BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA
*** out of *****

Reviewed by Finger_of_DOOM

Genres
Adventure
Family
Fantasy

2007
Directed by
Gabor Csupo
Written by
Jeff Stockwell
David Patterson
Cast 
Josh Hutcherson - Jesse
AnnaSophia Robb - Leslie
Robert Patrick - Jesse Sr.
Zooey Deschanel - Ms. Edmonds  

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) was a pretty good film, it had its flaws but overall was a fairly adequate adaptation will enough fun for the kids. Made by Walden Media and Disney the film enjoyed a certain amount of success. Bridge to Terabithia is made by the same company and continues in the spirit of fantasy adventure fodder for kids. The advertising for this film was very much centred around the fact that it’s from the people that ‘brought you’ The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe which in some ways was slightly deceptive creating an expectation that these films are similar. While the fantasy world element is shared in both stories these films are very different, most notably in tone. Don’t go in expecting a magical happy film; this is a drama for young people with a very hard hitting emotional core.

Bridge to Terabithia tells the story of Jesse Aarons (Josh Hutcherson), Jesse is struggling to cope at school, his family’s financial problems means that he has to wear girl’s hand-me-down shoes, not a popular item among boys and his disposition makes him a target for bully Scott (Cameron Wakefield). His school problems aren’t all that bother’s Jesse, he finds that he constantly has to battle for the attention of his father (Robert Patrick) from a household of sisters. One day Jesse looses a race to the ‘new girl’, Leslie (AnnaSophia Robb), Leslie is an imaginative young girl who eventually forms a bond with Jesse, a bond that will change the course of their lives and create an imaginary world in the woods that only they share, Terabithia, a land where they can forget their real life problems of school and parents.

For what is essentially a children’s fantasy tale I found that the script was not only well written but mature in its approach as to not be patronizing to younger viewers, the film’s emotional core is partly the reason. However in doing the film’s structure some definite good it may have also done the film some harm, the emotional plot line for the film hits very hard, maybe too hard for younger children…I guarantee there won’t be a dry eye left in the house during the film’s third act.

Further, the young actors leading this film: Josh Hutcherson and AnnaSophia Robb delivered solid performances that felt natural and believable. Their friendship is given time to develop and the progression is handled well by first time feature-filmmaker Gabor Csupo. I did find however that character May Belle played by Bailee Madison was probably the most annoying young character to grace the screen since Jake Lloyd in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999). The same can also be said about some of the other minor characters are populate the school our two leads attend, as they all seemed like clichéd cardboard cut-outs: the misunderstood older girl that takes out her aggression on younger kids, the stubborn bully and his dim-witted side-kick, and so on…

A pleasant surprise was the always refreshing Zooey Deschanel as their teacher, this actress is severely underrated and adds a charm and understanding-of-childhood-woes approach to the film, it’s a shame we was underused.

Cast aside this is after all a fantasy film, the land of Terabithia belongs to both Jesse and Leslie, however I was ultimately disappointed with the lack of imagination seen onscreen, in fact hardly anything came to fruition until the very end and what we did get was largely a made-for-TV feel to the whole fantasy land. Award winning Weta Digital did the special effects for this film and it’s not up to their usual standard in this reviewer’s opinion. Next to Fantastic Four: The Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007) it’s probably their weakest effort.

Bridge to Terabithia is an entertaining film, flaws aside it does have a well written core and director Csupo has delivered a fairly solid first feature film, after all it’s a very good starting point in which he can only improve for the next film.

Finger_Of_DOOM's reviews also appear on DVD Compare, where they include details of the DVD release. For this review click here.