Whew, finally another film from 2007 to join the Disney sequel. This one was based on a best selling book and was even made into a TV movie back in 1985. Having neither seen that movie nor read the book, I'm going kind of fresh here.
The basic plot was ok. A couple of outcasts find friendship in each other and create a fanciful world between them where they are the rulers and can do whatever they want to do; it's a world called Terabithia. They reach this world through an old enchanted rope over a river, and once there, anything can happen.
Trouble is, this fanciful world is never really explored, and while the effects there are neat, they aren't used to their fullest potential either. The focus is on the school situation with your typical bullies and what goes on in overcoming them as well as a little teenage crush between our main boy and one of his teachers. I was waiting with baited breath for something to happen in Terabithia, but it was more like a private clubhouse escape than any kind of fantasy world.
Characters here are fair. We get some decent builds in the lead boy and the girl, but everyone else lays kind of flat and just does their part to further the story or give these two some others to interact with. It really turns out to be mostly a character sketch for the boy's character.
Naturally, we aren't without a big twist, which turned out to be about the only one the film had to offer. I kept waiting for something big to happen...like the worst in any situation...but it never did. Everything worked out perfectly in most of the tableaus the film presents.
It's a decent kid movie where you see the youngsters overcome, but it's not for the little ones as the "big twist" was admitted a big shock, even to me. I didn't see that coming at all, so it worked, but I couldn't help but wonder about its purpose when all is said and done. The film isn't bad, but in retrospect, it turned out to be kind of typical in its construction.
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