| Overall Grade: |
A- |
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| Story: |
A |
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| Acting: |
B+ |
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| Direction: |
B+ |
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| Visuals: |
A |
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Terrific family film - but badly packaged
by Stan (movies profile)
Dec 3, 2007
237
of
260 people found this review helpful
This movie is based on a Newberry Award winning children's book from the 70s. If you go into this movie expecting a Narnia type fantasy, you will be disappointed - the fantasy elements are a very minor part of the story. This is a story about two 5th graders, a boy and a girl, who are outcasts each in their own way and who become fast friends. They discover an old abandoned tree house in a forest and imagine themselves to be a prince and princess of an imaginary kingdom they create and call Terabithia (all the fantasy stuff you you in the trailer is what they are imagining, and is about all the fantasy stuff in the movie). I was lucky enough to be invited to a press screening last week by a friend who had an extra ticket. After the screening he turned to me and said, "This is not the movie I expected to see". He thought the movie was like Stand By Me, I thought because of the tragedy it was more like Old Yeller - but in either case it is one of the best movies about what it is like to be a kid I have seen in a long time.
Because of the tragic ending, I would not recommend this movie for young children. It wasn't what I expected - but boy, am I sure glad I went. Recommended. |
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