Bridge to Terabithia is based on a beloved children’s book by Katherine Paterson. The film is a bit of a family affair, as David Paterson – who wrote the screenplay with Jeff Stockwell – is the novelist’s son. It’s a sensitive, affecting, imaginative film – but it is decidedly not what the ads make it out to be. Yes, our young hero and heroine enter a magical world, but they create it rather than discover it – both the characters and the film are very clear that the realm of Terabithia exists in the imaginations of Jess Adams (Josh Hutcherson) and his new friend Leslie Burke (AnnaSophia Robb).
Jess and Leslie are two bright, picked-on seventh graders at a rural school. Jess has lived in the area all his life and watches his parents struggle with every penny as they provide for him and his sisters; Leslie is the only child of wealthy parents who’ve just moved to the country. Jess is amazed as Leslie’s free-spirited ways – when he gets over being somewhat alarmed and shocked, he accepts her friendship. Jess is a budding artist and Leslie (like her parents) is a good writer; together, the children invent a magical realm, Terabithia, where they have wonderful adventures, which help give them courage to deal with real-world predicaments.
Director Gabor Csupo (of the animation house Clasky-Csupo, making his live-action debut) and the writers do an uncommonly good job of balancing a sense of forward momentum and fun with the Terabithia sections and a gentle realism in the more earthbound sequences. Csupo does an extremely good job with the young leads – Hutcherson and Robb are excellent and Bailey Madison is just right as Jess’ younger sister, cute without being over the top. The adults are very good, particularly Robert Patrick as Jess’ stern father and Zooey Deschanel as Jess and Leslie’s free-spirited music teacher.
An especially appealing touch is the selection of songs that the music teacher uses to get her class interested in songs – there’s something very endearing about listening to untrained but enthusiastic young voices bonding on War’s “Why Can’t We Be Friends?” and the soulful “Ooh, Child.” The special effects for the realm of Terabithia have a nice sense of whimsy to them – there’s a sense of roughness to the creatures that make them seem like something from the ids of children.
Bridge does take an extremely serious turn at one point, but it has been so clean and honest throughout that it earns its emotional impact. If you’re a parent, be prepared for a talk with the kids afterwards; if you’re an unaccompanied adult who remembers what it was like to be young with a vivid imagination and a good friend, prepare to reminisce and be moved.
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