in the early 2000's it was required by Hollywood law that any animated film whether it was good or not had to have a sequel, and sadly Charlotte's Web suffered from a spider's bite that gave us this cute abomination known as Charlotte's Web 2: Wilbur's Great Adventure.

Wilbur the pig knows how important friendship is-he learned that from a spider named Charlotte. So when Wilbur meets Cardigan, a lonely lamb, Wilbur immediately makes him his friend. Wilbur shows Cardigan the joys of farm life, and introduces him to three very special spiders-Nelli, Aranea and Joy-Charlotte's daughters. When Farmer Zuckerman suddenly sells Cardigan to another farmer, Wilbur realizes what must he do. Joined by Templeton the rat, as well as Charlotte's three daughters, Wilbur sets out a journey to find Cardigan...and discovers that with courage, heart and the love of your friends, even if you have only just met them, you can do anything.

First off, the characters are not the same as before. Starting with Wilbur, he somehow feels and looks like he hasn't aged or left the farm to go to the county fair. His voice is a little off since he's no longer voiced by Henry Gibson, and his design is off too, and so are many of the characters in this movie. What's really freaky is that the spider girls Nellie, Aarena and Joy all look like they're from the show The Buzz on Maggie and given off color wigs and antennae. Plus the trio are voiced by Amanda Bynes, Anndi McAfee and Maria Bamford, and kind of pass off as wannabe Powerpuff Girls. Fern and the human characters aren't interesting. Templeton is a father that has trouble raising kids and isn't quite as funny as he was before, and the other animal characters from the last movie are either dumb or just straight up idiots. Then you have the villain of the picture, Farley the fox, voiced by Rob Paulson, and while he does seem to be the only character that seems interesting, but his motivation and his plans are just straight up lame. And then you have the new addition to the farm, Cardigan the black lamb, and boy is he annoying! I mean he pretty much is the set up for Wilbur to go on another adventure when he should have been happy and playing with Charlotte's children and grandchildren. And how come Charlotte's daughters don't age or have kids of their own since apparently the narrator of the last movie said that Wilbur did see Charlotte's daughters of their own? I guess this might have been just an error or something but I would have expected some form of continuity.

The songs in this movie are just awful, and the only song that I'm sure a lot of people remember is the song where Wilbur teaches Cardigan to be like him, eat sloppy, roll in mud and burp. Yeah what a way to make the songs in the original feel Oscar-worthy. And of course they are not done by the Sherman Brothers this time, but are done by Micheal Tavera, who had written songs for pretty much all the Land Before Time sequels. And the reason why this was made because they wanted to achieve the success of the sequels to Disney animated movies, plus the Land Before Time sequels and a few other Don Bluth sequels as well.

All and all, this truly is a sequel no one demanded.

2/10.

Didn't need to happen

[cjwhite-31645 · 4/10 · 13 October 2017]

I cried when I saw Charlotte's Web on VHS when I was four, When I saw this piece of crap, I cried because of how awful it was. Only three songs are good and worth listening to. Other than that, the film didn't need to happen. The Animation was alright along with some good voice acting. The Trailer was WAY better than the film itself. I have seen this film six times in my childhood, still can't get over how bad it was.

Why did you make a second one

[tclbird · 1/10 · 21 July 2023]

They try to get the same fan fare they shouldn't have made a second one: the art and story is not like the first one. Sorry but if I could give less I would😔 the art looks like someone who has only done cartoon shorts. I know the actors are not or should be the same but it didn't look like they knew what the story should be its like they never saw the first one. And looks like they took the script and threw it in then wrote it as its falling. I know this sounds harsh I'm not trying to be however I gave this movie two chances and each time I so more I didn't like. I believe this is why it went straight to video.