Bridge to Terabithia

An unhappy boy (Josh Hutcherson), alienated from his working-class family and bullied at school, meets the new girl in his class (AnnaSophia Robb), an outcast just like him; together they seek refuge from their schoolyard tormentors by creating an imaginary kingdom for themselves in the woods behind their homes. Katherine Paterson’s Newberry Award-winning children’s book comes to the screen with a script by Jeff Stockwell and David Paterson (the author’s son), and it’s a movie of homespun all-American beauty, a lovely, sensitive story of the wounds and wonders of childhood, filled with marvelous discoveries, heartbreaking losses, and the healing magic of imagination. Director Gabor Csupo draws natural, unaffected performances from Hutcherson, Robb, and Bailee Madison as Hutcherson’s adoring kid sister.