Bridge to Terabithia

Directed by Gábor Csupó



Bridge to Terabithia is a 2007 film directed by Gábor Csupó (co-founder of Klasky-Csupo) for Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media, based on the Katherine Paterson novel of the same name. The film was released on February 16, 2007 in the U.S. and Canada, and June 16, 2007 in New Zealand and was number two at the box office in the U.S. and Canada over its opening weekend. It was rated PG for thematic elements including bullying, some peril and mild language by the MPAA.

A 12-year-old boy named Jesse "Jess" Aarons (Josh Hutcherson) is an aspiring artist and elementary school boy living in a financially-struggling family and 12-year-old Leslie Burke (AnnaSophia Robb) is the new girl who has had trouble making friends at school and yet is full of joy and wonder with a vast imagination, at Jess' school, just moving to Lark Creek (Jess's small town). She enters a running event which she wins, despite her classmates calling it a "boys only" race. At first, Jess is quite sour about this and wants nothing to do with Leslie, but Leslie's persistence in meeting him soon pays off, and soon the two become very close friends. Their friendship starts when Leslie offers Jess a piece of Juicy Fruit gum on the bus, and he accepts. Jess shares his secret love of drawing with Leslie. Together they venture into the woods, where they swing across a creek on a rope and find an abandoned tree house on the other side. Here, the two friends invent a new world they call Terabithia, and it comes to life through their eyes as they explore together. Back in the "real" world, they both plot against bullies at their school. Leslie gives Jess an unexpected birthday present, an art kit, and he gives Leslie a dog (Prince Terrien) in return, much to both of the children's happiness. On the next trip to Terabithia later that day, it is noted that the river beneath the rope has begun to swell, there is increasing tension as Leslie and then Jess swing across the creek, their feet brushing across the water.
At the end of a particular visit to Terabithia, Jess watches Leslie run back to her house, (the same way he would watch his music teacher, Ms. Edmunds) suddenly realizing he loves her. Early the next morning, Ms. Edmunds (Zooey Deschanel), who has noticed Jess' artistic interests, calls to invite him on a field trip to an art museum. He makes an effort to ask his mother's permission; she is half-asleep and doesn't actually say anything, but he is so eager to go that he assumes she agreed. He has an unspoken crush on the beautiful and personable teacher and does not want to share the trip with Leslie; he merely looks at her home as they drive by.
When he returns, his father (Robert Patrick) and mother are worried sick, not knowing where he has been all day. He hears the horrifying news that Leslie died trying to swing across the rain-swollen creek. The rope broke and she fell in, drowning after hitting her head on something, possibly a rock, which knocked her unconscious. Jess suffers much grief, and he and his parents visit the Burke family home to "pay their respects".
Jess feels overwhelming guilt for Leslie's death, but his father consoles him to keep their intense friendship alive for her sake. So, Jess re-imagines Terabithia and builds a bridge across the river to welcome a new ruler. He invites his sister, May Belle Aarons (Bailee Madison) to be that new ruler, who is delighted after being previously denied any opportunity to enter the land. She and Jess bring back Terabithia in even greater splendor; Jess the king and his sister the princess, and they rule together.