Film Review: Bridge to Terabithia
Film: Bridge to Terabithia (2007). Young Actress: AnnaSophia Robb, 12.
Ever since I read it in fourth grade, Bride to Terabithia was one of my favorite books as a kid. I didn't expect this movie to live up to the book (movies based on books rarely do, after all) but I didn't expect it to fall so flat, either. Moving the time period from the 1970s to modern-day feels very wrong. So much of the book is firmly connected to that specific time, with references to the Vietnam War, and the ways that Miss Edmunds and Leslie both defy roles for women in the '70s. Since Jess's family still lives on a rural farm, the modern setting has to be established through lines that are obvious exposition, like when Jess and Leslie's teacher warns against downloading an essay from the Internet. The timeshift also feels insulting to the audience. It's as if the filmmakers don't expect kids to understand that plain white tees and cutoff jeans (the clothes Leslie wears in the book) were unconventional girls clothing in the '70s, so they instead have AnnaSophia wear elaborate punk outfits.
Leslie, Jess (Josh Hutcherson, The Hunger Games), and his little sister ( Bailee Madison) walking home from school
While in the book, Terabithia is a poetically beautiful, magical realm, a place for Jess and Leslie to escape the harsh real world, the movie obviously doesn't expect kids to appreciate that, either. So instead, the special effects are way overused in the scenes in Terabithia, watering it down to a flashy, cartoony FunZone, no different from any other film fantasy land (like, say, Neverland or Narnia). I had a definite "I've seen this all before" feeling. It bothered me so much because I specifically remember thinking, at age 10, that what I loved most about this book was that it didn't talk down to me just because I was a kid. But worst of all, AnnaSophia's Leslie loses the ethereal quality she possessed in the book. She's annoyingly perfect throughout and smug as she gets Jess to see and believe in Terabithia the way she does, to the point where I wasn't even upset when she died. But considering that this film was distributed by Disney, I suppose I should be grateful that they even kept Leslie's death at all, instead of changing that, too.
For screenshots and a second opinion, here's the review by Young Actress Reviews.
Other reviews of AnnaSophia's films: Soul Surfer (2011), The Way Way Back (2013).