Stealth Entertainment
Bridge to Terabithia
By Scott Lumley
September 18, 2008
Jess does what he always does, which is to swallow it and move on, and he gets on the bus and goes to school. En route to school, he's tormented by the school's female bully, and taunted by two jerks in his class, which is incidentally taught by a complete hardass. Anybody who claims they wish they were a kid again should watch this film and see what Jess goes through every day. I know some adults that would break down in tears if they had a day like Jess's.
And the capper of the day is the big race. Jess lines up with the rest of the boys and a new girl (Leslie Burke) in class lines up with them. Some of the boys protest her inclusion but Jess surprisingly shuts them all down with a comment that suggests they must be pretty bad at running if they're afraid they'll be beaten by a girl. And in what can only be the purest form of foreshadowing, she does beat them all. Jess is angry with himself obviously, but Leslie remembers his small kindness at the beginning of the race and strikes up a friendship with Jess, despite his numerous protests.
The film is a little over the top showing Jess's school and home life. It's tough by anyone's standards. How a 12- or 13-year-old boy could deal with this is anyone's guess. There's not one, but three relentless and cruel bullies flowing in and out of his life and nobody ever seems to take his side. A couple of times in the movie Jess is blamed for things that the bullies have done and the adults side with the bullies. I remember as a kid thinking that adults were morons, and this movie seems to think that they are criminally so. I can understand the necessity of making Jess's life tough, but it really feels like the film went to extraordinary lengths to pile on the misery and it just feels a bit forced.
At any rate, Leslie and Jess bond and become friends and start to play in the forest out back of their respective homes. They start to develop a fantasy world back in the woods and that's where all the fantastic imagery from the commercials comes into play. Some of these effects are quite well done, but it still feels like a bit of a bait and switch here. Still their friendship and fantasy world start to develop and grow, and Jess starts to come out of his shell a little bit. At one point, there's an incident with some lost keys and Jess's Dad (Played by Robert Patric) starts haranguing him as Jess searches for them. Jess turns around and plants his feet in the ground and shuts his dad down with one sentence. It was a nice moment and really reflected the change in Jess.
That's really what this film was about - Jess growing from a boy into a young man. It was well done and well written. Every time Jess took responsibility for something and righted a wrong or even apologized for something he had done, it was a little victory for him, just like it is for any kid who's trying to figure out how to grow up.
Continued:
1
2
3
Print this column
