I respect its willingness as a childrens movie to address death, and its ability to make said death emotionally striking. Modern children's movies pretend children don't understand that living creatures die, and 90% of movie deaths of major characters lack any punch due to the propensity of ressurections and poor writing.

Wilburs kinda whiny, and even at a young age I recognized that most people are going to credit the spider for the web that spells out interesting slogans, versus the pig.

Another problem is that this movie just adds to the pile or reasons to not eat pigs. Between that and their admirable intelligence, sociability, and cleanliness when not shoved in a cramped mudpit, and adding the always annoying fact that cannibals refer the human as long pork due to taste similarities, and your a step closer to being some vegan hippy douche.