Based on a 1977 novel by Katherine Paterson the Bridge to Terabithia makes for a pleasant yet unusual film. The story revolves around a 10-year-old boy named Jess Aarons and his relationship with Leslie Burke (AnnaSophia Robb) a neighbour who attends the same school and his sister Maybelle. The two are drawn closer together by the need to avoid school bullies.  After school, the children use an old rope hanging from a tree to swing over a river where they begin exploring local woods.  As the two children renovate an old abandoned tree house the woods are transformed in their imaginations into a magical kingdom that they name Terabithia.

As the children rely more and more on their imagined kingdom to shelter them from the harsh realities of their school lives their relationship draws them ever closer together. Terabithia becomes theirs and theirs alone, even Maybelle is forbidden entry. However, real world tragedy strikes without warning and in a manner that some younger viewers may find upsetting. Terabithia is left abandoned and neglected until Maybelle brings about its restoration.

Terabithia is a pleasant and enjoyable enough film that most children will take to though be prepared for some sadness. However, it’s a strange affair in which you are never too sure whether Terabithia does only exist in the children’s imagination or if it is some how real. Apparently, the film’s marketing suffered from this same dilema and was seen as misleading parents who expected Terabithia to exist in the same was as, for example, Narnia.