Why Bridge To Terabithia Was A Messed Up Movie.
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One of the film's biggest problems was the way it was advertised. They showed the "fantasy" aspects as if they were real, and made everyone think that Jesse and Leslie were visiting a real fantasy world hidden away across a bridge. The sad part is, not everyone has read the book, so they don't know the actual story.
For some reason, the people who made this film thought they could make the story snazzier and more interesting if the audience could see what was going on in the kid's heads when they imagined Terabithia, instead of letting the audience go along with the kids and use their own imaginations.
The truth was, this kingdom Jesse and Leslie came up with was 100% imaginary, and real life came down really hard on both of them when Leslie was killed by falling in the river. It doesn't help when Jesse hallucinated Leslie at the wake.
There's an older film they made for tv back in '85 that was much closer to the book, and did not add any "fantasy" aspects to the story.
I agree with you, it was a bit confusing and I didn't know the book or story. I just got it because the DVD cover looked like my kids will enjoy it. Then that thing happened to Jesse and it was a bit of a shock for everyone watching. I kept expecting her spirit to be alive in the other world or something also, but it wasn't.
shareI watch the movie in TV so I didn't know about the way they advertised the movie.
I can understand the director decision to make the audience see what the characters imagine, he may thought that it will be not interesting enough to let us see the two child just play. I as adult love more to seen the relationship between both of them, the relationship with their families and the peers in class than the animation. I love the story about the two kids imagine a fantasy world and I tend to agree it will be better without the special effect.