Bridge to Terabithia is a movie based on a much-loved children’s book that… er… I’d never heard of. From the trailers it had looked like it might be a similar sort of affair to Chronicles of Narnia, and indeed boasted the same effects team. However it turned out to have very little in common with that or indeed with any other fantasy novel. It probably worked better because of this. Not having read the book I had no other expectations.

The story revolves around a young boy called Jesse, an artist, runner, and a bit of a dreamer. He is growing up in a family with four sisters (poor thing) and parents who are struggling to make ends meet. At school he has to put up with continual bullying from some of the boys in his class and one of the older girls who happens to get the same bus home. He also has a very understandable crush on his rather gorgeous music teacher (we never had music teachers like her when I was at school!!).

His life is floating boringly and frustratingly along when into the school and his life pops a new girl, Leslie. Her parents are fiction writers and she has obviously picked up a lot of their imagination. As their friendship grows, so does the world of Terabithia that they are creating in their minds. Their friendship blossoms after a lsow start as they start to find ways to help each other lead happier lives.

Meanwhile Jesse’s relationship with his father (Jesse senior… imaginative family, huh?!?) is becoming ever more strained. Jesse sr. wants him to “get his head out of the clouds”.

That’s the set-up, and it wouldn’t be a good idea for me to tell you much more of the plot… so I won’t. It’s not traditional fantasy fair at all, with children finding a way into another world and all that. Rather, the world is inside their imaginations, but it starts to become real to them. The only film I can think of to compare it to, at least off the top of my head, is Tim Burton’s “Big Fish” – both have a similar theme of the boundaries between reality and fiction becoming blurred. The two films approach this in very different ways however.

Despite it being a lot sadder than I’d expected, I really did enjoy Bridge to Terabithia. It takes a familiar idea and tackles it from a new perspective. It’s really quite poignant in places and is beautifully filmed. The strength of the performances and emotional appeal of the story helps it to overcome slightly uneven pacing and some scenes (set in the real world) that pushed credibility just a bit too far. As far as atmosphere goes, I liked Aaron Zigman’s original classical score. I wasn’t quite so keen on the couple of songs that were in the movie (one of which was performed by AnnaSophia Robb), though they weren’t terrible by any means. The special effects in this film were very good, but much less important to the movie than those in Narnia were to that movie.

Josh Hutcherson does a very good job as Jesse, and is matched in ability by AnnaSophia Robb as Leslie, who looks uncannily like a young Kierra Knightly. (I was trying to find a still that captured why I thought that, and http://annasophia-robb.org/gallery/displayimage.php?album=lastup&cat=15&pos=0 does it fairly well. My wife thought so too, therefore I must be right!!) The oddly spelled Zooey Deschanel (who was spectacular in Failure to Launch is good as the music teacher (and those eyes can convey so much emotion…), while Robert Patrick takes off his Terminator kit to give a very good turn as Jesse senior. Bailee Madison was completely adorable every time she was onscreen as Jesse’s youngest sister, May Belle. (I bet she’s a horror off-screen…)

Overall, despite a few iffy sections as far as the plot goes, Bridge to Terabithia was a very nice and extremely enjoyable film. Highly recommended.

Other Details

Director: Gabor Csupo
Runtime: 95 minutes
Rating: PG

Based on a book by Katherine Paterson
(Adapted by Jeff Stockwell and David Paterson)

Quotes

Leslie Burke: Just close your eyes and keep your mind wide open.

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Teachers shouldn’t try to sound cool…

Mrs. Myers: If any of you try to download this essay, you will be downloaded into detention.

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Leslie Burke: My parents say TV rots your brain cells.
Scott Hoager: We watch TV, like, every day!
Leslie Burke: I rest my case.

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Leslie Burke: You are not your parents. You are who you are.

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Jesse Aarons: I have four sisters. And I'd trade them all in for a good dog.

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Jack Aarons: She brought you something special when she came here, didn't she?

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Leslie Burke: You have to write it. No offense but boy’s handwriting sucks!


Recommended:
Yes