Charlotte's Web 2: Wilbur's Great Adventure is a 2003 American direct-to-video animated movie, and the sequel to the 1973 movie Charlotte's Web. The movie was released in the United States on March 18, 2003. The movie was produced by Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures, Universal Animation Studios, and Nickelodeon; and distributed by Paramount Home Entertainment in North America and Universal Studios Home Entertainment overseas.
The movie is about a pig named Wilbur, who lives on a farm and has to take care of three young spiders, who are the daughters of the older spider Charlotte who died in the first movie. He must also save his new friend, a friendly black lamb named Cardigan, from being eaten an evil fox named Farley. The sequel was not received very well, with Robert Pardi of TV Guide stating that the movie does not capture the heart and spirit of the original. He also criticized the animation (which he called mediocre, or bad). Mike Long of DVD Talk also said that the animation was mediocre and resembled a Saturday morning cartoon, and that the story was lame.
The story
The movie starts in springtime, about a year after Charlotte has died. Charlotte's three daughters, Nellie, Aranea, and Joy, are now teenagers, with Wilbur taking care of them. During this time, Wilbur becomes friends with a newborn lamb named Cardigan, who is rejected by the other lambs and the younger sheep of his flock because he has black wool. Wilbur takes Cardigan under his wing and shows him the farm, the ways of animal life, and dangers to look out for. However, after only a few weeks, farmer Zuckerman suddenly sells Cardigan to another farmer, so Wilbur, along with Charlotte's daughters and Templeton the Rat, set out to visit Cardigan and make sure he is okay.
However, Wilbur is hungry so he gets some grapes which make him look purple. Some bark from the trees comes and lands on his head. This makes him look like a wild pig. A near hit by a car then reveals that two other guys have now seen the wild pig. This makes it hard for Wilbur to visit Cardigan.
Meanwhile, an evil fox named Farley comes and steals a hen from the barn. Farley comes and steals Cardigan from the barn, and plans to eat him. Wilbur now must save his friend, and does so by trapping him in a "pig web". Charlotte's daughters spin the word "fox" in a spider web, and Fern arrives just in time to save Wilbur. The fox, while not shown, is probably disposed of. Aranea and Joy decide to stay with Cardigan, and the movie ends as Wilbur has to baby sit Templeton's kids. He had promised to do this earlier when Templeton had to get Wilbur out of some brambles bushes, which also helped make him look like a wild pig.