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Home > Blogs > Sir Critic on Cinema > Archives > 2007 > March > 05 > Entry
Terabithia: Movie rings true, ads do not
You know that shock you get when you’re expecting one kind of drink, but you’ve forgotten you had something else? Like, say, when you thought you were drinking coffee but realized you had milk instead?
Watching Bridge to Terabithia was like that - but in a good way.
Anyone who saw the trailer for this movie - and who hasn’t read the acclaimed book on which it’s based — might reasonably think that Terabithia was a low-rent version of The Chronicles of Narnia.
It’s not - not at all.
In an understandable but still misleading attempt to get butts in seats, Disney traded off Narnia’s goodwill, while smoke-screening what Terabithia was really about. Without giving too much away, I will only say that the movie becomes very sad in the last half.
Some parents have criticized Terabithia, feeling that they were the victims of false advertising. I say don’t blame the movie, blame the marketing. Just because the movie wasn’t what the ads made it out to be doesn’t make it a bad movie.
Terabithia is quite the opposite - it’s one of the best live-action family films of the past few years, and it’s a much more accomplished movie than the somewhat overrated Narnia to boot.
Jesse (Josh Hutcherson of RV and Zathura) has a hard time getting along in school. At best he’s ignored, at worst, stuck-up creeps outright taunt him. Enter Leslie (AnnaSophia Robb of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Because of Winn-Dixie), a highly imaginative girl whom even Jesse finds slightly insane at first. Still, the two become close, especially after Leslie creates a fantasy kingdom called Terabithia to escape from the often ghastly real word.
Though the trailer heavily sells the fantasy scenes, they’re actually one of the less compelling features of the movie. What really sells it is the chemistry among the actors.
Hutcherson anchors the movie with his solid performance, and Robb absolutely shines, making Leslie extraordinarily endearing and lovable. The adult cast is strong, too, especially Zooey Deschanel as a music teacher Jesse has a crush on. Personally, I don’t blame the kid.
Kudos also go to first-time feature director Gabor Csupo, the creator of some show called Rugrats, who knows a thing or two about how kids see the world and has made a jewel of a movie.
Did you see Terabithia? Did you feel misled? Can you think of any other movies that turned out to be quite different from their ads?
GRADE: A-
Permalink | Comments (3) | Categories: Reviews
Comments
By Laura
March 12, 2007 11:48 AM | Link to this
Such a good and sad movie! Never cry at movies, but I came awfully close!By SRCputt
March 5, 2007 3:01 PM | Link to this
I read and loved the book as a child and loved it. I always felt it would make a great movie. Nice to see it did. I took my 7-year-old to see it, but I warned him ahead of time of the big emotion towards the end of the film. He loved the film — and I’m the one who was crying at the end.By Rob
March 5, 2007 12:55 PM | Link to this
Terabithia really is one of the most badly marketed movies since probably Serenity. I read the book back in 5th grade so I had some idea what it should be about and when I saw the trailers and commercials I was sure they had screwed it up. Were it not for the raves of the critics I wouldn’t have bothered with it. Thanks to them though I gave it a chance. It’s not a perfect movie (it treads a fine line and a couple times, particularly at the beginning, puts a toe over the line into standard run-of-the-mill kid/family movie territory) but it really is an excellent, intelligent family movie, even if the last 20 minutes make it inappropriate for the younger kids.