Originally Posted by Mana
couldn't handle Charlotte's Web a few months ago but I thought Stuart Little won't be as bad
Charlotte's Web is deeply creepy. (Like this: http://www.snopes.com/glurge/transfuse.asp. The tl;dr is in the last paragraph.) It's supposed to be all profound and inspirational, but only if you don't think through its premises: Animals are intelligent and aware of their futures, but humans slaughter them anyway. Wilbur is trapped in the nightmare landscape of Pig Auschwitz. In the end, he is allowed to live because he is considered exceptional, more deserving than the rest of his kind. He grows old in the Land of Gruesome Pig Death, watching generations of younger pigs go to the slaughterhouse. The family come scratch his ears with the smell of bacon on their breath.

Basically, E.B. White is trying to have it both ways, creating an alternative world where we see things through the animals' eyes, but not having to challenge any of his cherished ideas of wholesome American farm life.

So yeah, smart kids are less likely to find Charlotte's Web heart-warming.

(Okay, I win the prize for furthest off topic.)