# New Bridge to Terabithia movie **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 26, 2007, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-bridge-to-terabithia-movie/389632 "2007-01-26T22:03:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Archergal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Archergal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archergal)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2007, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-bridge-to-terabithia-movie/389632/1 "2007-01-26T22:03:53Z")
I’ve been seeing the trailers for the new Bridge to Terabithia [movie](http://adisney.go.com/disneypictures/terabithia/index.html). It looks to me like they’re trying to make another Narnia out of it. Admittedly, it’s been a few years since I read the book, but I don’t remember quite so much fantasy world stuff visualized in it. Anybody got additional info on it? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2007, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-bridge-to-terabithia-movie/389632/2 "2007-01-26T23:05:55Z")
From what I remember of the book, since I haven’t read it in several years, they’re completely wrecking it. _Bridge to Terabithia_ is not about monsters, or war, or destiny; it’s about two kids who share a fantasy world. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2007, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-bridge-to-terabithia-movie/389632/3 "2007-01-26T23:14:14Z")
I’m not sure that Terabithia itself was ever particular described beyond things like the names of some of the kingdoms. It was pretty much just a story about the two of them as friends. An accurate telling of the book would probably be closer to the movie _My Girl_ than _Narnia_, I think. I haven’t read the book in almost 20 years though so who knows. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2007, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-bridge-to-terabithia-movie/389632/4 "2007-01-26T23:15:54Z")
[QUOTE=Captain Carrot] From what I remember of the book, since I haven’t read it in several years, they’re completely wrecking it. _Bridge to Terabithia_ is not about monsters, or war, or destiny; it’s about two kids who share a fantasy world. [/QUOTE] That’s what I was thinking, based on the trailers… unless those are really, really misleading trailers (to be hoped), they’re destroying the book. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2007, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-bridge-to-terabithia-movie/389632/5 "2007-01-26T23:16:27Z")
Ooh, if I was the type to subscribe to a thread, I’d TOTALLY subscribe to this one. I want to know (in advance, if possible) if Leslie is likely to be a character in _Bridge to Terabithia II_. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2007, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-bridge-to-terabithia-movie/389632/6 "2007-01-26T23:24:24Z")
[QUOTE=Archergal] It looks to me like they’re trying to make another Narnia out of it. [/QUOTE] Not surprising, seeing as both films were produced by the pro-positive-message studio Walden Media for Disney. I’ve never read the book, but the synopsis on the official site appears to jibe with what the book was about: Two children become friends and create a magical world in which they solve problems. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2007, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-bridge-to-terabithia-movie/389632/7 "2007-01-27T00:01:45Z")
When the trailer started, I said, “Hey, it’s Bridge to Terabithia.” As the trailer progressed, I said, “Oh, it must not be. That’s not in the book.” And then at the end of the trailer, they said the name of the movie and I got confused again. I even went and found my copy and skimmed in to see if I was forgetting something. I wasn’t. As a 10-year-old, I was devastated by this book. I can’t imagine having gone to the movie at that age. I just don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Greywolf73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d9b06d/32.png) [@Greywolf73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greywolf73)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2007, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-bridge-to-terabithia-movie/389632/8 "2007-01-27T00:06:57Z")
All I have to say is the producers were evidently not reading the same “Bridge to Terabithia” that I read. It looks like all the two have in common is the title and maybe the main characters’ names. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2007, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-bridge-to-terabithia-movie/389632/9 "2007-01-27T00:26:15Z")
[QUOTE=Greywolf73] All I have to say is the producers were evidently not reading the same “Bridge to Terabithia” that I read. It looks like all the two have in common is the title and maybe the main characters’ names. [/QUOTE] And they gave Jess’s hairstyle to Leslie (Michaela brought the illustrated book home from school a couple of weeks ago, and the one with the Sandy Duncan hairstyle was Jess, not Leslie. She looked like Elliot Gould in _Whiffs_). ---
**Author:** ![stucco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e56c9b/32.png) [@stucco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stucco)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2007, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-bridge-to-terabithia-movie/389632/10 "2007-01-27T00:52:09Z")
My 5th grade teacher read Bridge to Terabithia out loud for 10 minutes a day or so. I remember, when she got to the end, there wasn’t a dry eye in the room. I don’t remember all the flying fairies and wierd creatures I saw in the trailer though… :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2007, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-bridge-to-terabithia-movie/389632/11 "2007-01-27T00:56:34Z")
Nothing wrong with your memory, kid. The Teacher’s Read-Aloud edition[sup]TM[/sup] specifically instructs the reader to skip over those parts… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2007, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-bridge-to-terabithia-movie/389632/12 "2007-01-27T01:00:26Z")
The trailer was full of monsters, gadgets, and high-tech adventure. I was thinking, “this is all wrong!” The whole point of the book was that this was an old-fashioned fantasy world, where kids were playing together in the woods and most of the fantasy stuff was based around them being a king and queen, whereas IRL their lives weren’t so great. It was about a sweet relationship between two tweeners with a very sad ending. I can’t imagine why they need to tart it up with a bunch of crap. It’s a great story without cybertronic hand robotics or whatever the hell I saw in that trailer. I think it’s going to suck. Maybe I’m wrong, but I doubt it. ---
**Author:** ![Menocchio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@Menocchio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Menocchio)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2007, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-bridge-to-terabithia-movie/389632/13 "2007-01-27T05:55:21Z")
Either this is the least faithful adaptation since I, Robot, or else this trailer is seriously misrepresenting the film. I mean, I suppose it’s possible that they’re keeping the core of the novel but just expanding and visualizing the fantasy bits a little. If that’s the case, people are going to be really disappointed. Really, really disappointed. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2007, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-bridge-to-terabithia-movie/389632/14 "2007-01-27T14:18:08Z")
I haven’t seen the trailer and now I don’t want to see even that much. I agree with the other posters: the whole fantasy thing is imagined; if it’s shown in all the gaudy glory that CGI effects can allow, it will overwhelm the real magic at work, that they’re enlivening their lives with a rather low-key bit of shared fantasy in spite of the more drab reality of their lives. And I betcha dollars to donuts that all the unflattering references to religious belief (Jess’ younger sister’s shouting that Leslie went to hell, and Jess’ father saying that no God ain’t gonna send no little ten-year-old girl to hell) won’t make it into the first draft of the screenplay. And will they include the special trip to the museum that the teacher makes with Jess (and only Jess), and successfully communicate just how wonderful this was for Jess and all the reasons why? I seriously doubt it, given the immediate backdrop of a series of lurid teacher-student sex scandals of recent years. ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2007, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-bridge-to-terabithia-movie/389632/15 "2007-01-27T16:09:49Z")
I saw the trailer a couple of weeks ago, and I got frothing mad. _Bridge to Terabithia_ was one of my favourite books when I was about ten. It’s not fantasy! It’s about two kids, and growing up, and all the difficulties that being different in a small town brings! It’s about the small town farmer/big city liberal culture clash, and bullies, and child abuse, and a boy’s imagination being awakened by books! And poverty, and parental struggle! And they’ve made Leslie _pretty_! One of the big points for me, in the books, was that both the kids are young enough to still want to play, and feel mystery, but old enough to know that they’re just making it all up, and that that’s the point. No flashy animation. If the actors and script were good enough, in a proper movie, they could _make_ us see the monsters they’re fighting, and understand the parallels between their monsters and the real ones at school. I’m going to pretend they’re not making the movie. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2007, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-bridge-to-terabithia-movie/389632/16 "2007-01-27T21:21:43Z")
[QUOTE=Lissla Lissar] I’m going to pretend they’re not making the movie. [/QUOTE] That’s the spirit! I’m going to pretend that the filmmakers are taking a long arcing swing off a short, frayed rope… ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2007, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-bridge-to-terabithia-movie/389632/17 "2007-01-27T21:25:19Z")
Pardon my ignorance, but doesn’t a kid die in that story? Doesn’t sound too Modern Disney to me… ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2007, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-bridge-to-terabithia-movie/389632/18 "2007-01-27T21:56:22Z")
[QUOTE=EJsGirl] Doesn’t sound too Modern Disney to me… [/QUOTE] Like I said upthread, this book traumatized me in 5th grade. The teacher was reading it aloud and I missed a day, the last day. When I came back, my friend Matt Baker told me the end. It was awful. I was a wimpy kid. Now I’m a wimpy adult. I wouldn’t see this movie if you paid me. ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2007, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-bridge-to-terabithia-movie/389632/19 "2007-01-27T22:38:54Z")
I don’t think the movie they’re making (which doesn’t exist) can possibly have the book ending. It’s too sad. Doesn’t matter. It’s not real. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2007, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-bridge-to-terabithia-movie/389632/20 "2007-01-27T23:25:32Z")
[QUOTE=Menocchio] Either this is the least faithful adaptation since I, Robot, or else this trailer is seriously misrepresenting the film. [/QUOTE] Apparently it’s the latter. There’s a [review at Aint-It-Cool](http://www.aintitcool.com/node/31370) that says it covers the ground of the book and is not how the trailer has portrayed it. No real spoilers in the review that I could see. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-bridge-to-terabithia-movie/389632.md?page=2)