Decent watch, probably won't watch again, but can recommend for younger audiences.

It's based off of a famous book, Dakota Fanning, Steve Buscemi, Julia Roberts are all charming in their own ways, but I never realized what a dud of a character Wilbur was before this. Sure, he's a happy-go-lucky guy and social trend setter, but he's a character that needs a lot of help and doesn't even really give back.

The story feels like a more modern fable: there is a lesson of morality and life here, but it is a lot more subtle than I'm used to fables being. Of course this has a cooked in version of explaining life and death to young children, but it feels like it tries to convey that a life well served, however short, is good life. This does make the movie oddly charming, but I can't say that it makes it as great as I remember the book being.

Now, that may be nostalgia glasses, or maybe I have them for the this movie, but I think, in the end, it's an average movie with a good story that kids might like.