Bridge to Terabithia

POSTED BY: Finn mac Cumhal
UPDATED: Saturday, March 24, 2007 22:53
VIEWED: 5864
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STEGASAURUS

Tuesday, February 20, 2007 6:19 AM

Yin,

To your question if they stay true to the ending in the book:

Select to view spoiler:

Yes

Now, I have not read the book, but my 11 year old daughter was in the middle of it when we went and saw this movie on Saturday, and she claims that they did stay pretty close to the story, but they took certain creative license with some of the less exciting parts of the book:

Select to view spoiler:

i.e. Jess socking the kid after the "fastest kid" comment.

To those of you who said you fought back the tears I'd have to say you are some hard-core individuals.

I absolutely could not hold back the tears, and amazingly enough I didn't care who saw me. I liked the movie ALOT.

FINN MAC CUMHAL

Tuesday, February 20, 2007 8:24 AM

** CONTAINS SPOILERS **

Quote:
Originally posted by yinyang:
You read the book, I'll see the movie, and we'll compare notes. Okay?

Deal!

In fact, I got the book this morning. It took a whole hour for me to read it – I spent more time watching the movie. I’ve since passed it onto the girls.

My comparison between the book and the movie, take note of portion markings on paragraphs deemed particularly spoilerish:

Select to view spoiler:

The book is definitely a child’s book in that it is written in a very abbreviated manner. The movie I would think should appeal to much larger audience. I definitely prefer the movie. The book is just not written for people in their thirties. As for the differences between the book and the movie, I would argue they are very mild. While there are some minor differences to bring the movie up to date and a few chronological differences and some events that are distinctly different, nothing major was actually left out of the movie; as far as I can tell everything in the book is represented in the movie, including the ending.

The book was written years ago. It’s copyrighted in 1972, and that is significant to understanding some of the differences between the book and the movie. For instance the book tends to portray Jess’s lifestyle as much more rural then is common today. In the book Jess wakes up every morning to milk a cow and run through cow pastors. However, there aren’t many families in need of money who would continue that kind of lifestyle today, because not many small family farms like that are profitable enough today to support a family. The book makes a point of saying that they weren’t profitable back then either. Jess’s father doesn’t actually work on the farm, but rather drives to DC everyday to work. In the late sixties and early seventies there were still many small family farms, but during the eighties they largely disappeared. In the movie, Jess’s family depends on vegetables grown in a greenhouse, but I don’t remember them owning any livestock, certainly not any that Jess milked.

(CONTAINS SPOILERS) There is also some mild political references in the book that are dated – references to Vietnam and hippies, some commentary on women’s roll in the household. Leslie is portrayed in the book as very androgynous. She is described as easily confused with a boy. She wears jeans, as opposed to dresses, has very short dark hair and is often scorned, by children and adults, for an independence that is described as “tacky,” something that would seem out of place today, since society has a much higher tolerance for that kind of behavior. So perhaps one of the most significant differences is Leslie, who is depicted much more feminine. In fact, she is a pretty bubbly little girl, as opposed to an androgynous tomboy, but with a rather unusual individual character. Kind of Punk-Rockish Dinky Bossetti kind of thing. I think this is a very positive change for the movie, because movie-Leslie is such an endearing and delightful little girl, and she is played so marvelously by Robb that you can’t help but fall in love with her, which makes the story so much more powerful.

Although I don’t remember it mentioned in the movie, Leslie is a big reader including The Chronicles of Narnia, which is where she gets her fascination with fantasy stories. And of course the imagination of the children is brought out very vividly in the movie through CGI, something that is not really done in the book. The book, as I said, is very abbreviated, but it makes many references to the fantasy realm of Terabithia and speaks about it as if it were real. It doesn’t go into detailed descriptions of it, but the book doesn’t go into detailed descriptions of anything. It’s a children’s book. So it strikes me as being a minor complaint to say that the CGI was not representative of the book. And I think it probably was.

(CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS) One of the things that is in the book, but which I don’t remember being made very strong or at all in the movie, is Jess’s fear o

KANEMAN

Tuesday, February 20, 2007 10:58 PM

Saw it....Liked it. It was actually a lot better than I had invisioned.

REGINAROADIE

Wednesday, February 21, 2007 1:23 AM

I've never read the book, and at first I thought it was along the lines of ERAGON as sort of a garden variety fantasy that's coming down from the pipelines now that RINGS is over and HARRY POTTER has three more movies left.

But when I heard just how good it was and that it was definitly NOT garden variety fantasy, I have to admit that I am actually interested. I think I'll wait for it to be at the Rainbow before I see it.

I just got off working four days on a short my film prof was producing and after soaked feet, mudpits, freak blizzards and a final 17 hour workday, I just want to unwind cinematically with sonething stupid, like GHOST RIDER. But not NORBIT. The former is good stupid, the latter is bad stupid.

The one fantasy movie coming out that I'm more psyched for is THE GOLDEN COMPASS. I read that book as a kid and re-read it recently and I'm just psyched over the fact that it's coming to life and that they're really focusing on making it the best movie it can possibly be.

**************************************************
"Have you ever fired two guns whilst jumping through the air?"
"No."
"Have you ever fired ONE gun whilst jumping through the air?"

STEGASAURUS

Monday, February 26, 2007 9:04 PM

During the trailers preceeding the movie, one caught my duaghter's and my attention and we're really looiking forward to seeing it. My wife however doesn't think the movie will be worth the time lost in a day to watch it.

Anyone else find "The Last Mimzy" to be an interesting movie?

AURAPTOR

Monday, February 26, 2007 11:36 PM

Quote:
My wife however doesn't think the movie will be worth the time lost in a day to watch it.

Sounds like a real party girl! Woo hoo!

Does she even LIKE movies ? Or is your description less a general view and more specific on her feelings toward THIS particular movie. The comment seems less than flattering.

People love a happy ending. So every episode, I will explain once again that I don't like people. And then Mal will shoot someone. Someone we like. And their puppy. - Joss

" They don't like it when you shoot at 'em. I worked that out myself. "

STEGASAURUS

Tuesday, February 27, 2007 8:38 PM

My wife tends to dislike SciFi/Fantasy movies and prefers dramas.

That being said, she will accompany my daughter and I to our movies as long as I continue to periodically see one of hers.

In a nutshell, when she saw the trailer to "The Last Mimzy", she wrinkled her nose and told me to have fun when I take my daughter to go see it.

AURAPTOR

Tuesday, February 27, 2007 8:42 PM

Quote:
In a nutshell, when she saw the trailer to "The Last Mimzy", she wrinkled her nose and told me to have fun when I take my daughter to go see it.

Ha - ha! And now I'm gonna side w/ the wife, because I have no idea what 'The Last Mimzy ' is .

People love a happy ending. So every episode, I will explain once again that I don't like people. And then Mal will shoot someone. Someone we like. And their puppy. - Joss

" They don't like it when you shoot at 'em. I worked that out myself. "

STEGASAURUS

Wednesday, February 28, 2007 4:11 AM

Plot Outline:

Two siblings begin to develop special talents after they find a mysterious box of toys. Soon the kids, their parents, and even their teacher are drawn into a strange and sometimes terrifying world.

Link to the trailer: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0768212/trailers or http://www.apple.com/trailers/newline/thelastmimzy/medium.htm

And after viewing these trailers, the one at the theater was a bit longer and way cooler. Mimzy is actually an AI inside the toy bunny.

FINN MAC CUMHAL

Wednesday, February 28, 2007 2:18 PM

Someone who doesn’t like fantasy might enjoy Terabithia very much. The trailers are misleading, trust me.

On the Last Mimzy:

I did some googling for previews, which can be notoriously inaccurate, so take them with a grain of salt, but the Last Mimzy seems interesting. From what I gather it is about a future being attempting to communicate with the past via stuffed bunny. That seems like a strange mode of communication that would seem to specifically target young children. Why? I don’t know. So far the previews are mixed, but all of them seem to agree that the story lacks strong plausibility, which seems likely to me, since I don’t even believe the plot outline. According to the Hollywood Reporter, which was generally positive:

“Viewers willing to go along for the ride should be agreeably charmed by the yarn. And whenever developments threaten to push the boundaries of credibility a little too far, Wilson's character reins in the excess with his sardonic line delivery. But even he can't salvage a jarringly clunky bit of product placement concerning Mimzy's internal make-up that yanks older viewers out of the mythology with little time left to bring them back into the fold.”[1]

There seems to be some themes shots at the Patriot Act and perhaps a few other politically charged sideline topics. That kind of thing is usually indicative of sloppy stereotypes. (The evil government agent in the dark suit, etc)

Special effects are evidently convincing, which at this point in cinematic technology really shouldn’t be difficult for a serious film to achieve.

Despite some problems it comes across to me as an enjoyable film. According to Variety, which was generally negative:

“Kids will like "Mimzy" if for no other reason than it doesn't talk down to them. And it imagines they will laugh and respond to the same things as adults, something adult filmmakers often have a problem understanding.”[2]

This I think is perhaps the most promising statement, since it tells me that it is a movie that appeals smartly to children, which is usually a movie I’ll enjoy, but we’ll see.

[1] http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/awards_festivals/fest_reviews/arti
cle_display.jsp?&rid=8732

[2] http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=features2007&content=jump&jump
=review&dept=sundance&nav=RSundance&articleid=VE1117932552&cs=1

Nihil est incertius vulgo, nihil obscurius voluntate hominum, nihil fallacius ratione tota comitiorum.

Nothing is more unpredictable than the mob, nothing more obscure than public opinion, nothing more deceptive than the whole political system.

-- Cicero

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