| Bridge to Terabithia | |
 | |
| Directed by | Gábor Csupó |
| Produced by | David Paterson Lauren Levine Hal Lieberman |
| Written by | Katherine Paterson |
| Music by | Josh Hutcherson AnnaSophia Robb |
| Cinematography | Michael Chapman |
| Studio | John Gilbert |
| Release date | February 16, 2007 |
| Running time | 95 minutes |
| Country | United States, New Zealand |
Bridge to Terabithia is a 2007 fantasy film directed by Gabor Csupo. The film stars Josh Hutcherson, AnnaSophia Robb, Robert Pactrick, Bailey Madison, and Zooey Dansechal.
Plot[]
Jess Aarons (Josh Hutcherson) is a fifth grader aspiring artist living with his financially-struggling family in Lark Creek, Virginia. He rides the bus to school with his little sister May Belle (Bailee Madison), where he avoids the school bully Janice Avery (Lauren Clinton). In class, Jess is teased by classmates Scott Hoager (Cameron Welkfield) and Gary Fulcher (Elliot Lawless), and meets a new student his age by the name of Leslie Burke (AnnaSophia Robb). At recess, Jess enters a running event, for which he had been training at home. Leslie also enters and manages to beat all the boys, much to Jess's irritation. On the way home, Jess and Leslie learn that they are next-door neighbors.
Later in the evening, Jess becomes frustrated when he finds that May Belle drew in his notebook, but his mom, who favours her daughters, and his strict father (Robert Patrick) sides with her. He later watches them gardening together, disappointed that his father never spends time with him. The next day at school, Leslie compliments Jess's drawing ability after seeing his notebook, and they soon become best friends. After school, they venture into the woods and swing across a creek on a rope. Jess and Leslie find an abandoned treehouse and a broken down truck on the other side, and invent a new world, which Leslie names "Terabithia". The fantasy world, which is a reflection on their lives, comes to life through their eyes as they explore the surroundings. For the next few days, Jess and Leslie spend their free time in the tree house getting to know each other.
Leslie gives Jess an art kit for his birthday, much to his delight. Later, he gives her a puppy, whom she decides to name Prince Terrien (shortened to P.T.). Once in Terabithia, they fight with various creatures, including a troll resembling Janice. In one particular scene, Leslie walks onto a log and shouts "We rule Terabithia and nothing crushes us!" At school, May Belle shows her friend Alexandra what she got in her snack, which are Twinkies. Jess tells her that she should not brag about the Twinkies. At recess, May Belle screams towards Jess and Leslie saying that Janice stole her Twinkies. Leslie becomes frustrated by Janice's fee for entering the toilet. Jess and Leslie play a prank on Janice, and she becomes the laughing stock of everyone on the bus. Once Leslie's parents finish writing their book, she and Jess help paint their house. Jess is impressed by her parents' happiness, and smiles as he watches their family. At school on Friday, Leslie hears Janice Avery crying in the bathroom. After Leslie talks with her, she discovers that the reason why Janice is a bully is that she is abused by her father, and they become friends. Jess and Leslie take P.T. to Terabithia, where they fight off several creatures resembling students at their school. They decide to go home when it starts raining and the creek gets higher than ever, and Jess realizes that he has fallen in love with Leslie as she runs back to her house.
The next morning, Ms. Edmunds (Zooey Danschel), Jess's music teacher, calls to invite him on a one-on-one field trip to an art museum. Jess tries to ask his mother's permission; however, she is half-asleep and he takes her mumbling as approval. Jess does not ask Leslie to accompany him, and merely looks at her house as they drive by. When he returns home, Jess finds that his father and mother are worried sick because they did not know where he was. His father tells him that Leslie drowned in the creek after falling in because the rope broke in the same morning (possibly due to head injury) when Jess went to the museum. Jess is heartbroken, and says he doesn't believe that Leslie drowned. The following day, Jess and his parents visit the Burke family home to pay their respects. Leslie's father, Bill Burke (Latham Gaines), tells Jess that she loved him, and thanks him for being a very good friend to her, since she had trouble making friends at her old school. Jess feels overwhelming guilt for Leslie's death because he didn't invite her to the museum trip and for not being there for her. He runs back into the forest, and breaks out in tears. His father consoles him that it's not his fault and saying, "She brought you something special when she came here didn't she? That's what you hold on to. That's how you keep her alive". Jess decides to re-imagine Terabithia and builds a bridge with a sign saying "Nothing Crushes Us" across the creek to welcome a new ruler. He invites his sister May Belle to enter Terabithia; she is delighted because she was previously denied every opportunity to enter. She and Jess bring back Terabithia in even greater splendor, with Jess as king and his sister as princess.
