Bridge to Terabithia

BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA

REVIEWED BY ANDREW L.

Our rating: 5 out of 5

Rated:

Jess Aarons (Josh Hutcherson) is a very lonely, forgotten and bullied boy that is struggling to make it through school and life… and he’s only in fifth grade. His family lives on a farm on the outskirts of a small city, and his parents are trying to scrape by enough money to keep their house, feed their five children, and buy new clothes. Jess is forced to wear his sister’s old shoes when his become too ratty, even though they’re pink.

What gets Jess through is his love of running and drawing. When he goes to school one day and competes in the all boys foot race, he sees the new girl, Leslie Burke (AnnaSophia Robb). Only she’s not cheering on the sidelines, she’s running right beside him, then slightly in front of him, and then she wins the race. Jess is no longer the fastest kid in the fifth grade. Jess also notices Leslie being bullied by some of the eighth grade girls because she wears different clothes and thinks differently then they do. When the get dropped off by the bus near their homes, Jess finds that Leslie lives right across the road from him. She asks him to race her down the dirt road, and Jess agrees. They fly down the trail, hair flying, hearts racing, until they come to a stream with a rope hanging above it. Leslie declares they must swing across to the magic on the other side, but Jess warns her; it’s only a ratty old rope with no magic at all.

Leslie just giggles, and swings across. Feeling responsible, Jess follows her. What awaits them on the other side of the river isn’t anything like Jess has ever seen before. With Leslie’s encouragement, Jess is able to expand his imagination and begin to believe, as Leslie does, that the place across the river is actually a magical kingdom… a kingdom where Jess is king and Leslie is queen. Together, they rule over the mysterious land of Terabithia, where bullies become evil squirrels and huge giants that the best friends must battle together. Jess’ life is changed for a little while; school doesn’t seem nearly as bad as it used to, because by confronting his bullies in Terabithia, he is also battling them in real life. But when Jess agrees to accompany his music teacher on a Saturday field trip to the museum, and something happens while he is gone. Something that will change Jess… and Terabithia… forever.

Bridge to Terabithia is one of the most fantastic movies I have seen in the past few years. Contrary to what the trailers market, the movie is not a fantasy at all. It’s a coming of age story about two best friends and the hardships they face together–mainly bullies and forgetful families. The story is so wonderful because it’s so fully realized: ten and eleven year old kids are not supposed to act grown up. They are meant to follow their imagination, because otherwise they will not make the leap to adulthood correctly. The issue of bullying was addressed very well in this movie, I believe. Almost every day, Jess and Leslie face some sort of physical or emotion torment, and yet none of the adults, or even the other kids, really seem to notice it, much less do anything about it. It makes such perfect and glorious sense, when you take this into consideration, that the two create such a magnificent kingdom to escape to.

Unfortunately, this movie does deal with some mature issues other than bullying and hard family life, including some language while discussing the possibility of God ‘damning someone to hell’ because they don’t go to church.

I would not recommend Bridge to Terabithia to anyone under the age of eight or nine, unless they have a parent next to them to explain some of the issues. Overall, however, it is by far the best family movie since last summer’s Cars. Make time to visit Terabithia. You won’t be disappointed.