Reserved 11-year-old Jess Aarons (Zathura’s Josh Hutcherson) is a
bit of an outsider — both at school and, as the only boy among five siblings
in a working-class family of seven, at home as well. When he strikes
up a friendship with the quirky new girl in his small town, Leslie Burke (AnnaSophia Robb,
from Because of Winn-Dixie and The Reaping), she introduces him to a world of
imagination. Together they create the secret kingdom of Terabithia, a
magical place only accessible by swinging on an old rope over a stream
in the woods near their homes. There they play-act a series of
fantastical escapades against figurative representations of school
bullies and, in the process, change each other for the better.

Based on Katherine Paterson’s popular Newbery Award-winning novel,
Bride to Terabithia is part family drama, part adolescent fantasy – a
movie about friendship, as well as about the power and exhilaration of
a blossoming imagination. Beautifully fleshed out in non-pandering
fashion by screenwriters John Stockwell and David Paterson, and
directed with a clear, streamlined tone by Emmy Award-winning producer Gabor Csupo (The Simpsons), the film mines
a deep reservoir of genuine feeling that’s often missing in adolescent
entertainment, combining it with just the right amount of sensory
pleasures. Robb and Hutcherson are warm and engaging; the
conflicts, schemes and resolutions are also all believably to scale,
resulting in a winning piece of family-friendly entertainment.

Housed in a regular Amray case with a raised-print, hard-stock cardboard slipcover, Bridge to Terabithia is presented on DVD in anamorphic widescreen, preserving the aspect ratio of its theatrical presentation. Two separate audio commentary tracks headline the slate of bonus materials — one from director Csupo, writer Stockwell and producer Hal Leiberman, the other from cast members Hutcherson and Robb, and producer Lauren Levine. Depending on what sort of information you most want to hear — pre-production back story or goofy production anecdotes — each is worthy in its own right. A six-minute featurette on the movie’s special effects work — by Weta Digital, the visionary, Oscar-winning digital arthouse that created the visual masterpiece of Middle Earth in the Lord of the Rings trilogy — is a worthwhile inclusion, while “Keep Your Mind Open,” a music video featuring Robb, is pure fluff. Rounding things out is a solid little 15-minute production featurette, including interviews with novelist Paterson and cast and crew members. A- (Movie) B+ (Disc)