Bridge to Terabithia by Finn mac Cumhal

America loves a winner!

Trying not to read anything about it, as i'm told it was darn good.

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. "

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Saturday, February 17, 2007 6:27 PM

NAFLM

Thank you for posting this! I saw the commercials and could have sworn that I read this book in grade school and that it wasn't quite what was being presented. I liked the book but was worried that they had made a movie out of just one aspect of the book; that, or that I was losing my mind and was confusing it with another book.

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Sunday, February 18, 2007 7:15 PM

I’m happy to see that people are interested in this movie. I think you won’t be disappointed.

I was looking for reviews of Ghost Rider, when I discovered totally by accident how well Terabithia had been received by the critics. Ghost Rider really did not do very well with the critics, but that might not mean anything. Some movies aren’t meant to be clever, just fun; that’s the impression that I get from Ghost Rider. And I think the critics don’t always get that.

I’ve not read the book, so I can’t really comment on it, but some of the reviews I’ve read suggest that the book never placed much emphases of the fantasy element. This was something that was amped up for the movie with CGI special effects. Some critics have said that this was annoying, but personally, I felt that it was a great addition to the story. It wasn’t overdone and it drew you into Leslie’s and Jess’s fantasy world in a way that really couldn’t have been accomplished, even in the book. According to some critics, this made the movie better then the book.

I don’t know. Maybe I should read the book?

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Monday, February 19, 2007 12:40 PM

America loves a winner!

Snuck in after watching Ghost Rider. I say that, because I missed the 1st 15 - 20 minutes . It was a different kind of movie, to be sure. Where as I saw Narnia as a sort of Disney-esque version of Lord of the Rings, I didn't see anything Disney about this movie. Unless maybe one can compare it to Old Yeller or Bambi.

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. "

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Monday, February 19, 2007 1:07 PM

YINYANG

You were busy trying to get yourself lit on fire. It happens.

As someone who's read the book, I've been given the advice to not go and see it. It looks pretty trashed to me (compared to the book). It can't possibly stay with the book - there's not enough information in the book to describe the visuals in the trailers (I don't remember any actual descriptions of the kingdom they went to, just that they spent time there). Besides, I'm sure they messed up the ending, too, unless they stayed completely faithful to the book (the only book that almost made me cry). So, as much as I might want to go see it, to know how well they did just as a movie, the deviations wouldn't satisfy me (I feel the same way about the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings movies).

But, it's nice to see that someone enjoyed it.

Edited to add:

Quote:
Originally posted by Finn mac Cumhal:
I don’t know. Maybe I should read the book?

You read the book, I'll see the movie, and we'll compare notes. Okay?

Edited (again) to ask:

Does Leslie wear jeans in the movie? Does Jess run through the cow field? What about Janice Avery? What about Leslie thinking Christ's story was beautiful?

Edited (for the last time) because I remembered something:

Ack! Leslie has brown hair! Not blonde, brown! How hard is it to get the hair color right - it's here on the cover art!

Rules and voting: http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=2&t=22892

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Monday, February 19, 2007 2:17 PM

America loves a winner!

Does Leslie wear jeans in the movie?

Select to view spoiler:

Short answer - Yes. Long answer... She wears 'pants', but once she wears a dress, when Jess asks her to go to church with him.

Does Jess run through the cow field? What about Janice Avery? What about Leslie thinking Christ's story was beautiful?

Select to view spoiler:

Don't know about that, came in late. Janice is a BIG part of the story. If you get my meaning.

And "Yes" to the Christ story.

Edited (for the last time) because I remembered something:

Ack! Leslie has brown hair! Not blonde, brown! How hard is it to get the hair color right - it's here on the cover art!

Select to view spoiler:

She's adorable. I don't care what color her hair is, the actress lights up the screen. Hey, Leslie's such a free spirit, she prob just dyed her hair!

Learn to roll, dog.

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. "

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Monday, February 19, 2007 8:19 PM

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.

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Monday, February 19, 2007 10:24 PM

** 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 of drowning, and this is really a very critical part of the story that I can’t believe was left out of the movie. It helps to better explain Jess’s reaction later in the story. Chapter eleven of the book is particularly heart-wrenching even given its very abridged format. This is the chapter after Jess discovers Leslie’s fate, and it clearly enunciates Jess’s feelings of denial better then the movie is able to.

The conversation between Jess, Leslie and May Belle about Christianity is taken almost word-for-word from the book.

Janice Avery is still the major antagonists.

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Tuesday, February 20, 2007 12:58 PM

KANEMAN

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

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Tuesday, February 20, 2007 3:23 PM

REGINAROADIE

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?"

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Monday, February 26, 2007 11:04 AM

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?

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Monday, February 26, 2007 1:36 PM

America loves a winner!

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. "

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Tuesday, February 27, 2007 10:38 AM

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.

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Tuesday, February 27, 2007 10:42 AM

America loves a winner!

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. "

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Tuesday, February 27, 2007 6:11 PM

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.

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Wednesday, February 28, 2007 4:18 AM

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

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Wednesday, February 28, 2007 6:39 AM

Finn - My wife enjoyed Terabithia very much specifically because it was not as much Fantasy as was portrayed on the trailers. I had to drag her to watch it with us. lol

It was during the pre-movie trailers at Terabithia that we saw the longer version of "Mimzy" that she flat out said she wouldn't go see.

I'm looking forward to it, just cause I likes to be a little kid at the movies. My daughter is my excuse to go see it so I don't look like a putz when I tell my friends what I went to see.

My wife was never a Toys-R-Us kid, I think.

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Monday, March 19, 2007 8:42 AM

YINYANG

You were busy trying to get yourself lit on fire. It happens.

** CONTAINS SPOILERS **

Well, I finally saw the movie this past weekend. I went in there expecting it to be okay, but not great, but found myself liking it anyway. I wish they would have given the story between Jess and the music teacher more screen time (and I remember his annoying sisters getting more time in the book, too), because otherwise the museum trip seems sudden (and a little pervy).

The only thing I really didn't like, aside from what they left out

Select to view spoiler:

including when Jess thought he would at least get to see Leslie's body, but then found out she was cremated - as well as Jess being afraid of drowning, which gives his character more depth

was when they poured on the cheese for the first time when they swung on the rope, and all the music classes.

The work they did with the CGI (where everything started out real and sort of morphed into what there were imagining) was handled nicely. And, all things considered, they did well with modernizing the movie, but still having a sort of rural timelessness to it (Leslie's fashion and references to technology in the classroom aside).

The dad was fantastically amazing! Unbelievable how well they cast him. I liked what they did with Leslie (though I can still pretend to be upset that she didn't have brown hair at least

), and the kid they cast for Jess was pretty good. Oh, and his little sister May Bell? That girl was great, too.

I skimmed through the book after I got home that night, and saw that they had taken a lot of the dialogue (especially around the end, between Jess and his teacher) right out of the book. There were a couple of places where the pacing was weird (when Leslie suggests they need a place all their own), and book-to-movie stories always feel rushed for me; overall, though, it was better than I expected it to be.

Note: Do NOT take your children to this movie, unless you intend on bringing Kleenex, too. My favorite scene in both the movie and the book

Select to view spoiler:

where Jess' dad chases him down and holds him while he cries

made this little girl in the row ahead of us start bawling, and she sniffled 'till the movie was over.

(Heck, my eyes teared up a little, too.)

I give this movie a, "Wow! Well done!"

(VERY IMPORTANT) Rules and voting: http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=2&t=22892

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Wednesday, March 21, 2007 2:49 PM

America loves a winner!

Quote:
made this little girl in the row ahead of us start bawling, and she sniffled 'till the movie was over.

(Heck, my eyes teared up a little, too.)

Not knowing the story at all, I was struck at how bummed I was for the rest of the day.

Select to view spoiler:

At Leslie's death, I mean. I had a brief thought that she'd some how 'come back' and they'd see each other in Terabithia, but then realized, she was utterly gone. It was very Joss like, having her die like that.

The teacher taking Jess to the museum did seem quite strange, and sadly, in today's climate, a smidge more than inappropriate. Call me a cynic. *shrugs*

yingyang, I'm really interesteed in what you thought of book Leslie vs movie Leslie.

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Friday, March 23, 2007 8:15 PM

** CONTAINS SPOILER **

The museum trip did come across a little inappropriate, and I’m still trying to decide if that was intentional or not. The natural reaction is to assume that it was simply a product of a rushed plot, but it’s possible that it could have been a sidetrack to distract the audience from the following events, and to that end it works extraordinarily well. I was so caught up in the weirdness of the museum trip that I was blindsided.

There was some cheese, especially on the first rope swing.

Yep, this movie will ruin your whole day. Like I said, it’s a very powerful movie, and I’m not sure what makes it so powerful. I suppose it’s just the combination of some really good acting and a good story. You fall in love with the characters and get pulled into this carefree world of make-believe, then suddenly it yanks you out and stabs you in the chest with this heartbreaking irony.

Select to view spoiler:

Not many movies are able to portray the shock of death so well. You really do find yourself in a state of denial when you discover Leslie’s death. It doesn’t seem like it could be true, and it takes a while to come to terms with it.

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Saturday, March 24, 2007 12:53 PM