homersimpson_esq
Posts: 19969
Joined: 30/9/2005
From: Springfield
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Went to see this to gauge it's appropriateness for my four year old. Waltham79, I'd hesitate to take a five year old due to certain plot developments, which unless you read one of the above posts, will hopefully remain unknown to you!
SPOILERS (In Invisiotext) BELOW IN FULL REVIEW...! (Please, watch the film, then see if you agree with my comments!)
The Princess Bride. The Goonies. My Girl. Flight of the Navigator. To name but a few.
For people in their twenties and early thirties, these films will, depending on how young you were when you first watched them, have a timeless attraction, and an ability to take you through time, back to your childhood. Bridge to Terabithia will become one of those sorts of films. Other than a reference to the Internet to firmly place it in today's world, the film has a very ageless feel. Even the Game Boys hurriedly hidden in class are a reference to the 80s uber-toy. Leslie, the main character doesn't even have a T.V. because her writer parents are so obsessed with their work.
From the opening scenes, the film plays like the sort we watched in our youth. Inter-sibling relationships are realistic, and family problems aren't hidden. They are key to Jess' retreat into his world of drawings. That retreat into creativity is his connection to Leslie. Her creative narratives inspires his drawing, and vice versa. The combination of word and picture create the world into which they can retreat - away from the bullies, and deal with real life problems in their own fantastic way.
The fantasy elements, while admittedly underplayed, are all the better for having identifiable equivalents in the real world - squirrels and birds represent the two bullies, while Janice, the girl bully becomes the giant troll. Wonderfully, the troll is initially thought to be bad, and turns out to be misunderstood, just as Janice is in the real world.
Hidden text: The sudden unexpected turn the film takes as we learn of Leslie's death is as brutal as anything that could have been shown explicitly. The movie cliché that unless you see the body, the person isn't dead, does not hold true here - I held my breath waiting for her to reappear in the imaginary world, but had she done so, it would have denied the real world in a way that the rest of the film doesn't. Terabithia is both a retreat from, and a place in which to learn to deal with, the real world. The legacy left to Leslie in the titular bridge is wonderful, and the fully realised Terabithia at the end with Jess and his sister is both a fitting tribute to Leslie, and also is twinged with sadness that she cannot experience it for herself. Having said that, one wonders if only through fully taking on the creative role himself could Jess see what perhaps Leslie saw all along.
This is a film which will live on on DVD. It is a mature, engaging, and thoughtful film, creating a real, believable world tinged with fantasy. I'd say that children under, say, 7 or 8 may find it slow, and at key places, sad. Older children will love and cherish it for the wonderful film it is. Adults too, for that matter. It reminds us that there is still a big kid in us all, and that while we may have to grow old, we don't have to grow up.
Acting: 10/10 - the two lead actors are fantastic, the boy especially delivering a nuanced performance. Watch him when he's watching TV and he looks over at his parents worrying over their finances and his dad sees him looking. Wordless interchange speaks volumes.
Directing: 9/10 - The only gripe was that there were opportunities for some lovely cinematography in Terabithia, which while there were some fantastic shots, could have been a tiny bit better, and perfect only gets 10/10!
Script: 9/10 - Not much I can say wrong about it really.
Score: 9/10 - My only problem (and it's a small one) is that it became too 'fantasy influenced' if you like Hidden text: , too soon after the death of Leslie. Wonderful in every other way, and even the songs used in the music classes were well chosen.
Success of Intent: 10/10 - 'two thumbs up', to coin a phrase... The film is a perfect ode to childhood creativity, and a loving reminder that there is more out there than the next PS3 game. If only slightly hypocritical in making a film (during which you sit on your bum for 90 minutes) about getting outside and doing things - it's the reasons behind that creativity that is key.
Overall score 47/50 or:
94%
< Message edited by homersimpson_esq -- 14/5/2007 7:01:28 AM >
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