I’ve got to say, despite the huge overexposure of Dakota Fanning, the live-action Charlotte’s Web trailer looks pretty darn cool.

It features the voices of such big names as Julia Roberts, John Cleese, Steve Buscemi, Oprah Winfrey, Andre 3000, and Cedric the Entertainer.

On the other hand, I think having celebrities do voices on these kind of things sort of cheapens the magic and suspension of disbelief.  Yes, presumably many celebrity actors are famous because they’re very good at acting, but most of them are famous for a variety of reasons, also including good looks, roles in previous hit films, or success in other media (see Oprah and Andre 3000).  Surely there are tons of very talented actors out there who maybe aren’t as good-looking as Julia Roberts but would really relish the role of voicing Charlotte.

I guess the movie has to make money, and it makes money based on name recognition.  I just get annoyed by the whole “beautiful woman gets ugly and wins an Oscar” syndrome, when there plenty of not-so-beautiful actors who would die for those roles.  This seems like a similar situation.

But I would still like to see it.  I have such fond memories of the book and the original animated movie.  I saw it when my brother was a baby, and my mom and I thought little Wilbur looked like my pink, squishy little brother.  Maybe my little cousinito Max would like to see it with Denny and me.  He loves animals, though he would probably be disappointed that there are no lions in it.