The finally decided to put it as a double feature for kids.
Many a child had nightmares after that movie.
Posted on 02/16/2007 9:56:53 PM PST by Milwaukee_Guy
A 10 year old boy and a 10 year old girl combine their art and writing talents to create a magical kingdom. Not being like all the other kids and not being fully appreciated by their parents, they embark on their own fantasy journey.
Evoking images of the "Chronicles of Narnia" and "Harry Potter" Disney paints an image of a high tech journey into yet another magical realm that children and parents can both enjoy and share together at their local theater.
HUGE SPOILER - Scroll Down at your own risk! - - - - - - -
Jessie and Leslie spent an hour and fifteen minutes feeling the taunts of their peers and the demands of their parents and begin to fantasize about a kingdom they create on a piece of abandonned property next to their homes. Fleeting glimpses of magical creatures begin to draw them into their new world.
Before the fantasy world really begins to start there's only one small problem.
Leslie (Anna Sophia Robb), venturing to their secret meeting place alone. falls off the rope they use to swing over the creek and CRACKS HER HEAD OPEN AND DROWNS.
The balance of the movie depicts the shock, horror and sadness that Jessie, his family and Leslie's parents endure during the aftermath of Leslie's demise. Jessie makes ammends with his little sister and the movie sputters to a fitfull conclusion with Jessie building a wooden bridge over the creek that Leslie drowned in.
The last 45 minutes of the picture found the audience in a shocked silence.
As we left the theater 5 to 8 year olds were crying and holding their parents as they trudged off to their cars.
This -is- an exceptionally -good- movie but my goodness IT IS DEPRESSING!
"Bridge to Terabithia" defeys classification as either a children's movie or as an adult movie. Disney had to know that to be the case and chose to market the movie as a lighthearted fantasy journey.
Bottom line, it's really an adult movie being passed off as a kids movie. Notice the PG rating on this one.
I wouldn't take a pre-teen to this movie knowing what I know now.
Regardless, it is an outstanding movie. Jessie and Leslie (Josh Hutcherson and AnnaSophia Robb) put in exeptional performances for child actors and will do very well in the future.
This movie gets my 4 out of 4 hankie rating!
Film is very much in line with this.
I remember being in elementary school and signing this book out from the school library.
I have forgotten the details of the plot - but I vividly remember how SAD this book made me.
When I saw the title of this movie I thought to myself "somebody dies -and it made me cry alot"
Rod Serling at least let them jump back into the pool to escape.
The finally decided to put it as a double feature for kids.
Many a child had nightmares after that movie.
Not all Japanese movies are anything like that! Grave of the Fireflies has a specific purpose and the bleak hopelessness is required for that story. Watch "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds" sometime. Or "Kiki's Delivery Service" or "Laputa" or anything else Studio Ghibli puts out.
I'm no cultural relativist but modern Japanese culture is no more hopeless or depressing than modern American culture. Just weirder.
Of course, not all Japanese movies are about hopelessness, but the cultural situation for Japanese and Chinese is rather bleak like German culture.
Their drama has at its base a powerful sense of futility, and the proposed solution is that one simply endures and suffers because death is thought to be something worse.
It is only in strongly Christian societies that hope is the foundation of human life. Even Jewish life, while not hopeless, tends to see life as more trial than joy. All other religions end in fatalism.
I'm willing to bet I've watched a lot more Japanese movies and tv shows than you and honestly the idea that "life is just something to endure" is no more true of them than of us. I understand what you're saying, that without a proper hope based in Christianity things are empty, but as far as movies or things go, it's pretty much the same, culture to culture.
Also, Pay Forward featuring Kevin Spacey. All is happy and wonderful at the end but the hero kid is suddenly stabbed to death! Nice /s
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"Fireflies" is not intended for small children by any means. It's suitable for pre- and young teens with some parental guidance--kids need to know the historical context.
Teraithia is a pre-to-young teens book. I didn't care for the book at all, frankly, nor did my daughter. But when we saw the trailer for the film we both remarked that it seemed not at all like we remembered the book. The filmmakers have added lots of fantasy stuff that wasn't really in the book at all.
Ummm, how about Bambi ???
Re "Fireflies." That was a perceptive comment on your part. I use this film in some of my university courses and students don't often catch that. They tend to want to see it simply as a sad anti-war movie.
Anything from Miyazaki's studio is terrific. You mentioned a couple of my favorites, to which I'd add "Spirited Away," "Pom Poco," "Whispers of the Heart," and several others.
Old Yeller. I still get teary eyed at the end of Old Yeller. That being said, sounds like a great movie, but very bad marketing. that was also my problem with Million Dollar Baby. Not the movie, but selling it as Rocky when it was about assisted suicide.
The film is not marketed properly.
The author is a Christian couneslor whose son was upset by the sudden and senseless death of a friend (she was struck by lightning). The book was written as a way of teaching children to deal with death.
It has been a contentious book every since it was published and won the Newberry Award. It's not only the matter of death, whcih many parents want to shield their cildren from, but also gender issues that keep it a debatable book. The children have gender neutral names--Jess and Leslie. The boy Jess wants to be an artist but his father doesn't consider that manly enough. The girl Leslie, besides having short hair when all the other girls have long hair, is a tomboy and outruns all the boys in their recess race.
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