Bridge to Terabithia (2007) PG - 3½ Stars

Hard to make me cry in a movie but this was a real terk jerker at the end showing the wonderfulness of a child's imagination and how important friends are.

Jess Aarons (Josh Hutcherson), 10 and Leslie Burke (AnnaSophia Robb) also 10, go to the same school together. Jess tries to avoid Leslie but she offers a piece of gum on the bus ride home, he accepts and eventually the two become good friends. Both of them have trouble with bullies at school and they wonder into the woods. swinging across ropes and eventually end up in an abandoned tree house. The two fantasize about characters they have to battle with at at school create a new world in the woods called Terabithia. It is here the two can imagine anything they want and plot revenge against the kids back in school.

Jess shares his love of drawing with Leslie and she decides to surprise him with a birthday present of art supplies to aid him in his drawing. Jess is so taken by the gift he repays her with a gift of his own, a dog they name Prince Terrien. The children and Prince Terrien play in this imaginary world quite often.

But one day, Ms. Edmunds (Zooey Deschanel), Jess's school teacher, invites him to a field trip to an art museum. Secretly, Jess has a crush on his teacher and wants to attend the trip. He asks his mother Nancy's (Kate Butler) permission but she is half asleep and though she doesn't verbally agree, he takes it as a yes. He doesn't want Leslie to know he is going on the trip and avoids telling Leslie about it. But he feels guilty as the bus drives by her house on the way to the outing.

Meanwhile, Leslie goes to their secret area alone. The waters in the creek have grown more rapid and higher and as she swings across the rope, it snaps sending Leslie into the river where she is carried down stream to her death. When Jess returns from his day trip, his father Jack (Robert Patrick) and mother are in a panic as they have no idea where Jess has been all day. When they hear Leslie has drowned, they fear Jess was with her.

Jess is grief stricken especially when he and his family visit Leslie's family to pay their respect. He thinks that if he would not have gone to the museum, or better yet, invited Leslie to go along, she would still be alive today. Jess must find a way to deal with his grief and even though his sister has never been allowed to cross the river, he now invites May Belle Aarons (Bailee Madison), to become a new ruler of the land. This time they have constructed a bridge to go across the river to Terabithia and the this new King and Princess shall rule over the land and live happily ever after.

Buena Vista Pictures
Director: Gabor Csupo
Writers: David L. Paterson, Jeff Stockwell
Producers: Hal Lieberman, David L. Paterson, Lauren Levine

I viewed 7/07