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BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA Best Family Film, 2007 - 4 Stars Good Effort, but Somewhat Disappointing While Bridge To Terabithia is a good effort by any standard, the story itself hardly rises above a typical Hallmark channel offering. Based on the book by Katherine Paterson, it tells the story of two Middle School (then Junior High School) children that are treated like outcasts in their school: Jesse, played by Josh Hutcherson (Zathura), and Leslie, played by AnnaSophia Robb (Charlie And The Chocolate Factory). Add to that the fact that Jesse is alienated from his overly strict dad, played by Robert Patrick (Terminator 2), and his unsympathetic sisters - except for his youngest sister, May Belle, played by Bailee Madison. She almost worships the ground he walks on. To deal with their misery, Jesse and Leslie escape into the woods and into a world of imagination, which Jesse feeds with his artwork and Leslie with her writing. On the other side of the river from their homes, they build a kingdom they call Terabithia. There, they find an abandoned tree house, which they renovate and believe turns into their castle whenever they visit. Every afternoon, they cross the river and, together, rule the Kingdom of Terabithia. As their friendship and imaginations grow, they soon have to confront the residents of their imaginary world: horrible harry birds and giant squirrels that attack them mercilessly. There is also a dark prince, whose shadow they see lurking among the trees from time to time. And there is a giant. Outside of each other, the two kids have few friends, except for their music teacher, Miss Edmonds, played by Zooey Deschanel (Elf), who takes an interest in them and their abilities. One day, Miss Edmonds invites Jesse to take a field trip with her to an art museum. The events of that day change everything in Jesse and Leslie's world. I love the scene between Jesse and his dad in each other's arms in the woods as a result of those events. And I love what Jessie does at the end for his sister, May Belle. It's a good cast, and a good story - but it's not exceptional. Gabor Csupo does a good job directing, and Jeff Stockwell and David Paterson do a fine job adapting the book. While the story is timely, in that it deals with a subject that almost every boy faces at that age - alienation from his dad - and almost every student faces at a new school, it is somehow mundane. You would expect the imaginary world to lift the story to an otherworldly level, but it doesn't. Even with animation by the same people who worked on Chronicles Of Narnia and Lord Of The Rings, there just isn't enough of it to do the trick. We spend far too much time in the real, and sometimes boring, world of Junior High. I love the relationships, especially between Jesse and Leslie, Jesse and May Belle, and Jesse and his dad. That is the best part of the film. I was disappointed when I watched the extra features to learn that the creatures in Terabithia were supposed to be adaptations of different ones of the students who persecuted Jesse and Leslie, because that didn't come across at all. I didn't see any resemblance. This was a good effort, but a modest story. |
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