Survival of the Fabulous Promo Posters

These are the first promo pics of Survival of the Fabulous, the glorious documentary on which I've been working. Vote for your faves!

Bridge to Terabithia

Under the ideal direction, the adaptation of Katherine Paterson's Bridge to Terabithia could have been a surefire family classic. The bittersweet story about the powers of human imagination has its heart in the right place, but the execution is so poor it barely registers.

Jesse Aarons is a meager fifth-grader and the constant victim of melodramatic bullying from peers who think he's weird, sisters who call him smelly and low-income parents who want him to do his chores instead of channel his perpetual depression into a sketchbook. Then a smart new girl named Leslie Burke, who doesn't watch TV, shows up to share the classroom bullying, moving next door to the Aarons.' Leslie shows Jesse how to escape the dull reality of their world and they discover a potent friendship along the way.

Jesse and Leslie create the magical Terabithia, a mythical made-up kingdom existing just past the swinging rope in the backyard forest, where they become king and queen of a ramshackle tree fort defending against the invading plagues of squirrels and trolls. The film does a neat job integrating this whimsical world, which begins as an ordinary forest clearing. As Jesse loosens his creative inhibitions, distant views of farmland become vibrant spectacles of untouched jungles and cascading waterfalls, and the mundane forest fauna become monstrously deformed assailants. Soon it grows difficult to discern the difference between the real and the imaginary, except when Csupo decides to employ rather lousy CGI.

The acting, however, is what kills Bridge to Terabithia. Sure nobody expects much from child thespians these days unless it's a Harry Potter film or the kid's last name is Fanning, Breslin or Highmore, but this film sets a new low for studio movies. Outside the adequate sullenness from Josh Hutcherson's down-on-his-luck Jesse, the acting ranges from awkward to grating, including the critical performance of AnnaSophia Robb as Leslie. Supposed to be a wise messenger of creative confidence, she comes across as if she's being fed her lines from just off camera.

Even many the adults have the stench of after-school special woodenness (with the exception of Zooey Deschanel as an inspiring music teacher), chipping away at the polish we expect from Disney family films. It doesn't help that the CGI visuals of the fantasy Terabithia are also sub par. I guess it's an appropriate thing this film is about the strength of imagination, because you'll be needing yours if you plan on surviving until the final credits.

It's a real shame too, because the story is so robust and essential, particularly for children. Many kids today have forgotten how to use their imaginations to escape the daily routines when videogames and web-browsing do such a good alternative job of it. At least encourage your kids to read the book.