Bridge to Terabithia is the second film directed by Michael Rabiger, who is best known for creating Rugrats. It could be described as a bittersweet film about the struggles of childhood and the importance of imagination, and it certainly has the right ingredients: Jesse Aarons is a poor farm boy that is constantly bullied at school, but he has a hidden artistic talent which keeps him going through the rough patches. His melancholy is interrupted by the arrival of the new girl, Leslie Burke, who quickly learns her place in the playground pecking order. The two form a friendship, retreating to a fantasy world of their own making. It sounds promising, but this film uncomfortably straddles fantasy and reality, I’m guessing in an attempt to reflect the uneasy transition period between childhood and adulthood. Unfortunately, one of the downsides of imagination is that it does not keep its promise. I am all too familiar with the kind of disappointment that comes from realizing that I cannot soar like an Eagle or run as fast as a Cheetah, but I am not sure I want to revisit that lesson while watching a film, especially when the cost is so high.
Instead of imagination invading reality, this film’s emotional content comes from a cruel twisting of that concept until it bleeds. It then applies a cheap bandage so no one is too disappointed at the end, but I am left grieving for what could have been. I do not think children need to be reminded of how hard life can be. When they go to a movie they should get what they want, which is the closest thing to an escape that one can have in 90 minutes. I cannot imagine taking a child to a film like this unless I wanted them to remember how much they cried as adults.