Then the talking spiders alone are no longer fantasy... according to what I said. When the animal becomes a stand-in for a person, with the type of animal giving it immediately assumed traits, it doesn't seem like anyone considers that fantasy. If you start calling Reynard the Fox, Aesop's Fables, or Br'er Rabbit fantasy, I'll be a little confused, but it is true that talking animals aren't possible.
I guess this means that a story about Elves that do not do magic can be not-fantasy, but I've never seen a story involving them acting like that.