The Five Become Six- Bridge to Terabithia

Those who know me, or are regular readers of this blog, will know that I have a top five list of films, commonly referred to as the elite five which was posted back in June. Today I would like to announce that Bridge to Terabithia has joined the elite five making the list the elite six!

The Elite Six:

1. Bridge to Terabithia
2. Donnie Darko
3. Lord of the Rings
4. The Shawshank Redemption
5. Stardust
6. V for Vendetta

Yesterday morning Ben Jiggins posted a list of five bullet points about this film; gripping story, outstanding acting, clever balance between real and imaginary worlds, clear moral, moving film. All I can say is that Ben is nothing less than spot on!

The film is based upon the book of the same name, which I have yet to read, by Katherine Paterson. The story is based around the character of Jesse Aarons, a 12 year old who is bullied at school and finds life at home a struggle being brought up in a poor family with three other siblings. His life takes a dramatic change when he gets a new neighbour; Leslie Burke who encourages him to open his mind and to imagine. Together they create this imaginary world on the other side of a river which they call Terabithia…

To go on any further would mean revealing spoilers, however what I will say is that the film is superb! One risk that you play when creating a film with children in it is getting rubbish acting, Harry Potter being a good example here, however the cast just work! The acting is “nothing short of outstanding” from the whole cast. Plus it does have Robert Patrick who rarely puts on a bad show!

One of the risks that imaginary world films have is to splash out on constant CGI through out, however here the computer graphics are used so sparingly that you as the viewer are imagining with the children what is happening. Where there was animation it wasn’t over done, or under budgeted, instead as the story went on more and more was revealed bringing you further into Terabithia.

In regards to the story; it is an emotional film, while part of it is a fairy tale in Terabithia the other part is real life; you have peaks and troughs of emotion through out. It is a story filled with gripping real life. Highly recommended.