Gábor Csupó’s Bridge to Terabithia runs 95 minutes and spends most of them earning a friendship before it asks you to feel its loss. The 2007 film, written by Jeff Stockwell and David Paterson from Katherine Paterson’s 1977 novel, opened in the United States on February 16, 2007, through Buena Vista Pictures. It grossed $137.6 million worldwide. It is a family film that trusts children with grief.
Trailer, via FilmTeaser.
Jess Aarons and the Race at Recess
Jess is a 12-year-old aspiring artist in financially struggling Lark Creek. He trains all summer to be the fastest runner in school. Newcomer Leslie Burke outruns him anyway — and everyone else.
The two are opposites on paper. She is rich, he is poor. She is a city girl, he is a country boy. Josh Hutcherson plays Jess with a tight, watchful quiet; AnnaSophia Robb plays Leslie as a girl who is always lit up.
Robb said of the character: “[Leslie]’s one of those people who’s just always lit up, who has this glow about her, and no one can bring her down.”
A Rope, a Creek, and a Treehouse
After school, the two swing across a creek on a rope and find an abandoned treehouse on the far side. There they invent Terabithia, a land of monsters, trolls, ogres and giants where they rule as king and queen.
The creatures come from their imagination. A giant troll resembles Janice Avery, the eighth-grade bully. The fantasy is not an escape hatch so much as a way of handling what is actually happening to them.
Leslie gives Jess an art kit on his birthday. He gives her a puppy she names Prince Terrien, or P.T., after an apology.
The Cast Around the Two Leads
Csupó had no actors in mind at first. Robb was the first person cast, after writing him what he called “such a beautiful, heartwarming letter” about her love for the book and the character.
- Jess Aarons — Josh Hutcherson
- Leslie Burke — AnnaSophia Robb
- Ms. Edmunds — Zooey Deschanel
- Jack Aarons — Robert Patrick
- May Belle Aarons — Bailee Madison
Producer Lauren Levine said the search for Jess was “a really tough hunt,” needing a boy who could move from an isolated introvert into a confident leader. Hutcherson was not the first choice. They settled on him for the chemistry with Robb.
Auckland, and a Cinematographer’s Last Job
Principal photography began in February 2006 and ran until April, shooting in Auckland. Csupó was hired in late 2005, in his directorial debut.
The film was the last for cinematographer Michael Chapman, who was 71 and followed through with a planned retirement afterward. That fact sits oddly against the movie’s subject — a career ending on a story about a child learning that people leave.
The Production Timeline
| Stage | Date |
|---|---|
| Csupó hired | Late 2005 |
| Principal photography begins | February 2006 |
| Principal photography ends | April 2006 |
| U.S. release | February 16, 2007 |
What the Awards and the Score Say
At the 29th Young Artist Awards, Bridge to Terabithia won all five awards for which it was nominated. It holds a Metacritic score of 74 out of 100.
The tagline promises “a place that will never leave you, and a friendship that will change you forever.” The film mostly delivers on the second half. The fantasy sequences are the weakest part — the trolls and ogres look like what they are, and the movie knows it, cutting back to the creek and the classroom whenever the effects start to sag.
Where the Movie Actually Lands
The real subject is class. Jess’s mother forces him to wear his older sister’s sneakers to school because the family cannot afford otherwise. Leslie’s parents help paint the Aarons house. The film never turns that into a speech.
Robert Patrick’s Jack Aarons is strict and spends more time with May Belle than with his son. That distance is the engine under everything, and the film is honest enough not to repair it neatly.
What matters here is the friendship, built in small scenes — the art kit, the puppy, the rope swing. What is noise is the fantasy world itself, which the movie treats as a coping mechanism rather than a destination. That is the correct call, and it is why the ending lands.
Bridge to Terabithia is not a great fantasy film. It is a good film about two children, and it knows which one it is.
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