This weekend I took my family to see the new Disney movie Bridge to Terabithia.
If you have seen the trailers for this movie you are probably expecting a wonderful CGI masterpiece similar to the Chronicles of Narnia. If you have read the book then you will know the truth.
The movie trailers portray the movie as a story that takes place in a magical kingdom when, in reality, the movie takes place in the real world with real people. The CGI you see in the trailer is nearly all of the CGI you will see over the course of the entire movie.
I'm not sure why the marketing executives at Disney chose to market the movie in that way because the movie that was advertised is not nearly as good as the movie I saw on the screen. Let me say right off that I have not yet read the book but I am ordering it.
This movie is a story about two young kids who are clearly soul-mates. The boy, Jess Aarons played by Josh Hutcherson, is the only boy in a family with four sisters. The girl, Leslie Burke played by Annasophia Robb, is an only child in a family of writers. Both of the kids are ignored by their families. Jess's dad ignores him and pays extra attention to his sisters while Leslie's parents ignore her when they are busy writing.
Neither of these two has ever been popular at school or had many friends. It is not until after a few short encounters at school, where Leslie is the new kid, that they begin to talk to each other and discover how much in common they have.
Over the course of the movie they begin to create the world of Terabithia from their own thoughts. It is a world that exists entirely in their imaginations and it begins to bring them closer to each other.
On Jess's birthday it is Leslie that gives him a gift that shows she truly knows him while the gift he receives from his family is generic and only further illustrates the disconnect they have from their own son. In another scene Jess joins Leslie and her parents in painting a room. The difference between the two families is startling.
Things are going great for the two of them. It is clear that both of them are in love though Jess tries to hide it much more than Leslie does. Then something happens that you are not expecting.
The movie takes a very emotional turn when Jess decides to go on a field trip with his music teacher and does not invite Leslie along. I do not want to spoil the story for you but you will get emotional at this stage of the movie and possibly cry.
The movie does end on an uplifting note, but not the one you might expect.
The acting is superb and the chemistry between Josh Hutcherson and Annasophia Robb is palpable. It is this chemistry that makes the emotional turn in the movie that much more of a tear jerker.
If you are looking for a happy feel-good movie filled with CGI then you might be disappointed with this movie. If you want to see a movie about well written characters that you will care about going through the troubles of life then this movie is for you.
