Bridge To Terabithia DVD Review

Jesse (Hutcherson) has always found it making friends. The brunt of everyone’s jokes at school and constantly picked on because he wears his sister’s hand-me-downs, Jesse could only escape drawing pictures of places he would rather be. He finally finds a friend when his new neighbour Leslie (Robb) beats him in a running race but when the pair discovers an old rope swing that leads to an abandoned tree house their whole lives change. This becomes a magical place for them, a lace they come to call Terabithia.

Family entertainment specialists Walden Media adapt another children novel but can ‘Bridge to Terebithia’ keep everyone entertained?

After bringing ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’, ‘Charlotte’s Web’, ‘Because of Winn-Dixie’ and many others, family friendly production company Walden Media has corned the market in adapting much loved children’s stories. Katherine Paterson’s beloved novel ‘Bridge to Terabithia’ is a story with great movie potential and director Gabor Csupo and his creative team bring this magical and heart warming story to the sliver screen.

The story of two kids who have never really had any friends finding each other and creating their own special world is one that you and your family will quickly loose themselves in, is one that is destined to be come a favourite. Jesse has four sisters and his father relies on him to be the man of the house when he is away at work. With all his chores and schoolwork, he doesn’t really have time to pursuit he real passion, drawing. Leslie has always been on the move with her writing parents, never staying in one place long enough to make any real friends. When she arrives at Jesse’s school she instantly becomes the outcast again, even though she wins the running race, even beating the fast boy in school, Jesse. The two then become friends and while exploring they discover an abandoned rope swing that leads to an island with an abandoned tree house. Over time the two make the tree house their own, but it is the make believe world they create and call Terabithia that draws you into the movie. The creatures of Terabithia are representations of the bullies they face in real life and they are the king and queen of the kingdom and its protectors. As they become more confident in Terabithia, they become more confident in life and learn some valuable and hard lessons.

Bringing this magical and emotional story are two performances from a couple of young actors that will draw you into the movie. Josh Hutcherson made a real impact with his performance in ‘Zathura’ and had fun in ‘RV’ and this role continues to show that he is a talented young actor. The same can be said of AnnaSophia Robb. After appearing in ‘Because of Winn-Dixie’ and making a splash as Violet Beauregarde in the remake of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, she makes the headstrong and creative Leslie all the more watchable. There is also good support from Robert Patrick as Jesse’s overbearing father and Zooey Deschanel as the music teacher that Jesse has a crush on. Almost stealing the film is Bailee Madison, the overly curious sister May Belle who just wants to be part of Leslie and Jesse’s fun.

‘Bridge to Terabithia’ is a magical movie that doesn’t pull any punching when it comes to learning valuable lessons about life. This is a film that will enchant the whole family but also grab you by the heartstrings and tug them until the very end. Younger members of the family might find the more emotional scenes a little hard to take but this is a movie that is destined to become a firm favourite and one that will stay with you for a long time.

PICTURE & SOUND

Presented in Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1 with Dolby Digital 5.1, the movie is presented well.

BONUS FEATURES

Map of the Forest – A Quest Play an interactive game that challenges you to find three hidden items to open the map of Terabithia.

Featurette – Digital Imagination (5.57 mins) Director Gabor Csupo, executive producer Alex Schwartz, producer Lauren Levine, author Katherine Paterson, screenwriter David Paterson, Walden Media CEO Gary Granit, digital effects supervisor Dan Lemmon, WETA Digital’s Richard Taylor and star Josh Hutcherson talk about creating the magical world of Terabithia. From the concept stage through to the finished computer generated imagery, this featurette shows how the creatures were created.

Music Video – ‘Keep Your Mind Wide Open’ (3.37 mins) Star AnnaSophia Robb sings the title song to ‘Bridge to Terabithia’

Behind the Book (14.30 mins) Author Katherine Paterson, stars Josh Hutcherson, AnnaSophia Robb, Zooey Deschanel and teachers and librarians talk about the impact and themes of the book and what it means to everything child or young person that reads it.

Drawing Competition View the winners and runners up for the drawing competition ran to find a new creature to live in Terebithia.

Sketching Classes Follow the instruction and you to could learn to draw like Jesse from the movie

Trailer A preview of ‘Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium’

OVERALL

The DVD treatment for ‘Bridge to Terabithia’ is one that younger fans will enjoy. The interactive games and featurettes are good but the lack of a commentary track may disappoint fans of the movie. This is still a decent DVD package.