“Directed by Gabor Csupo?” I never thought I’d see those four words together in a sentence. (Csupo, besides being an animator alongside his then-wife Arlene Klasky, is supposedly the inspiration for Dr. Nick Rivera of The Simpsons, which was animated at Klasky-Csupo for its first four years. Hi everybody!)
I was completely dismayed by the trailer, which I first saw not 10 minutes ago. I thought, “My God! They’re wrecking this great book! I’ll have to start a SDMB thread about it” and logged on and here the thread already was – you guys are awesome. 
I agree 100% with Lissa’s post. I hope this isn’t another travesty wrecking of the book, a la The Scarlett Letter – They live happily ever after! That should please you, movie going sheep!
If the movie is anything like the trailer, I definitely will not go see it.
“Dear Rhett, I love you?”
I have to chime in and echo the “WTF?!” contingent. I saw the trailer for the first time tonight and thought to myself, “Self, I don’t remember any actual through-a-dimensional-doorway other universes in that book…”
All the reviews I’ve seen say that the trailers are misleading, and the creatures are never portrayed as anything but imaginary
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bridge_to_terabithia/
It does sound like the movie may end like the book.
Brian
Yeah, but if you go here and look at the clip of the “Squogre” attack, it doesn’t look like they’re being very imaginary about it. :mad:
Well, all the reviewers are saying there’s not much CGI and that it is never meant to represent anything non-imaginary. The clip shows a part of the movie that illustrates their imaginary play. Sure, the clip shows us what they’re imagining, but that doesn’t make it real.
-FrL-
I got to admit, I’d never heard of the book, and based on the commercial, I was thinking of taking my six year old to see the movie. I think I’ll give it a miss, now.
For those concerned, read the “controversy” section of this article.
Foolish advertising.
Sounds like the problem with the ads for Pan’s Labyrinth.
Even if the CGI is only secondary, I’d be wary of taking a six year old to see it, or reading the book quite yet. My mum’s a sixth grade teacher, and has used it for 20 years in her classroom, and some of the 12 year olds have trouble with it.
major, major plot spoiler that parents should be aware of to make their own call:
[spoiler]It’s a story of two misfit kids who grudgingly become friends and share stories (the controversial CGI “fantasy world” ) and a place in the woods they call “Terabithia”. The only way to get there is to swing on a rope that is tied over a creek. About half way through the book, one of them dies when the rope swing breaks and she hits her head on a rock in the stream and drowns. The rest of the book deals with the other child’s anger and depression dealing with the death of his friend. But it’s not a Red Shirt death - we really know and relate to the girl before her death.
There are other “controversial” elements in the book, like the fact that the girl’s family are atheists, the boy uses the word “Lord” a lot and he’s got a major crush on his teacher (in fact, he’d chosen to spend the day with his teacher when his friend dies, which increases his guilt - if he had been with her like he normally was, he could have fished her out of the creek. Because she was alone and unconscious, she died. But I suspect these elements will be toned down in the movie, though I haven’t seen it yet.[/spoiler]
So, it’s totally a judgment call - if your kid can handle it, great. Mine wouldn’t have done so well with it at 6.
Yeah. Like I said above, I didn’t do well with it at age 10. It devastated me.
Yeah, I appreciate the information. That’s definitely not the kind of thing the little guy and I are into, and like I say, I would have had no clue from the commercial (although I definitely would have checked a newspaper review before I took him).
The one thing that gives me hope about this film is something that seems to have been overlooked here - David Paterson, the son of Katherine Paterson, is one of the writers. The story is based upon an incident from his life. I can’t think of anyone better qualified to do justice to the story.
That being said, there’s no way I’m seeing this in a theatre. The book still haunts me from 25 years ago.
10? I felt sucker-punched at 50!
I re-read the book a couple days ago. It still packs a punch.
Normally I avoid movies during this time of the year because it’s a dumping ground for bad movies. I forget it’s also occassionally the dumping ground for excellent movies Hollywood studios have no idea how to promote. (Hence the misleading advertising.)
I have been dismayed by the marketing for this movie because, as has been said, it isn’t a story that your average small child would take lightly. I read it when it first came out (I was in my late teens) and I found it so draining that I’ve never reread it. I would never have exposed my children to it in early childhood. My son read it in the 6th or 7th grade, for class, and it shook him as bad as Of Mice & Men did the following year. Paterson is a good writer, but not for the young 'uns.
I know I can’t wait to buy a copy of the book with the actors’ pictures on the cover.
Having loved when I was a kid (and still loving) the book, and screamed with anguish when I saw the trailers, I may now decide to see it again… cautiously. Possibly. Maybe.
(I have to say, good on the filmmakers for casting Zooey Deschanel as Miss Edmunds…)
I never read the book, but I knew how well-loved and memorable it was for folks here. So when I saw the previews I imagined how outraged folks would be at the over-the-top fantasy world and I wondered if they would follow through with the sad part. I’d rather read the book at this point.