after a day of running errands, i popped in the latest dvd i received from netflix, "bridge to terabithia". when the trailer was released, i had absolutely no interest in this movie. it seemed like another fantasy for kids like narnia and frankly, i'm just not all into that. it's ok but i don't get excited over it. however, since my mood of late is to see new releases, even ones for kids, i decided to watch it. wow. let me just say this, it is not at all what i expected it to be. i wouldn't call it a kids film and i wouldn't call it a fantasy film. the main kids in the movie are in 5th grade. the film chronicles their friendship. they play make-believe, hence the fantasy clips in the trailer. they appear and behave a bit older, perhaps like 7th graders. their nemesis is in 8th grade and they go to the same school, giving it a feeling of junior high. it's a small, more rural sort of area and so the school apparently is k-8. they all have to bus together and so their relationship with friends and enemies includes the trips to and from school.

there are kids of other ages in the film but the central characters feel like junior high kids so i'd say it's a film for junior high on up. if you have smaller children who want to see the movie, i'd seriously watch it by yourself first and judge if the smaller children can handle it. i don't want to give the film away. it's a really good film. but children mature at different ages and i don't know at what age kids generally are exposed to various things so i can't say at what age kids would be interested in this film and be able to handle the storyline. it's not sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll. it isn't about parents who abuse children. it's not strong like that. it does give you a sense of being an outsider, of being lonely, of being ignored, etc. so it's more of an internal film. it's about psychology and emotions in some sense. the main character is a boy and he befriends a girl. all his siblings are girls so perhaps he has something against girls and it may be an unlikely friendship. but this girl teaches him to be more creative, open up his mind and play along in fantasy and make-believe. it becomes really sweet and at some point i had this feeling like it was going to end with the narrator saying that was his life as a child, his first girlfriend, etc. but that's not how it goes at all. i don't want to spoil it, let's just say i got emotional at the end. just watch it.

what surprised me most is that this is based on a book. the dvd extras interviewed teachers and librarians in los angeles county. excuse me? i grew up in los angeles county and never heard of this book. i suppose it was written and then introduced into schools just after i had left that period of childhood. i think i just missed this book. good thing i didn't miss the movie.