| Product: |
Bridge to Terabithia (DVD) |
| Date: |
19.04.08 (116 review reads) |
| Rating: |
 |
Advantages: Great acting and story
Disadvantages: May be looked at as just for kids
Bridge To Terabithia is not what you would expect it to be, the trailer gives you a very clear idea of what you think it is about, even using the blurb 'from the makers of the Chronicles of Narnia' to reinforce this impression. While it does have certain elements of what you expect it is done in a completely different way to your expectations.
Bridge is the story of Jess Aarons (Josh Hutcherson) a young boy who lives in a rural of the USA. He has two older sisters and one younger one and his family is just about surviving, times are tough.
He is picked on at school and escapes into art, he loves drawing and it gets him away from all his troubles, at least in his head.
One day a new girl joins the school, Leslie (Anna Sophia Robb). She is an only child from bohemian style parents who both write for a living. Her imagination is fertile and she never minces her words, no matter what kind of trouble it is going to get her into.
They meet at school and discover that they live next door to each other, the only two houses on a dirt road. With both of them lonely and unpopular they soon become firm friends.
Exploring the fields and woods around their houses they find a rope swing that crosses a small stream. Crossing it they find themselves in a fantasy land called Terabithia, a place ruled by an evil lord.
They are the only ones who can save Terabithia from the terror that has a stranglehold on the land, but will they be able to do it while struggling with their real world problems, that of bullies, teacher infatuations and money.
Will their adventures in Terabithia help them cope and deal with their real world troubles?
BTT is a children's film, the main characters are young (13/14 at the most),the adults mostly have bit parts. Only a female teacher (the wonderful Zooey Deschanel) and Jess' parent have any major impact in the film.
The surprising part though is that this is one of the best kids films I have seen in ages. This is almost certainly down to, at least in part, not being what I expected it to be from the trailer but it is also down to the two leads, especially Robb, being very good and personable.
The story is not only entertaining but also keeps you wondering exactly what is going on and where it is going.
The locations used are stunning, they make you just want to be able to find your own way to Terabithia and experience it yourself.
BTT also manages to integrate the CGI of the denizens of Terabithia into real backgrounds almost flawlessly. Only the birds looking obviously like they have been added in with computers.
More than anything else though it is the story that makes BTT so watchable, so enjoyable. The way it flows between the real world and that of Terabithia is faultless, it seamlessly moves between the two and this brings the viewer into the movie and the fantasy world the two leads are entering.
All of this means that when you get to the real kicker of a plot development that you are really caught by surprise. Something that is rare, in my case, in an adult film let alone a kids one.
BTT is a film that was a very pleasant surprise, so much more than I was led to expect it to be (very clever marketing there) In fact it almost tempts me to read the book and that really doesn't happen very often at all, not after seeing the film anyway.
The second piece of marketing genius was to release it at the same time as Spider-man 3, because that film was so popular and kept selling out in the cinemas most of those who couldn't get in to that ended up in BTT. That was sure to increase the DVD sales of it when it came out.
This is a movie that slightly older kids will almost certainly enjoy, just remember to watch it with them so you can enjoy the world of Terabithia yourself.
Summary: Fabulous little fantasy adventure
|
|
