Movie Review: Bridge to Teribithia Starring Josh Hutcherson, Anna Sophia Robb, and Bailee Madison

This is the story of Jesse Aarons (Josh Hutcherson), a lonely boy who tends to feel neglected amidst his numerous sisters with parents who are preoccupied with financial troubles. Add to that, Jesse has a hard time making friends in school and is hounded by the school's troublemakers; that is, until a new girl named Leslie (AnnaSophia Robb) moves into the house next door. Leslie is a little out there...she's a great writer and loves to use her imagination. Immediately Leslie starts making waves with an 8th grade bully and becomes fast friends with Jesse.

Leslie teaches Jesse how to create an imaginary world in the woods near their houses, a world that distracts both of them from the realities of their respective lives. Jesse's little sister May Belle (Bailee Madison) tries her best to get in on the fun but is repeatedly rebuffed by her brother who just wants to get away from everything to do with the family.

There is a certain element of tradgedy in this film (I can't be any more specific without giving away important plot points); in my opinion it's important for a kid to be exposed to death in some degree in order to understand a bit of how life works, but if you haven't talked to your kids about it yet then this probably isn't the film you want them to see. Otherwise the movie is a great family film (especially for the kids as it is a little corny for older viewers) though it may not be quite what you expect.

The acting was surprisingly decent with a cast including Zooey Deschanel and Robert Patrick. As for the child actors...I've never been much impressed with Hutcherson's performances but I can definitely see a marked improvement over his 2003 role in Miracle Dogs (Hutcherson also starred in Zathura and the Robin Williams flick RV) and I imagine that given a few more years he'll be able to put out some work that I'll enjoy. Robb also put in a decent performance, not great, but still pretty good in the arena of like-aged actors.

Believe it or not out of all the kids involved in this movie the one with the performance that most impressed me was that of then 8-year-old Bailee Madison...if you've never seen her in anything else (she has a dozen roles to her name in the two years since she started) this kid is cute. Madison plays Jesse's younger sister May Belle and gets nearly as much screen time as the two main stars and, as it turns out, has one of the most important roles in the story as well; in this film she'll show you the full range of emotions from childish delight to pouting to hysterical fits and does a very convincing job of it.

I hear this film is based on a book, I've never read that book so I have no idea how the movie adds up...but since the book is almost always better than the movie I'm very interested in reading it after watching this film. That said, throughout this film I caught myself flashing back to the first months after I met my best friend after I moved in middle school and the many sunny days we spent in the wooded pasture behind her house whittling away on aspen branches and making up stories about fantastical creatures and events. It seems that in this age of video games, movies, and computers kids aren't being encouraged to use their imaginations very often and it's pretty interesting to run into a film that focuses on just that...hey, they're kids, they shouldn't have their feet on the ground! Also at the end I think the movie did an excellent job of melding imagination with reality and how the imaginary part of the world can help people cope with the horrible realities.

Overall I found this film a little bit on the corny side, but I attribute most of that to the younger actors that dominated the screen time...and yes, a somewhat sub-par script as well. This is definitely a film I want to add to my son's movie collection when the time comes (he's only two right now) because I think the stress on imagination is an important one in a kid's (and an adult's) life.