The Bridge to the What Now?

[victor_von]

I'm a little uncomfortable posting this. I haven't seen the new Disney film Bridge to Terabithia, and it feels Bob Dole-ish to criticize a movie I haven't seen.

Still, I have to say that I really liked the book Bridge to Terabithia when I first encountered in the fifth grade. It was smart and challenging and a little strange. Without spoiling

Comments

[penitent_tom]

To be fair, Disney *has* their own "Chronicles of Narnia." The film that came out at the end of 2005 was a Disney Pictures release, and the upcomming adaptation of "Prince Caspian" is likewise. (Though my opinion stands that Disney only optioned "Narnia" because some studio moron said "no" to Peter Jackson in the late nineties when he approached them about "Lord of the Rings").

I also find it intriguing that no mention has been made of the connection between the "Bridge to Terebithia" and "The Chronicles of Narnia." The fact that the female lead in "Bridge" actually references the other series liberally, and in fact quotes from it from time to time. The imaginary land of "Terebithia" itself was named after one of the unexplored countries in Lewis' Narnia setting (though it was intentionally misspelled; it was "Terebinthia" in the original series, and it was a country that paid tribute to Narnia during the reign of Peter &c).

Obviously, I *loved* this book as a child. I think I first read it in fourth or fifth grade, like you, and also like you, it shaped my views on what the world is, and what the world should be. I agree wholeheartedly that if Disney has altered the original plot of this book, they have done the world of young adult literature a GRAVE disservice. If they're merely illustrating the children's imaginations... then, well, there are going to be a lot of kids who go to see this film expecting something VERY different from what they're going to get, and that will cause a whole different set of problems.

[victor_von]

D'oh! I knew I should've checked to that. I could've sworn it was Dreamworks or Wackypants or Hippynostrils. One of those studios.

Even if they don't distort the book's plot, the clash between the "fantasy world" they're illustrating and the extremely hard facts this story deals with is going to be traumatically jarring.

Not that the fantasy genre doesn't frequently contain "hard facts" of its own. But there's a sort of safety in the distance between our world and fantasy lands. Suddenly yanking that protection away in the middle of a story seems both ill-advised and cruel. It's like Ole Yeller, but if the dog could talk and sing.

[penitent_tom]

Wait... you mean Ole Yeller COULDN'T talk and sing? Man, just rip away all of my illusions... that traumatizes me worse than the movie's actual ending!