In 1978, children's book author Katherine Paterson wrote The Bridge to Terabithia, a story she based on the friendship between her son David and his friend Lisa. It promptly won the American Library Association's Newbery Medal for the most distinguished children's book of the year and has since established itself as a family favorite.

Fans of the book will be happy to see the story brought to life in an adaptation written by Paterson's son David and Jeff Stockwell (The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys).

The Bridge to Terabithia follows the friendship of Jesse Aarons (Josh Hutcherson) and Leslie Burke (AnnaSophia Robb). Jesse is a kid perpetually on the margins. A boy in a family full of girls, he gets a hard time from a lot of the kids at school because he'd rather be drawing cartoons. But when a new girl moves in next door, they quickly become unlikely best friends.

On the surface, Jesse and Leslie don't appear to have much in common. He's an earnest kid whose parents are struggling to get by. She's an urban tween-punk whose writer parents moved to the country so they could finish a book. But one day, a walk in the woods opens up the world of imagination to them. Together, a dilapidated tree-house in the forest becomes the enchanted land of Terabithia, full of magical creatures and adventure.

The filmmakers all say that the primary challenge in translating The Bridge to Terabithia from the page to screen was, well, Terabithia. In a story fundamentally about the power of imagination, it is no surprise that this magical land was left mostly up to the individual reader to conjure. For the film, animation artist Gabor Csupo (The Wild Thornberrys Movie, The Rugrats Movie) took on his first challenge as a director to bring Terabithia to life.

Csupo's marriage of the imaginary vision of Terabithia with the live action of the movie is a successful one, and he was a good choice for the project. The aesthetics of Terabithia weave effortlessly with Jesse and Leslie's real lives--so effortlessly, in fact, that initially I wasn't certain if all the squoagres and giants and other inhabitants of Terabithia were supposed to be in the kids' heads or if they were supposed to be "real."

The acting itself is another story. The Bridge to Terabithia is chockablock with some terrible child acting--especially on the part of the supporting cast. The one exception was Bailee Madison, who played Jesse's little sister May Belle Aarons. In addition to her being ridiculously cute, it was stunning to see a child so young be so comfortable and natural when everyone else around her couldn't manage it.

The story itself was really typical Disney kid fare--lots of slow talking and clean language. Frankly, not my favorite stuff. But even if the 31-year-old me wasn't invested in The Bridge to Terabithia, the 10-year-old me would have loved it. It has that DeGrassi Junior High kids' programming production look to it that would have drawn me into the theater back when I was Jesse and Leslie's age. Acting problems won't resonate with Terabithia's target audience, but the cool animation, leads their own age, and relatability of the story will.

ReelzChannel Rating: 

What's on the Disc:

Since Bridge to Terabithia is one Disney film that is NOT animated, there aren't a ton of extras on the disc. The main special features are:

--Two choices of commentary - with Gabor Csupo, Jeff Stockwell and producer Hal Lieberman or with Josh Hutcherson, AnnaSophia Robb, and producer Lauren Levine.

--Digital Imagination: Bringing Terabithia to Life - a featurette on how the team behind the movie translated the story (which is so dependent on imagination) to the visual language of film.

--Behind the Book: The Themes of Bridge to Terabithia - a featurette interviewing actors, teachers, and others delving deeper into the story itself. Better than any book report you'd ever read.

--Music Video "Keep Your Mind Wide Open" - AnnaSophia Robb performs this song from the movie. While the song is very appropriate to the movie, the video is very Disney and very lipsynched. Strictly kid fare.

Check out ReelzChannel.com's The Bridge to Terabithia page for clips from the film and more!