Bridge to Terabithia (2007)

Synopsis: I was not a cool kid in school. In fact, I was not a cool kid anytime in my life lol! And the percentage of kids actually cool in school is really low. The popular kids are the minority so it would make sense that Disney would make a film with characters that are the majority. The shy and loner types that we all were or all have seen sometime in our life. Jesse Aarons and Leslie Burke are two of the lonliest people on the planet! It's amazing what hermits they are. But birds of a feature I guess as they join together to form a life lasting friendship. They escape across a river on a rope and find a incomplete tree house. The land is completely theirs and Leslie teaches Jesse that with just a little bit of imagination and an open mind, they can create the most beautiful world just for them. Jesse is captivated by this new and exciting fantasy land which they call Terabithia but he is constantly being pulled away from it by the harsh realities of his families' financial situation as well as problems at school. But this film teaches you that, as long as you stay positive, you can always find that bridge to your magic place.

Should You Watch It? The difference between this Disney film and something like Pixar is that this film assumes the kids watching it are stupid and that they are watching this film themselves. Which is of course, not true. Kids have to go watch movies with adults and kids who do not go with adults will probably not watch something this childish. Pixar excels in creating films which suit both the child audience as well as the adult audience. Although, this film does not do this, if you happen to have a 7 year old you want to entertain or have a friend with the maturity level of a 7 year old, then this movie is worth considering.

Things to Watch Out For: From the cover, it may seem that this is a straight up fantasy adventure involving two ordinary heroes. But it's really not. It's more about how kids can deal with the pressures of growing up and the awkwardness of social interactions esepcially at a place like school where it is mandatory to socialize. Bullying is also a big theme in this film although it is touched on with a softer note than what the reality is. All these story lines tie back into the make belief world that Jesse and Leslie create as a metaphor to teach kids that your imagination and your willingness to stay positive is something that can never be taken away from you.

Things You Don't Expect: This movie is pretty sad. I was thoroghly surprised with the amount of tear jerking scenes in this film esepcially since it's for children. Of course I'm not going to ruin it for you but it was just surprising. After that point, the film did take off in a new direction. One that I think is vital for the theme but one which led the climax of the film to be a bit short in my opinion. Other than that, I didn't get a clear sense of what the antagonists wanted, or if there was one. I don't know. But then again, it's a children's film but still! Kids deserve quality too!

Final Comments:
Story: 6.0 (Katherine Paterson: novel, Jeff Stockwell & David Paterson: screen play)
Direction: 6.8 (Gabor Csupo)
Acting: 7.0
Cinematography: 6.8
Music/Sound: 7.5

Entertainment Value: 6.2