Knowing that Leslie's death was inspired by the real life tragic death of the childhood friend of the author's son via being struck by lightning really hits home even more.
If you ever get to read Katherine Patterson’s Newbery Speech for winning with this novel, it will destroy you even more than the book itself. Also, he, her son, was involved in making the film.
The buildup that you missed is that the teacher offered to bring leslie along to the art museum but jess wanted the teacher all to himself so he said no. If he had invited her, she would still be alive. So yeah she just dies out of nowhere, but with that context, it has a bit more depth to it because you know jess has to live with that.
@anthonydominguez4744 It's not guilt, it's regret. He's not telling her really, he's telling himself. This video framed it poorly, it definitely seems like he's mad at her. But in the movie, it's clear that he is mad at himself.
i’m not sure that i like that message that the movie included. sometimes shit just happens. a kid doesn’t deserve to feel like a tragic accident was his fault because he made a selfish decision. he’s just a kid, it shouldn’t have to be anyone’s fault, especially not his.
@@ligokleftis The movie isn't making it a message; it's showing how he reacts to the death of a friend. He's guilty because he feels like he could have prevented her death by inviting her out. It's no different than anyone of any age dealing with grief and survivor guilt and wondering, what if?
@@ligokleftis Noting bad happened to you as a kid, did it? Take it from an abused kid who grew up around other abused kids, EVERYTHING is your fault. If you're told that or not, you always internalize it. When I'd get beaten, it was my fault for talking, or not doing what I'm supposed to even when I wasn't told what I was supposed to do, or even walking too loud. It gets to the point where it feels like everything bad is because of you. Jess wasn't abused, but more like unintentionally neglected, he internalizes everything. His sister is the favorite, he doesn't get anything new, he's picked on at school but no one listens to him about it. He feels like he did something to deserve that, because why else would it happen? He's a kid, he doesn't realize that everyone is different, everyone had their own lives when he's not around. So that (in his mind) must mean that it's all against him. He had the chance to keep her alive if he had accepted the offer for them both to go, but he didn't and she died. The most tragic thing to happen to him, and it stemmed from him doing something he wanted to do, something that made him happy, it's the one thing that was closest to his decision. He tells his teacher "next time we should invite her, it would make her happy," not to guilt her, but to try to undo a "mistake" and make it better so that he didn't cause a tragedy when he finally got something that was offered to him, and not a handmedown or after thought.
The buildup was really subtle. Over time, you can see the creek swelling, and as they swing over it, the rope gets closer and closer to the water. The kids even note it in passing at some point in the movie. It foreshadows that the creek is getting more and more dangerous. It's getting higher, flowing faster, the rope isn't as high up over it as it was in the beginning, and the rope itself is so old and just kinda tied to a tree in moist conditions.
Also if I remember correctly, after the essay they had to write, Leslie told Jesse that she can't swim. So yes, lots, and lots of subtle hints to that tragedy
@@NathanJimenez-h2xyeah I think that’s a difference between the movie and the book. I haven’t watched the movie, but I know that in the book, Jess mentions that Leslie could swim well
@@FlowersSmellFine other way around for me, havent read the book, but watched the movie, and I'm quite certain, that Leslie mentioned she could not swim. But gotta keep in mind, that I did not watch the english version, so it could as well be a translation error
I remember my 5th grade teacher reading us this book, and my whole class was sucker punched when Leslie died. It was such a shock, and so many complained to the teacher that she actually stopped and said that's what death is like. It can be sudden and come out of nowhere. I think that was the first time I ever realized that not every story had a storybook ending. As foundational as that was for me, I could never bring myself to read the book again.
My 5th or 4th grade teacher made us watch the movie and me and like half the class were sobbing. I haven’t been able to watch the movie since then and even this vid made me tear up.
The book was the first time reading something like that, before that it was more toned down stuff and then the sudden death of a main character had some of my classmates ask if it was legal to do that
@@ClandestineKT Yeah same, it was like a punch to the gut watching this movie. But i still love this movie for that, it has a special place in my heart. It was also unfortunate that a girl in our grade then actually died in 6th grade. This movie probably taught a lot of us early how death felt, and then we actually felt the affect of our classmates absence the year after. Her death was not an accident though, on her part, unfortunately. I do think this is actually a pretty great movie to teach kids semi-realistic death early. It would definitely be a good movie to strike a needed conversation with kids over anyway, since they will need to be prepared for understanding death at some point regardless.
"Next time, we should invite Leslie too." Josh Hutcherson delivered that line so well, it broke my heart. He gave a performance beyond his young years. Also, AnnaSophia Robb was so charming and likable as Leslie, which made her death even harder to swallow. 💔😭
I love how blunt they made Leslies death, there was no build up, there was no hints or foreshadowing, it was completely blunt. A lot like real life. Its what made it feel so real and genuine, and the fact that they showed his grieving process made it even more real, his anger over her death, and the fact that you could FEEL her absence in the scenes after her death just hit so deep.
Absent illness, when kids die it comes right out of nowhere. One day you’re catching a ride home from school. Then you’re in a line of traffic because of a car accident and you recognize the car. If you’re another girl I know, you were in an argument with the girl who is now dead and you never get to apologize and an entire school of kids blames you for the dead girl being in the car instead of on the school bus like usual.
yeah great! Don't you love when a random kids movie traumatises you just as much as real life does? What the hell is escapism, I love being traumatised. This movie actually traumatised me. and this video triggered me more than I thought it would, what it being 18 years later. I'm taking you didn't watch this as a kid, or didn't experience this trauma until later in life?
Agreed, I liked how we're placed in Jesse's perspective, in that Leslie's death happens entirely off screen, so we learn about the tragedy the exact same time that he does, and go through a similar process to him.
We get exactly 2 points of foreshadowing to Leslie’s death. The first was when Jess warns that the rope is old . And the second is when they swing across while it’s raining and the tip of the rope brushes against the water. We were told, and then reminded, that this rope swing is dangerous. And then the story makes good on the threat, and it snaps while Leslie is alone with no one to save her.
And this was the least traumatizing outcome for Jess. If they swing together, he could have seen Leslie die and replay that event everyday in his life because she always swings first
I can't imagine what Leslie's last moments were like. I know it's mentioned she hit her head and was probably knocked out before she could process or feel anything but wow... It's horrible how terrifying, cold and lonely it must've been if she was conscious the whole time.
Doctors or whoever tells familys how the person died often lie and say it was painless to help aliviate some of the suffering. She most likely did suffer and fight for her life and still died
I’ve never actually seen the entire movie since reading the book in 5th grade, but I remember the book explicitly mentioning that Jess considered inviting Leslie on the museum trip, but decided not to so he could have alone time with his teacher, and how that choice haunted him afterwards. That’s an even more gut-wrenching thought as an adult. It was never his fault, of course, but that’s just how life is sometimes. One decision can change everything.
@@PRISMSHOWERS_P It's not grooming. The teacher knew Jess's situation and nobody pays any attention to him ever and she knew he'd like the museum where he'd never have a chance to go on his own. And she was planning to go with her nephews anyway, it's not like it was her first idea to take him.
@@PRISMSHOWERS_P no no the teacher does not have any ill intent towards Jess. Of course, in a real life situation we would never let kids go with their teachers alone, but this is fiction and it's clear that she wants to help Jess.
This is such a an accurate portrayal of death. So many times in books and movies it has this buildup of expectation or it's for a dramatic beat, but unexpected death is just that, unexpected. I lost a friend in high school and for a few days I couldn't even process it because it didn't seem fathomable. An important movie.
I agree completely. In a lot of movies and books, the death of a character is either build up or foreshadowed in some way, or they tell you from the start that this character is dead and then look back on their lives. Accidents happen. A car crash happens out of nowhere, a gas stove could be forgotten and left on and kill you in your sleep, you could choke on something, or... you could swing on a rope that snapped, hit your head and drown in a creek. These things happen. They strike like lightning on a clear sky. It's horrible and unfair, but it's real. And I really like that about this book and movie.
I unfortunately had the same experience as you, and I fully agree. both things has its purpose of course, an /actual/ sudden death as well as a built-up and foreshadowed one, but movies like this are rare and definitely important
I don't know if it's better or worse to lose someone to a coma, you have more time but your own hope gets weaponized against you and only after years do you know what you lost
Besides Leslie's death, the saddest thing is that Jess imagines his own father as The Dark Master that terrorizes Terabithia. After her death he, in his grief, goes to their treehouse and gets the paints that Leslie bought for him on his birthday, and squirts the tubes into the creek. And it is very subtly different when he's there without her. The colors aren't as vibrant the sounds are like normal forest sounds, the camera doesn't move like it did before. When he hears the rattling of the dark master he tries to run, but the "dark master" catches up to him, and its actually his dad, who hooks his keys on his beltloop. And he scoops Jess into his arms and holds him while Jess weeps and says "It's all gone."
Honestly, I feel like movies like this one are very important for a child to grow up properly. Their first encounter with death shouldn't be the loss of a real person, a real loved one, but a fictional character, so they can learn how to grief before actually having to do it.
@@CannaToker420 should they? No. Will they? Sadly more than likely yes. Whether it is the death of a family member, friend, or pet they will more than likely have to deal with it at a young age. It's very important to help them understand it and deal with that grief early on before something happens, then try to do it after the fact.
What I think it's really crazy about this movie is how realistic Leslie's death is. When someone you love dies all of a sudden and you're not there to witness it, that is exactly how it goes. No goodbye, no last words, you're just hit with the most devastating news. They're gone forever.
I relate a lot. I remember this exactly way my parents announced me that my godfather died in a car accident. Just like that, out of nowhere. I didn't know how to feel, and couldn't cry. The saddest part was that he lived in a different country and I couldn't go to his funeral. His parents & siblings have never contacted me again ever since his death (only once his father visited me), they just cut me off for 9 YEARS.
@@sageex3931 I don't know, I think they had an argument with my parents or smt else. They completely forgot my existence 😐😞(I was 11 back then). I promised myself if I ever become a godmother I'll give that child the love I didn't get as a kid (I rarely saw my godfather when he was alive, so I don't have a lot of memories with him).
Alex's reaction to Leslie's death was exactly how I felt. I forgot how sobering that scene is. no music, no "this is gonna be hard to hear, but..." it was just "your friend Leslie's dead." really hits you like a brick wall
@@Jade_West2010 I don't remember if it's related well in the movie, but Jesse left home without telling anyone. His own family thought he might be dead too since he couldn't be found and no one knew where he was, and he was usually with Leslie. Basically, his dad was on the pissed and shocked side at seeing Jesse waltz in completely okay and unaware, so he just blurted it out.
I have such a fond memory of Therabitia - and to this day, no death in any fiction has ever come close to being as raw/shocking as Leslie's. It is so insanely well done.
Because the author of the book involved. The book is from early 80's and its based on author experience with his Best friend Who died because of Lightning strikes. If i'm not wrong, there's 80's television movie but its not as good as this movie.
I was just not getting movie as well as a kid. I thought it was a silly weird movie where a friend died 😅 maybe i was in deniaö when i watched it cause i wanted her to come back alive
I'm 26 and my best friend and I also ran through the forest after Middle School, we had a long tour to get up a hill, we had to cross two fields and two forests, we had fantasy names for each stop and played adventure. We had a fight after highschool, last year I contacted her again and now we are as close as we were ❤ she also never forgot our forest fantasies and loved our childhood
Also in the movie Leslie couldn’t swim, but in the book she was a great swimmer. I remember Jess denying she could have ever drown over and over saying “she can swim really well”
Exactly. Also, didn't she go back there to get something Jess lost, and she slipped on a rock and hit hear head, and that was why she drowned, and he blamed himself for it?
@@BumhunterLino I think he promised to go with her, but then didn’t when he got the opportunity to go with the teacher so he felt like if he been there, he could’ve saved her
I remember reading the book in elementary school for GT and then found out the movie in middle school - I think middle school me was far more destroyed
I still remember when I saw it for the first time. I still cry just as much. But I am so grateful I saw this movie when I did, because later that year I lost my great grandmother (who was probably my best friend at age 8) and having had conversations about death with my parents helped me a lot.
There really is nothing like watching this movie for the first time. The way my stomach dropped when everything shifted from a feel-good movie to hearing that Leslie died…I haven’t felt that from a movie since. And then the delivery of Josh Hutchinson’s line to his teacher was just *chef’s kiss*
The first time watching this movie, I had no idea what it was going to be like. The trailers made it like it was gonna be about a couple kids finding a magical forest. And then I wasn’t expecting the story to take the turn it did with Leslie’s untimely demise.
I read this as a kid and it really struck me. I was always a creative kid who made up worlds but was embarrassed by it and suppressed it. Seeing this as an adult it hits me different. I regret not enjoying my own imagination more as a kid. Maybe I would have had better friends.
Aw man. This is so relatable. Even if the stuff I imagined as a kid might've been a little cringy, I wish I wasn't so ashamed of it and suppressed it over the years. Maybe if I had written down more of the things I wrote, at least, it would be cool to look back at it years later and say, "Dang. It's not perfect, but I did that. I was committed. This is actually great that I did all this.". This is why I hate when the internet bashes kids for creating wholesome art (drawings, animations, stories, etc.) online and publishing it just because it's "weird" or "not good enough". I love seeing kids using their imagination and sharing it, or when teens/adults share things they made as a child.
Leslie IS the Bridge to Terabithia. She is the path for Jess to imagination. She dies falling on the physical rope that was also a symbol of the connection to Terabitha.
sounds cool but no, the Bridge is coping with losing someone you love. Is moving on. Leslie is not that big of a symbol, is a representation of someone who actually existed, the best friend of the author's son...
This one of those movies where you can never recapture the feeling of watching it for the first time. Leslie's death is just so shocking and blunt that it really hits you hard and the scene at the end where hes taking his sister to Teribithia brought me to tears
@@greywolf7577I definitely didn’t find out there was a book until many years later. But then again it doesn’t help that the book isn’t translated into Danish nor in any way famous here so I was really only ever gonna know from the internet. Haven’t read it yet because I heard it was even more heart wrenching than the movie
I always saw Leslie's sudden death as showing that you can't escape reality forever, no matter how hard you try. Jesse and Leslie used Terabithia as a way to escape their real-life problems, to the point it became just about the only thing they really cared about. It was a place where they were invincible. But at the end of the day, Terabithia isn't real and reality has to set in sooner or later. And in reality, if you're swinging across a river on a raggedy old rope, chances are that rope will eventually break. I think the ending where Jesse is comforted by his father over Leslie's death and he brings his little sister to Terabithia means that Jesse is going to find a better balance between reality and fantasy. His father and sister are two people from his unpleasant reality, so making peace with them could be seen as him accepting reality more.
Terabithia symbolizes the magic and innocence of childhood, as well as an ideal world in which Jess and Leslie can be themselves, imaginative and free.
No, Leslie's death isn't a symbolism of anything, the author and the film's writers didn't want her death to be a lesson to either Jesse or the audience. It's supposed to be a senseless death and a freak accident. And while Jesse and Leslie used Terabithia as a way to escape from real-life problems, they also used it to help them deal with it as well. And it's not the only thing they care about, as you see in how Jesse still hasn't let go of his crush on Miss Edmunds and Leslie helping Janice in regards to her abusive father. The film takes place over four months instead of the book's nine, meaning they have to condense alot of the events from the book. But don't get it twisted, Terabithia was more of a positive in their lives than a negative. Also I hate how people say that at least Jesse made peace with his dad and May Belle. It's sad that it took Jesse losing the most important person in his life for his father to finally show any sort of empathy towards his son, but they're on good terms by the end of the novel/film. Of course they still have a lot of stuff they need sort through if they'll ever have a long term healthy father-son relationship. Jesse and May Belle were never on bad terms before his pushed her (hit her in the book). Jesse loved May Belle more than anybody in his family, she was his favourite sibling. The only real problem was that, May Belle in fact was annoying. And Jesse didn't want his 6/8 year old little sister to swing across a creek on rope no matter how sturdy he thought it was. And lastly, Jesse took May Belle to Terabithia as a way to honour Leslie's memory and a way to keep her alive. In the book he implies that he won't keep going to Terabithia for long since Leslie died, but he wants to pass on Leslie's imagination and ideals on to May Belle and Joyce Ann. It wasn't a way to balance reality and fantasy, but to honour Leslie.
MAN, this Movie crushed me so hard at my young ages that every time I see a picture of the movie anywhere, a part of me wants to cry but I try to manage it.
Me too. My parents had some kind of adult party event, and for me not to be in the way, they put me in a car with blankets and that movie. It was the first time I cried because of fiction. I will remember that moment forever - how horrible I felt, and couldn't even go to my parents and ask for help.
My favorite part of this movie is after Leslie dies, he keeps seeing this shadow monster chase after him and he keeps running away but it’s really just his dad trying to help him come to grips with the fact that she’s gone. Super powerful stuff
Thanks for this video. I, at 45, can't watch this movie. I was a kid when I read this book, with my first real "best friend". A girl in my class named Mariah. I didn't know at the time but she had a fatal illness (I knew she had health issues, but not that serious). She recommended we read this book together... every day at recess, before and after school, and on several weekends... we'd sit and read together, taking turns reading it... Only about a month after we'd finished... she tragically passed away. She KNEW she was dying, and how much we meant to each other... she tried to prepare me for losing her... it was one of her favorite books. To this day I remember her, her face, her favorite blue dress she was buried in.... and this book... It's a powerful story about finding yourself, connection with another person, and the hardship of loss... and it holds a deeply special (even if traumatic) place in my heart.
❤❤ I can't know what to say but feel like u have same story as this movie surprisingly u read the same book with her thats movies is about, that soul go in heaven definitely. I know how sad u feel 😢😢about that but sometimes crying is the best method to overcome if u don't cry & hide the feeling inside u it causes u anxiety
@@dislexyc same I also lost my childhood love in age of 14 but she is alive i lost in the way that she transfered in another city from that time I nvere ever talk with her. She is my best best friend named harshita sharma my love ❤️
When I was young I was obsessed with this movie, watched it on repeat everyday after school. When I was 16, my childhood best friend broke through ice in the river close to where we both lived and passed away 😞 the movie pretty much became my reality. Never noticed how morbid it was until I watched it a lot older. RIP Dylan ❤ 7/10/03-2/7/19
Oh that is terribly heartbreaking… I hope you’re doing better now. Sorry for your loss. ❤️🩹 I can’t imagine how much that must’ve hurt, and still does.
no matter how many times i’ve seen this movie, it STILL breaks my heart. even just watching this video has me in tears. nothing can compare to the pure shock i felt watching this for the first time as a kid
I think the lack of buildup to Leslie's death is what makes it so real. It's a freak accident and that happens in life. No prep for it, it just happened. Leslie was there one day and then she was gone the next. I think the realism is what makes this movie so so great and, along with the deeply superb performances from its young actors, why it's stands out as such a truly remarkable children's film.
It wasn't a freak accident, the rope would have eventually broke because of wear and tear, not mention the fact that it's been there before Jess and his family even moved there. And there was definitely build up; because of the creek flooding, the fact Leslie couldn't swim in the movie (IIRC) and Jess looking ominously at Leslie's house before departing with Miss Edmunds. Also it's interesting how different men and women look back on this movie. Men praise the "realism" and "cynicism", while women talk about how "traumatized" from the movie and how they shipped Jess and Leslie. However cynical form of entertainment are *very* popular men nowadays, so it's not all that surprising.
@@augustusfreeman4032 I've never heard men or women praise the movie differently. Everyone I know says the same thing; it traumatised them. And they'd probably agree about shipping Jess and Leslie, too.
I just love how "real" this movie felt. It's really a perfect middle-school movie with how difficult life feels like it suddenly gets and issues that kids could relate too like bullying and toxic parents. There are magical moments, but it's only as a form of escapism for Leslie and Jess. Life sucks, but they have each other and one friend was all they needed...until that suddenly changed which is exactly how death is in the real world. I deeply miss stories like this because this movie came out in 2007 and I've never forgotten it ♥
I think that Leslie's death made Jess's parents realize that what happened to Leslie could have happened to Jess, which was an eye-opener. Hopefully, this movie was eye-opening to a lot of parents to not neglect your children.
The scene of her reading the story about scuba diving is often considered foreshadowing, and they added bubbles coming from her mouth while she was reading it. She imagined the scuba diving but it was ultimately her imagination that killed her. The death is still sudden but this is one of those movies you have to see more than once to understand what it’s all trying to tell you.
I rewatched this movie when I was 14 about 6 months or so after a middle school friend of mine died and while it was one of the most painful viewing experiences I've ever had, it made things easier somehow. It reminded me that I wasn't alone in my denial, fear, loneliness, and grief. Absolute 10/10 movie. Can't wait to sit my future kids down some day and watch it with them.
Not with this movie but with many others, characters going through the same things as you makes it just a little bit easier :) (hope youre doing well and wish the best for you)
I was about 17 when this movie came out. I remember bawling my eyes out when hearing about Leslie's death. How a place they considered their sanctuary ultimately led to her death & him trying to grasp that fact that she was gone. It just hits you SO HARD!
I had just turned 17 when it came out and my dad took me and my siblings to theaters to see it, and I SOBBED so hard at the part where she died, I couldn't see. I didn't stop crying the rest of the movie.
15:01 THIS PART TOO 🥺🥺🥺🥺 because I have a little sister and we used to play together all the time when we were kids and I never cared that she was four years younger than me we just shared our imaginations together and our older sister stopped playing with us way sooner so it was like watching myself trying to hold onto my childhood by remaining close with my little sister meanwhile my older sister drifted further away....... this movie hits me everywhere like I can't stop sobbing
I remember watching this movie as an elementary school kid when it first came out. The scene when the dad told the boy about his friend's death hit me so hard. The concept of "death" could happen to anyone at anytime and at any age took awhile for me to process and learn.
Same! We read the original book in I think 4th or 5th grade reading class in school, and I remember having such a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that she just… died. I kept waiting for the magic to be real and for her to come back for the rest of the book and felt so cheated when it never did and she was just… gone. It’s not like I didn’t know people could die, but I think that was the first time I was confronted with the idea that a regular kid could just die. Not be horribly sick or something just a tragic avoidable accident and gone. It’s a tough lesson, but I guess it’s a good one to include in kids’ media so kids have a safe way to learn about and cope with that hopefully before facing it for real.
Same! I was around the same age, and watching him struggle to understand was the same. As a kid I kinda thought she might come back. In the end this movie was gentle in making me understand bad things happen but life can move on.
When Walden Media used to produce shit for Disney, both with Bridge to Terabithia and Narnia, they covered some serious ground with dark topics like the passing of a friend or a 16 year old that remembers when he was a 30 year old king to save a fantasy realm. Shame it stopped being that way
That was good cinema... The type of movies that my father used to always pick for us to go watch. He enjoyed them as much as me and my brother and I definitely think those were type of movies that help develope my creativity and imagination but also my maturity. The real topics and struggles mixed with the fantasy... Brilliant!
@@vicefandonna1575 Narnia? The first two films were produced by Walden Media and Disney, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian. Prince Caspian being one of the best book to movie I can think of, was considered 'too dark' and Disney didn't come back for the last film Walden Media backed, thus the director and a ton of other stuff changed for Voyage of the Dawn Treader. But yeah, I was talking about Prince Caspian
I lost my best friend to a car crash when we were 12, and she had a lot of the same qualities as Leslie. The movie came out a couple years before she died, but I always used to watch it for comfort after because it reminded me so much of our friendship and really helped me while i was grieving. And if I am being honest, i'm always grieving her, and the rewatch value of this movie always hits home for me
This movie also helps show the process of grief through Jess. I haven’t watched this movie in so long since maybe I was a kid but I’ve lost friends in tragic accidents so it hits close to home
So bridge to terabithia is actually based on a true story about a family who very suddenly lost their daughter when they went to the beach and lightning struck and killed her, which just makes it even sadder
@neonclouds9295 The reason it's all from Jesse's point of view is because the little girl was the childhood friend of the author of the book's son. The author didn't witness the girl's death but she witnessed the aftermath and watched/helped her son go through the grieving process.
Her death is so perfectly executed in that movie. It just happens, like snap of the fingers, that's it. It perfectly hits that spot where realism of sudden death clashes with the fact that this is the movie and it has incredible impact on you as a viewer.
@@GRIMHOOD99 There were a ton of hints and foreshadowing throughout. The rope would have eventually break because of wear and tear, not mention the fact that it's been there before even Jess and his family moved there. The mentioned the creek flooding and how dangerous it was, the fact Leslie couldn't swim in the movie (IIRC), Jess and Leslie's final goodbye being extremely dramatized and Jess looking ominously at Leslie's house as he departs with Miss Edmunds. Also it's interesting how different men and women look back on this movie. Men praise the "realism" and "cynicism", while women talk about how "traumatized" from the movie and how they shipped Jess and Leslie. However cynical form of entertainment are *very* popular men nowadays, so it's not surprising.
honestly this film is just so good. the characters are so beautifully written. the bully is realistic, the teachers being concerned for Jess while he is grieving instead of being horrible towards him like some other fictional stories like to do. The parents and their growth. twisting the manic pixie dream girl trope on its head.... I dont know its just really well put together and emotionally driven
I was in my teens when this movie came out. And it was a huge kick to the head when the reveal of Leslie's death was so abrupt and completely taken aback from the entire theme of child wonder and suddenly punched in the throat with the depressing realization that horrible things will just happen in life and we have no power over these things happening but we need to be strong to overcome the pain of sudden loss.
I read this book when I was ten years old on the recommendation of my teacher (who did say it was maybe too grown up for me, but I didn't listen). This was the first time I really understood just how emotional a piece of art could be. As a lifelong reader, it holds a special place in my (only slightly traumatised) heart
My brother died like 3 years before I saw this as a kid and I had no idea what I was in for... to say this traumatized me as a kid is too kind. This movie was a part of my healing after the most difficult times I can remember. It hits to this day.
What wasn’t shown here was that Jess and his dad do actually have a close emotional moment when Jess runs off and properly breaks down about Leslie’s death and his dad had followed him. and whilst Jess cries about how he wished he invited Leslie on the trip, his dad holds him and comforts him. What hits so hard also is the ‘tell, no showing’ of Leslie’s death. It’s just said. We relate to Jess’s grieving process and long denial period because it’s hard to process a death more when it’s not seen and comes out of nowhere. The movie gave us the news at the same time Jess got it, and first time watchers would still be expecting it to be a trick and that Leslie will walk right back through the door. The movie then gives us a good amount of time to realise this is indeed happening.
We read and watched Bridge to Terabithia in 7th grade English. Did Boy in the Striped pajamas in 8th. Our English teachers just wanted middle school to be that much more depressing I guess
us it was 5thbridge to terabithia, 6th percy jackson, 7th the outsiders, 8th the hunger games and the boy in the striped pijamas. i swear they want us to develop issues
Personally I think the teacher taking Jess on a trip to the museum shows that she pays attention to Jess and how he gets bullied, and she knows he likes to draw.
Especially in a small rural seeming town. If basically everyone knows everyone else, or most everyone else, there would be no problems with letting your child go on what amounts to a school trip outside of school hours!
Yea but that’s still creepy and inappropriate 😭 If it’s creepy for a male teacher and a female student, then it’s creepy for a female teacher and a male student
The author says "It grew out of a friendship which my son David had with a little girl named Lisa Hill. And they were wonderful friends for the second grade. And the summer after they both turned eight years old, Lisa was struck and killed by lightning. And it was out of those horrendous events that I began to try to make sense out of something that made no sense to me whatsoever."
There's a scene in Buffy the Vampire Slayer where Buffy's mom dies, and her friend Tara empathizes with her because she lost her mom some years back. Buffy asks her, "Was it sudden?" and Tara answers "It's always sudden" -- and this always stuck with me. Your comment reminded me of that incredible scene again, thank you
Man this movie stuck with me ever since i was a kid, i remember after Leslie died i teared up a lot and to this day the movie remains to be that only movie that actually made me tear up
This movie left me crying for an entire hour when I was a child. I literally could not stop crying. I remember calling my mom to tell her I had watched Terabithia and she consoled me the best she could. I've never cried harder at anything in my life.
I read this book in 6th grade and since I procrastinated I was left crying alone in the middle of the night when I reached that part. But probably the hardest thing was when my own child had to read it and I couldn't spoil it for her so I just had to wait and try to console her because I knew what was coming!
Considering that it's based on a book from the 70s and was required reading in schools in the 80s...the people who created the trailers for this knowing kids from 2007 had no clue have a special place in hell. They know what they did.
or just don't form attachments to anyone because they die anyway. at least that's what the movie did to me, or rather deepened this kind of trauma. took me until my early 20s to recover
@@JayFolipurba Nope. Invite your friends to the art museum or else they WILL suffer a very dramatic death in a very specific river even though it’s only like three feet deep even if there was a flood in the book your very existence is based on
It's truly incredible how well the tonal shift occurs. It really emphasizes how everything can change in a second and i think that's why this movie is so ingrained into every kids mind.
This movie holds a large place in my heart. When I was 15 I was put into foster care and I went to a group home because my grandparents didn’t want to take me in. While I was in the group home I read the book a few times in a row and since then the book has been a comfort to me despite being very sad.
My heart broke at 12 years old when I first watched this movie… and it still aches watching this video. The pain takes a back seat but it never goes away.
This movie is a landmark for me in recognizing the humanity in people, and the importance of a creative childhood. The relationship between Jess and his little sister particularly hits home for me, in that I too once reached an age where hanging out with my little sister was the last thing I wanted to do, despite how much she admired and needed me, and I learned to still include her. Them helping the school bully let go of some of her insecurities, even if unintentionally, is also sweet. It shouldn’t have taken Leslie passing for Jess’s dad to realize how much Jess needed a father figure to be present with him emotionally, but he did finally make some progress. The abrupt tonal shift of Leslie’s death is so painfully real. Most of the time in real life, you don’t get this sixth sense thing telling you something is gonna go horribly wrong. You can even be having the best day ever, and it can suddenly turn into the worst one.
Honestly, props to the book for not foreshadowing it at all. Because in hindsight, swinging on a random rope you found in the woods is dangerous, but it's just a fun thing to do for 2 kids.
I do. And I lost a friend and I feel like if I listened to that voice, maybe he would still be here. He was such a sweet soul. He was really helpful, nice, sweet. I feel so awful for his wife! He committed suicide and I just knew he was going through something. I just didn't know he would do that. I didn't know he was depressed but I could feel it. I don't know. I have a good ability to sense things like that. Not saying I'm psychic or anything but I personally can tell. Even with my pets I knew when they were going to go. It comes on as a thought and feeling. Just an overall thought or feeling that's not directed at anything. Sometimes it's specific, it all depends. I use this sixth sense a lot to guide me and to help me. I will even know who's calling me even when I don't expect a phone call and sometimes I even know why. I don't know. Again, I'm not saying I'm psychic but I get a lot of different feelings and thoughts.
@@wintermoon7003 I totally get you! I said most of the time that sixth sense doesn’t kick in, but there are definitely moments when it does. Especially with pets, they will let you know in their own way when it’s time. I once got a call from my dad updating me about my grandma, who had achieved remission from cancer, that she’d had a dizzy spell and they were monitoring her overnight, but didn’t expect anything. I immediately booked a flight to her, landed that night, and had my last talk with her the next morning, before I had to go back to school. She died less than 2 days later. I can’t explain how I knew. But I did. And I’m glad I got that last moment with her. She fought so hard.
That’s wonderful that you learned to include your little sister. It’s so important, even when kids are at an age where they don’t wish to❤️ God bless✝️❤️
Saw this movie when I was a little kid and it broke me every time. Had a friend that was exactly like Leslie. Would go on crazy adventures and explore. Mapped out our entire neighborhood, built a treehouse in the forest, did so much. Friendship just kinda faded over the years. Didn’t go to the same school, different friend groups, just stopped hanging out. Now that we are adults everyone is independent. Wish I could go back
You would be suprised at how many people feel the same way. A lost friendship is only a phonecall away, lets just say that. Give it a try, if anything it will help with the nostalgia.
So far I’ve not regretted reaching out to old friends (who simply drifted apart with no bad blood) to just say “Hey, I was just thinking of the good old days. I had so much fun doing [X]. Hope you’re doing well!” Or something like that. It seems like a very low pressure way to reach out. The other person can just respond politely or keep the conversation going if they choose. YMMV but we usually end up having a pleasant interaction at the very least.
I watched this movie as a kid and it was my first experience with death that I really felt it. Obviously I had one of my grandparents passing away when I was a kid, but since we weren't close and I was barely 8/9 yo when it happened I kinda didn't feel the grief. This movie helped me to understand grief and how it is to lose someone for real and suddenly, I managed to appreciate my other grandparents that were alive and be more grateful for the time we would have together.
I remember my mom letting me rent this from the video store as a "treat" because to make up for something she and her boyfriend did. I went in thinking this movie would be so good and it would make up for a horrible day... boy, was I wrong. I loved the movie but literally cried my eyes out over it. I still cry every time I watch it.
You're right. This became a really depressing movie. My siblings and i cried for like, an hour. Leslie's death was really sad, but it was actually more realistic being so blunt and sudden. That's how life is. And yes, we need more movies that are "for families"
[A] I'm surprised you never talked about how Terabithia's Dark Master was actually Jess' father. He tried as hard as he could to run from it, but it didn't matter. Eventually, he couldn't outrun him anymore, and he realized that his father still loved him. It took all that pain and loss to make Terabithia into a better place, as his little sister inherited a prettier, purer, one. Now, there was no chance that May Belle would suffer in it. [B] To this day, I will remember Jess breaking Scott Hoager's face. That brooding rage, and subsequent discussion with his teacher was the best part of that movie, hands down. It was the reason I studied Education in University. I know how both of them feel, far too much.
Man, i had a part time job cleaning cinema rooms when this movie debuted, Never have seen so many kids crying or parents taking off before they fully realized what just happened with Leslie's death. even watching this video now hits kind of hard (forgot how well performed is too. If it is was a crappy actuation u might joke about it, but is so well done is devastating...)
I really felt sad for jess’s younger sister. Besides leslie, she was the only one who wanted to hang out with him and support him. He even followed him and Leslie because she just wanted to hang out with them and have friends. I am glad she got to be the next person to be part of their world.
That's just how it often is. Young sibling just wants to hang out and have fun. Older sibling thinks being to old for playing withyounger sibling, but is not mature enough to understand the value in doing it. When both are older this can get better. (Did with my older brother and me. 5 years between us.) It is precious, but also so sad, because his maturity comes from loss.
I remember being so absolutely shocked. And waiting for her to miraculously reappear, as happens so often in movies... but she didn't. And then a monster was chasing him through the woods, but turns it out was his dad...
they did that really well we were waiting her to show up out of nowhere and say this is a prank or she just got lost somehow and that’s EXACTLY how jess feels too
This movie actually helped me because my friend and his family died in a horrible car accident. I cried, I raged. I broke everything around me that a 10 year old could. I never let it go until I understood that it is me keeping their memories alive.
watching this as a kid hits way harder. we viewers are expected to go through the same emotions the main charecter go through after the death of Leslie. this shit is just depressing man, I'll always put it on my top 10 list of movies that changed my life.
it definitely hits hard as a kid, but honestly, as an adult myself it still does. especially since adults are more likely to have experienced sudden loss like this and it's all of a sudden something you can actually relate to
I'm a 17 year old guy and when i watched this movie for the first time a month or so back, I've never cried at a movie like I did watching it. Bawled for 30 minutes after it ended. Heartbreaking movie.
I am glad I am not the only one. I think I was about 17 at the time when I watched it. I hadn't heard anything about the movie and rented it from blockbuster thinking it was something like Narnia. Never cried so hard in my life up to that point. Here I am now a 33 year old man and I still tear up thinking about it.
As someone who’s studying to be a teacher and now knows that you should strive to keep a professional boundary between you and your students, the scene where Jess’ teacher calls him up to take him to the museum (without his parents’ knowledge) makes my skin crawl. Nothing bad happened (to Jess) but it’s still REALLY not okay.
As an adult now, that part is alarming. It is eye-opening and shows that parents should never neglect their kids. This whole movie shows that parents should never neglect their kids.
@@RichOrElsethat's not when this takes place though is it? The teacher mentions no electronics or downloading stuff from the Internet. I only saw the movie once so I can't remember.
@@PinkSakuraBunnie The original novel from were the movie was adapted from takes place during the 70's though the movie seems to around the late 90's or early 00's, so I can understand why her conduct would appeared innapropiate by today's standards. Like they say context is key when looking back at history.
I remember when I saw this movie for the first time, how absolutely brutal it was. Unbelievable directing. Visceral. Emotional. Incredible. Grounded in reality and stunning. I teared up just watching your video and remembering how he goes through the depression.
I don't think there was a movie I cried as much watching as a kid as Bridge to Terabithia. First time I saw it I didn't even realize that Terabithia was just something they had imagined (didn't help that all the trailers made it seem like Chronicles of Narnia) and I kept waiting for it to be revealed that Leslie had been kidnapped by the dark master or something, which made that scene in the woods with Jess and his father just devastating. Heck, every stage Jess was going through (denial, anger, guilt, and then finally acceptance) hit so hard. Looking back, I don't think the third act is as tonally jarring as people make it out to be. The news of Leslie's death comes seemingly out of nowhere, yes, but that's how death works and even in the first two acts of the film there's a lot of heavier stuff hidden beneath the whimsy (poverty, neglect, Jess's dad taking out his frustrations of Jess, etc). Heck, at one point Jess and Leslie are literally discussing religion and hell.
I think that's why I loved the book so much too. It's very real. And realistic that a dangerous mode of play would happen with kids who have neglectful parents.
I remember reading this book by myself, then as a class In Middle school. When we got the part where Leslie dies, we had a substitute teacher, and I remember him saying I don’t want to hear talking only tears. Everyone thought he was joking, untill we started reading it. I knew it was coming but it still made me sad, and everyone else was too. I remember watching the movie and hating how different it was. But now, even watching this review, even thinking about it makes me literally tear up. This book was really impactful for me, and is even more so now. I also think that the part where she dies not being the ending is really impactful. Like it shows the grief that he’s dealing with, and how he deals with that as a middle schooler. I really like this book, and looking back, I was probably to harsh on the movie.
Oh god. I would hate to be that sub. I recently had to sub for a class that was reading The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and they were right at the end of the book. I had to read the worst part with them and I was sobbing so hard. It’s really tough when you don’t know the kids and you’re reading an emotional book. Plus half of them didn’t really understand what had happened as it’s all in the subtext and their reading comprehension skills weren’t great, so I had to explain it while my heart was shattering. Ugh, just awful.
even though it's been years since I've seen the movie and read the book, this story has absolutely cemented itself in my brain as one of my favorites. it's fantastical, fun, and terribly sad, and both versions handle it so well. like others have said, there's no easing you into it, she just dies and all of the magic and joy you had throughout the first part just completely evaporates into grief. you and Jesse both mourn her loss and have to figure out what to do next. it's a phenomenal story about life and death and growing up and it was one of my favorites as a kid - I'm so glad you enjoyed it!
This was probably the first movie that left me sad after watching it. I was little and the idea of death was not fully understood by me. I knew people died but I thankfully never experienced losing someone close at the time so when Leslie dies I was just so lost and remember silently praying for all that to be a dream for Jess. Watching it again as an adult makes you understand if someone you adore isn't in your life anymore, life doesn't end for you. You still continue and make the best out of what you have. Appreciate what's around you. Man, why am i tearing up writing this? Thanks for the video and its been a while since a shed a tear or two so thanks for that as well
Definitely related to life doesn’t end for you part. I lost a good friend senior year of high school, the concept of me celebrating completing school with prom, graduation, etc, felt so wrong, how could I be happy and celebration while he had just passed away?
This movie broke me when I first saw it, it is such a beautiful movie. Something that hit me real hard was that we can see how Jess doesn't have a strong connection with his dad at all, and tries to connect with him, and in the end of the movie when everything breaks for Jess, after Leslie's death, his dad comforts him. He really needed that from his dad and I think his dad needed that too. Such good writing!
The ending was realistic and not adjusted to be like a "movie." It really shows that this is the true nature and aspect of our very life, unpredictability and suprised.
I remember watching the movie and crying so hard when Leslie died that my mom refused to let me watch it after that because of how long it took me to calm down. It was so intense and as a child who had never lost someone at that point the concept of death hit me hard.
When Jesse went to the museum and didn’t invite Leslie I thought, “Well that sucks, hopefully he hangs out with her later.” I had a feeling that something bad was going to happen, but not her death, I was so devastated bro. I was a kid when I first watched the movie and man did it bother me, especially today remembering it. Also I just read a theory on Reddit about how it could’ve been a suicide and now I’m even more heartbroken for her. Add the fact that this death was inspired by the Author’s son’s friend dying, makes this story so tragic.
From what I read, I believe the author's son had a best friend who suddenly died from a lightning strike at a beach. This makes me think that the author intended for Leslie's death to be an accident because it was inspired by a real-life death that was an accident. Plus, I believe the rope was old and getting weaker with every swing.
To make things worse later that same year I was watching csi New York with the laughing man eddy. And the poor guy in that movie also lost his best friend Sam by drowning in a river. It just re reminded me of Leslie, and I so wished the killer in that episode actually got rid of the laughing man cause his product literally killed someone
@@dynogamergurl I almost drowned at a local pool when I was young. Luckily, a life guard saved me. Kids die from accidents all the time, so I am glad that this movie does not sugarcoat death.
So we actually read the book in my middle school English class (I think it was 6th grade) and I actually thought the same thing. I figured it was a bit less accidental and more... sadly purposeful..
I'll never forget, many moons ago, my teacher reading this to us in 2nd grade. He would read a chapter a day, and we were so enthralled with it. But when it got to the ending, it was like wrenching your guts out. It still feels like that seeing this movie. I do feel like it's a shame to miss out on reading the book.
I hold this movie so close to my heart having lost one of my friends when we were 11. That one last scene of leslie always destroys me, it brings an almost hopeless feeling because you know what happens next but you just can't stop it. Her death is so blunt and unexpected and I think that is what carries to most weight, it just feel so realistic, to the point where I literally bruised my eye from crying so hard while rewatching the movie and seeing that last shot of her. They also did an amazing job when showing Jess trying to cope with the grief, it hits SO hard.
I've been looking for this film forever! I watched it once as a kid and never learned what it was called I sorta thought it was a just a dream but no, here it is I only remember the bridge scene, the cool monsters, and crying heavily at the end
The thing that bugged me the most about this film as a kid was the marketing. Me and my mom both love fantasy so we went to watch it in the theatre together, but like halfway in we were disappointed that it wasn't actually a fantasy film. All the trailers, posters etc make it seem like Terabithia is real and not just something the kids made up, it made my first watch of the film a bit awkward for lack of a better word.
I remember even when I first watched it being really weirded out that it wasn’t one. One of the final shots of the trailer (from what I remember) is Jess punching a monster with a gauntlet. It was so jarring.
Yes THIS! The trailer made it seem like a “Narnia” sort of and like it was going to be a happy upbeat movie. The shock of her death really struck me as a child and my mom was messed up about it too since she lost her brother as a child too.
I remember renting it out on VHS to watch with my kids when they were young. We thought it would be a happy fantasy movie, we really didn't enjoy it. It's not a bad film, I just don't get why they marketed it that way.
My little brother watched this when he was already feeling really depressed, we put it on thinking it would be a nice uplifting fantasy movie.. he was scarred 🥺 he was like 6-7
When I was younger, I remember genuinely believing that Terabithia existed, at least in the movie’s sense. That they really did escape to some fantasy world, and that his dad really was lying when he said that Leslie had died. I remember thinking that, man, she must be in teribithia somewhere, just waiting for him… I so desperately clinged to every hint of her, even if I wasn’t the smartest as an 8 year old. I tried to come up with ANY explanation as to how she could be alive in my head… I even momentarily believed that the shadow monster had become her, that jess was going to meet her when he was seeing the shadow monster, or that the shadow monster had hidden her somewhere, somehow. Anything. In my little kid brain, by the end of the movie, I thought that she lived in the forest still, that she was just around the corner in every step somebody took. I think somebody can get a very cynical view about this all when they realize that terabithia was really just in the kid’s heads… that Leslie really *did* die. A lot of people consider maturing to be the adoption of that viewpoint, of a simple: “this and/or that” kinda deal. A direct grappling with real life. But, I don’t believe maturing to be that… in a way, terabithia really *was* real. And that’s the real beauty of this. I think the moral of the story wasn’t death and dealing with it but rather an emphasis on growing up without losing the special traits of seeing things differently- imagination. Imagination is much more powerful then seemingly “Mature” people take it up to be. Even kiddish imagination, wild dreams… it can resurrect a dead soul, just as it can keep Leslie alive in that forest. Consider the fake it till you make it saying. Many people, especially those who consider themselves mature, don’t consider that to be true… not really. They don’t think that you can just fake something and then for it to be real, to have meaning. That’s the point of this movie. To not lose that.
reading this book as a kid in class made me realize how powerful stories really are. and the movie does the book justice. still makes me cry to this day
The movie still makes me cry, it hits very close to home, I lost a friend at a young age and I understand what it feels like living with regret, wishing you could of done something differently so the outcome would be different. I believe a lot of us have that feeling wishing we had a Time Machine and could go back and rewrite our history and mistakes. It’s very rare for a movie to be almost as good as the book. This is Based on a true story..somewhat at least. The authors son lost his best friend to a lightning strike. And what he went through kinda not wanting to face the fact that they are gone forever… well depending on what you believe at least. As I grew older, I learned to accept the past for what it is, that nothing can be changed and the best you can do is live your life to the fullest as the people you have lost along the way would have wanted you to. Great video
One part of the movie I actually find pretty interesting, is that after Leslie dies from the old rope breaking and falling into the river (increased by the storm the night prior), Jess finds that a tree happened to have broken and fallen right next to the broken rope, almost as a second-chance bridge that's (while slippery thanks to the rain) a more sturdy way across to their escape to fantasy. The real event that inspired this book, has the author's son's best friend die suddenly, but because of a lightning strike instead of drowning. The same occurrence that seems to have made the tree-bridge in the movie. Such a heartfelt little touch and love letter to the real kid💗
The book originally came out in the 70's I believe, that's why the scene with the teacher taking Jess to the museum is in the movie as well. People weren't as worried about stranger danger at that point in time and rules about how teachers interacted with their students were more lenient.
Man, I was in High School when I watched this movie. I thought it was going to be a fantasy flick like Narnia and other movies but I was mistaken. I remember really liking Leslie as a character because she reminded me of myself when I was younger. Loving fantasy and always doing my best to brighten up everyone's day around me that I could. When her death was revealed it was a shock to my parents and I. We certainly weren't expecting it to go that dark and there was a lot of tears shed. I might have to revisit it now that I'm older and would have a more appreciation for it. Thanks for reviewing this movie, it brought back some good memories.
This movie destroyed me emotionally as a child. I watched this once and refused to even click anything with the name until today. Had nightmares of the trees and stuff for like 3 weeks after. I can Remember the emotions of this show so vividly despite it coming out so long ago. Now, as an adult, watching this episode to convince myself the movie wasn’t as bad as I remembered. I’m now in my feelings once again as my body remembers every emotion of every scene, especially after the 3rd act …. The mood and theme of this movie got so dark SO fast with no warning that it was gonna be a sad movie. I’m pretty sure this movie traumatized an insane amount of children on it’s release…… that being said, The screen writing and cinematography was actually wayyyyyy better than movies and cartoons we get today because like wtf was WISH and all these live adaptation movies ?
Knowing that Leslie's death was inspired by the real life tragic death of the childhood friend of the author's son via being struck by lightning really hits home even more.
Yes, but in real life Leslie got electrocuted
@@BoristheromanianBadger-sz7ngdo what now?!!
If you ever get to read Katherine Patterson’s Newbery Speech for winning with this novel, it will destroy you even more than the book itself. Also, he, her son, was involved in making the film.
@@bookofdusthe directed it!
Dam that’s gotta be a mad way to watch someone die like that’s completely random
The buildup that you missed is that the teacher offered to bring leslie along to the art museum but jess wanted the teacher all to himself so he said no. If he had invited her, she would still be alive.
So yeah she just dies out of nowhere, but with that context, it has a bit more depth to it because you know jess has to live with that.
wait then why does he guilt the teacher by saying "next time we should invite leslie"
@anthonydominguez4744 It's not guilt, it's regret. He's not telling her really, he's telling himself.
This video framed it poorly, it definitely seems like he's mad at her. But in the movie, it's clear that he is mad at himself.
i’m not sure that i like that message that the movie included. sometimes shit just happens. a kid doesn’t deserve to feel like a tragic accident was his fault because he made a selfish decision. he’s just a kid, it shouldn’t have to be anyone’s fault, especially not his.
@@ligokleftis The movie isn't making it a message; it's showing how he reacts to the death of a friend. He's guilty because he feels like he could have prevented her death by inviting her out. It's no different than anyone of any age dealing with grief and survivor guilt and wondering, what if?
@@ligokleftis Noting bad happened to you as a kid, did it? Take it from an abused kid who grew up around other abused kids, EVERYTHING is your fault. If you're told that or not, you always internalize it. When I'd get beaten, it was my fault for talking, or not doing what I'm supposed to even when I wasn't told what I was supposed to do, or even walking too loud. It gets to the point where it feels like everything bad is because of you. Jess wasn't abused, but more like unintentionally neglected, he internalizes everything. His sister is the favorite, he doesn't get anything new, he's picked on at school but no one listens to him about it. He feels like he did something to deserve that, because why else would it happen? He's a kid, he doesn't realize that everyone is different, everyone had their own lives when he's not around. So that (in his mind) must mean that it's all against him. He had the chance to keep her alive if he had accepted the offer for them both to go, but he didn't and she died. The most tragic thing to happen to him, and it stemmed from him doing something he wanted to do, something that made him happy, it's the one thing that was closest to his decision. He tells his teacher "next time we should invite her, it would make her happy," not to guilt her, but to try to undo a "mistake" and make it better so that he didn't cause a tragedy when he finally got something that was offered to him, and not a handmedown or after thought.
The buildup was really subtle. Over time, you can see the creek swelling, and as they swing over it, the rope gets closer and closer to the water. The kids even note it in passing at some point in the movie. It foreshadows that the creek is getting more and more dangerous. It's getting higher, flowing faster, the rope isn't as high up over it as it was in the beginning, and the rope itself is so old and just kinda tied to a tree in moist conditions.
Also if I remember correctly, after the essay they had to write, Leslie told Jesse that she can't swim. So yes, lots, and lots of subtle hints to that tragedy
@@spiritsmemory5515in the book I remember a part of Leslie saying that she could swim?
@@NathanJimenez-h2xyeah I think that’s a difference between the movie and the book. I haven’t watched the movie, but I know that in the book, Jess mentions that Leslie could swim well
@@FlowersSmellFine other way around for me, havent read the book, but watched the movie, and I'm quite certain, that Leslie mentioned she could not swim. But gotta keep in mind, that I did not watch the english version, so it could as well be a translation error
@spiritsmemory5515 That's true! I haven't seen this movie in so long, thanks for bringing that up!
I remember my 5th grade teacher reading us this book, and my whole class was sucker punched when Leslie died. It was such a shock, and so many complained to the teacher that she actually stopped and said that's what death is like. It can be sudden and come out of nowhere.
I think that was the first time I ever realized that not every story had a storybook ending. As foundational as that was for me, I could never bring myself to read the book again.
My 5th or 4th grade teacher made us watch the movie and me and like half the class were sobbing. I haven’t been able to watch the movie since then and even this vid made me tear up.
The book was the first time reading something like that, before that it was more toned down stuff and then the sudden death of a main character had some of my classmates ask if it was legal to do that
@@ClandestineKT
Yeah same, it was like a punch to the gut watching this movie. But i still love this movie for that, it has a special place in my heart.
It was also unfortunate that a girl in our grade then actually died in 6th grade. This movie probably taught a lot of us early how death felt, and then we actually felt the affect of our classmates absence the year after. Her death was not an accident though, on her part, unfortunately.
I do think this is actually a pretty great movie to teach kids semi-realistic death early. It would definitely be a good movie to strike a needed conversation with kids over anyway, since they will need to be prepared for understanding death at some point regardless.
My 5th grade teacher put the movie on the board and everyone just started crying when Leslie died
I read this book a couple months ago in 5th grade!
"Next time, we should invite Leslie too." Josh Hutcherson delivered that line so well, it broke my heart. He gave a performance beyond his young years. Also, AnnaSophia Robb was so charming and likable as Leslie, which made her death even harder to swallow. 💔😭
Let me blow my whistle baby😞
the little sister is such a good child actor she was in some Haunting Hour episodes an she can put on a terrified reaction so easily
I agree. Child actor wise: I'd put this up there with My Girl. So underrated, but truly well done.
@@melissaobier After cried watching this video, maybe I should finaly watch that kid movie you mentioned, to cheer myself up
@@senritsujumpsuit6021omg that episode! With the doll! She was soooo good. I’ve seen that show a few times and that episode is so memorable.
I love how blunt they made Leslies death, there was no build up, there was no hints or foreshadowing, it was completely blunt. A lot like real life. Its what made it feel so real and genuine, and the fact that they showed his grieving process made it even more real, his anger over her death, and the fact that you could FEEL her absence in the scenes after her death just hit so deep.
When I was 6 when my mum got me the dvd the play screen creeped me out re watching now at the age of 13 makes me feel sad
Absent illness, when kids die it comes right out of nowhere. One day you’re catching a ride home from school. Then you’re in a line of traffic because of a car accident and you recognize the car. If you’re another girl I know, you were in an argument with the girl who is now dead and you never get to apologize and an entire school of kids blames you for the dead girl being in the car instead of on the school bus like usual.
yeah great! Don't you love when a random kids movie traumatises you just as much as real life does? What the hell is escapism, I love being traumatised.
This movie actually traumatised me. and this video triggered me more than I thought it would, what it being 18 years later. I'm taking you didn't watch this as a kid, or didn't experience this trauma until later in life?
@@JayFolipurba i never said I wasn’t traumatized by the movie i’m talking about how i love how deep they made it compared to disney now 💀💀 why u mad?
Agreed, I liked how we're placed in Jesse's perspective, in that Leslie's death happens entirely off screen, so we learn about the tragedy the exact same time that he does, and go through a similar process to him.
We get exactly 2 points of foreshadowing to Leslie’s death. The first was when Jess warns that the rope is old . And the second is when they swing across while it’s raining and the tip of the rope brushes against the water.
We were told, and then reminded, that this rope swing is dangerous. And then the story makes good on the threat, and it snaps while Leslie is alone with no one to save her.
exactly! her death was raw, but we knew it could happen at anytime, with either of them.
now that, THAT, THATT right there is what studio ghibli movies need.
And this was the least traumatizing outcome for Jess. If they swing together, he could have seen Leslie die and replay that event everyday in his life because she always swings first
Chekhov's Rope Swing. 😨
Also her essay about sinking in a river or something.
I can't imagine what Leslie's last moments were like. I know it's mentioned she hit her head and was probably knocked out before she could process or feel anything but wow... It's horrible how terrifying, cold and lonely it must've been if she was conscious the whole time.
Doctors or whoever tells familys how the person died often lie and say it was painless to help aliviate some of the suffering. She most likely did suffer and fight for her life and still died
I’ve never actually seen the entire movie since reading the book in 5th grade, but I remember the book explicitly mentioning that Jess considered inviting Leslie on the museum trip, but decided not to so he could have alone time with his teacher, and how that choice haunted him afterwards.
That’s an even more gut-wrenching thought as an adult. It was never his fault, of course, but that’s just how life is sometimes. One decision can change everything.
Why was the teen with a grown woman? That is grooming, hun.
@@PRISMSHOWERS_P teenage crush no?
@@PRISMSHOWERS_P It's not grooming. The teacher knew Jess's situation and nobody pays any attention to him ever and she knew he'd like the museum where he'd never have a chance to go on his own. And she was planning to go with her nephews anyway, it's not like it was her first idea to take him.
@@PRISMSHOWERS_P no no the teacher does not have any ill intent towards Jess. Of course, in a real life situation we would never let kids go with their teachers alone, but this is fiction and it's clear that she wants to help Jess.
If I’m not mistaken, isn’t that stated in the movie at some point too?
This is such a an accurate portrayal of death. So many times in books and movies it has this buildup of expectation or it's for a dramatic beat, but unexpected death is just that, unexpected. I lost a friend in high school and for a few days I couldn't even process it because it didn't seem fathomable. An important movie.
I agree completely. In a lot of movies and books, the death of a character is either build up or foreshadowed in some way, or they tell you from the start that this character is dead and then look back on their lives.
Accidents happen. A car crash happens out of nowhere, a gas stove could be forgotten and left on and kill you in your sleep, you could choke on something, or... you could swing on a rope that snapped, hit your head and drown in a creek.
These things happen. They strike like lightning on a clear sky. It's horrible and unfair, but it's real.
And I really like that about this book and movie.
I unfortunately had the same experience as you, and I fully agree. both things has its purpose of course, an /actual/ sudden death as well as a built-up and foreshadowed one, but movies like this are rare and definitely important
I don't know if it's better or worse to lose someone to a coma, you have more time but your own hope gets weaponized against you and only after years do you know what you lost
Exactly same here someone passed away recently and yeah there’s no build up to death . It just fucking boom. And then don’t feel real
yh that's cos the movie is based on a novel which was inspired by the author's son who lost his best friend at a very young age
Besides Leslie's death, the saddest thing is that Jess imagines his own father as The Dark Master that terrorizes Terabithia. After her death he, in his grief, goes to their treehouse and gets the paints that Leslie bought for him on his birthday, and squirts the tubes into the creek. And it is very subtly different when he's there without her. The colors aren't as vibrant the sounds are like normal forest sounds, the camera doesn't move like it did before. When he hears the rattling of the dark master he tries to run, but the "dark master" catches up to him, and its actually his dad, who hooks his keys on his beltloop. And he scoops Jess into his arms and holds him while Jess weeps and says "It's all gone."
goddamn it
I won't be scrolling past this comment, it was more than enough before my own "dark master" starts whispering things in my brain.
damn it, That hit too hard
I had Just stopped crying why dude.
Genuinely such a good movie I swear
Oh no, I'm crying 😢
Honestly, I feel like movies like this one are very important for a child to grow up properly. Their first encounter with death shouldn't be the loss of a real person, a real loved one, but a fictional character, so they can learn how to grief before actually having to do it.
I agree, that's why I love that Bluey episode about the death of the little bird and how Bluey tries to process it.
No kids should have to process death ever. No child should be forced into this living hell.
@@CannaToker420 should they? No. Will they? Sadly more than likely yes. Whether it is the death of a family member, friend, or pet they will more than likely have to deal with it at a young age. It's very important to help them understand it and deal with that grief early on before something happens, then try to do it after the fact.
80s kids when Optimus Prime and their favorite Transformers all got brutally murdered on-screen in the G1 movie: "amateurs"
@@dracodracarys2339 that was the Disney format as well.
What I think it's really crazy about this movie is how realistic Leslie's death is.
When someone you love dies all of a sudden and you're not there to witness it, that is exactly how it goes.
No goodbye, no last words, you're just hit with the most devastating news. They're gone forever.
I relate a lot. I remember this exactly way my parents announced me that my godfather died in a car accident. Just like that, out of nowhere. I didn't know how to feel, and couldn't cry. The saddest part was that he lived in a different country and I couldn't go to his funeral. His parents & siblings have never contacted me again ever since his death (only once his father visited me), they just cut me off for 9 YEARS.
@@sassy.potato.1180 why?
@@sageex3931 I don't know, I think they had an argument with my parents or smt else. They completely forgot my existence 😐😞(I was 11 back then). I promised myself if I ever become a godmother I'll give that child the love I didn't get as a kid (I rarely saw my godfather when he was alive, so I don't have a lot of memories with him).
@@mattsangg02 damn, my condolences. dude dropped it like a mf too, could've made it a little more bearable. that sucks.
Yep. I had a death like that this last winter. No goodbyes. No waiting to see if they will make it like my brother. Just straight: Dead. Damn.
Alex's reaction to Leslie's death was exactly how I felt. I forgot how sobering that scene is. no music, no "this is gonna be hard to hear, but..." it was just "your friend Leslie's dead." really hits you like a brick wall
Yep like real life.
who was Alex?
@@rosinainfantethe youtuber
Why was the dad so blunt? I don’t like sugarcoating things either but jeez. I don’t like the dad much.
@@Jade_West2010 I don't remember if it's related well in the movie, but Jesse left home without telling anyone. His own family thought he might be dead too since he couldn't be found and no one knew where he was, and he was usually with Leslie. Basically, his dad was on the pissed and shocked side at seeing Jesse waltz in completely okay and unaware, so he just blurted it out.
I have such a fond memory of Therabitia - and to this day, no death in any fiction has ever come close to being as raw/shocking as Leslie's. It is so insanely well done.
Because the author of the book involved. The book is from early 80's and its based on author experience with his Best friend Who died because of Lightning strikes.
If i'm not wrong, there's 80's television movie but its not as good as this movie.
I was just not getting movie as well as a kid. I thought it was a silly weird movie where a friend died 😅 maybe i was in deniaö when i watched it cause i wanted her to come back alive
it was this and Where The Red Fern Grows that broke me
@@boboboy8189it's based on the authors son but yeah otherwhise your correct
First movie that made me cry. Watched it as a kid and it was traumatizing! Still can't watch it til this day
I'm 26 and my best friend and I also ran through the forest after Middle School, we had a long tour to get up a hill, we had to cross two fields and two forests, we had fantasy names for each stop and played adventure. We had a fight after highschool, last year I contacted her again and now we are as close as we were ❤ she also never forgot our forest fantasies and loved our childhood
Glad you reconciled
Also in the movie Leslie couldn’t swim, but in the book she was a great swimmer. I remember Jess denying she could have ever drown over and over saying “she can swim really well”
She hit her head or something like that i think
@@DevourMySeedshe got that Injustice Nightwing death
Exactly. Also, didn't she go back there to get something Jess lost, and she slipped on a rock and hit hear head, and that was why she drowned, and he blamed himself for it?
@@BumhunterLino I think he promised to go with her, but then didn’t when he got the opportunity to go with the teacher so he felt like if he been there, he could’ve saved her
@@creed8712bro died from a stick to the head🤣
The Bridge To Terabithia, both the book and the movie, made me WAIL. It hurts me every time.
Yeah it makes me ugly cry every single time. I started tearing up just watching this video
I yelled at my sister when I had to read it for school because she didn't warn me.
I remember reading the book in elementary school for GT and then found out the movie in middle school - I think middle school me was far more destroyed
I still remember when I saw it for the first time. I still cry just as much. But I am so grateful I saw this movie when I did, because later that year I lost my great grandmother (who was probably my best friend at age 8) and having had conversations about death with my parents helped me a lot.
The only movie that made me cry, days after watching it. No other movie since could traumatize me in that way. Man, her death really messed me up.
There really is nothing like watching this movie for the first time. The way my stomach dropped when everything shifted from a feel-good movie to hearing that Leslie died…I haven’t felt that from a movie since. And then the delivery of Josh Hutchinson’s line to his teacher was just *chef’s kiss*
Did you know that there is an older Bridge to Terabithia movie
The first time watching this movie, I had no idea what it was going to be like. The trailers made it like it was gonna be about a couple kids finding a magical forest. And then I wasn’t expecting the story to take the turn it did with Leslie’s untimely demise.
I just saw it and was like uhhh WHATTT
I cried from the book
I read this as a kid and it really struck me. I was always a creative kid who made up worlds but was embarrassed by it and suppressed it. Seeing this as an adult it hits me different. I regret not enjoying my own imagination more as a kid. Maybe I would have had better friends.
Aw man. This is so relatable. Even if the stuff I imagined as a kid might've been a little cringy, I wish I wasn't so ashamed of it and suppressed it over the years. Maybe if I had written down more of the things I wrote, at least, it would be cool to look back at it years later and say, "Dang. It's not perfect, but I did that. I was committed. This is actually great that I did all this.". This is why I hate when the internet bashes kids for creating wholesome art (drawings, animations, stories, etc.) online and publishing it just because it's "weird" or "not good enough". I love seeing kids using their imagination and sharing it, or when teens/adults share things they made as a child.
Leslie IS the Bridge to Terabithia. She is the path for Jess to imagination. She dies falling on the physical rope that was also a symbol of the connection to Terabitha.
And when she dies. So too his imagination.
näh
...whoa.
sounds cool but no, the Bridge is coping with losing someone you love. Is moving on. Leslie is not that big of a symbol, is a representation of someone who actually existed, the best friend of the author's son...
in the end, the Bridge of Terabithia™ was the friends we made along the way.
This one of those movies where you can never recapture the feeling of watching it for the first time. Leslie's death is just so shocking and blunt that it really hits you hard and the scene at the end where hes taking his sister to Teribithia brought me to tears
Also I cant believe I never realized the main character in this is a much younger Peeta, and I loved Hunger Games lol
I wonder what percentage of the audience watched this movie without reading the book first.
You'd have to be a masochist to watch it more than once.
@@greywolf7577I definitely didn’t find out there was a book until many years later. But then again it doesn’t help that the book isn’t translated into Danish nor in any way famous here so I was really only ever gonna know from the internet. Haven’t read it yet because I heard it was even more heart wrenching than the movie
@@thedanishcatgirl3205ew this book existed because it was one in a collection for teenagers published by Alfaguara in Spanish.
I always saw Leslie's sudden death as showing that you can't escape reality forever, no matter how hard you try. Jesse and Leslie used Terabithia as a way to escape their real-life problems, to the point it became just about the only thing they really cared about. It was a place where they were invincible. But at the end of the day, Terabithia isn't real and reality has to set in sooner or later. And in reality, if you're swinging across a river on a raggedy old rope, chances are that rope will eventually break.
I think the ending where Jesse is comforted by his father over Leslie's death and he brings his little sister to Terabithia means that Jesse is going to find a better balance between reality and fantasy. His father and sister are two people from his unpleasant reality, so making peace with them could be seen as him accepting reality more.
Well said. And although I hate it, I learned an awful lot from this book when I was a kid. We studied it for a full semester.....
Terabithia symbolizes the magic and innocence of childhood, as well as an ideal world in which Jess and Leslie can be themselves, imaginative and free.
@@duckymomo7935it can't last forever
No, Leslie's death isn't a symbolism of anything, the author and the film's writers didn't want her death to be a lesson to either Jesse or the audience. It's supposed to be a senseless death and a freak accident.
And while Jesse and Leslie used Terabithia as a way to escape from real-life problems, they also used it to help them deal with it as well. And it's not the only thing they care about, as you see in how Jesse still hasn't let go of his crush on Miss Edmunds and Leslie helping Janice in regards to her abusive father. The film takes place over four months instead of the book's nine, meaning they have to condense alot of the events from the book. But don't get it twisted, Terabithia was more of a positive in their lives than a negative.
Also I hate how people say that at least Jesse made peace with his dad and May Belle. It's sad that it took Jesse losing the most important person in his life for his father to finally show any sort of empathy towards his son, but they're on good terms by the end of the novel/film. Of course they still have a lot of stuff they need sort through if they'll ever have a long term healthy father-son relationship.
Jesse and May Belle were never on bad terms before his pushed her (hit her in the book). Jesse loved May Belle more than anybody in his family, she was his favourite sibling. The only real problem was that, May Belle in fact was annoying. And Jesse didn't want his 6/8 year old little sister to swing across a creek on rope no matter how sturdy he thought it was.
And lastly, Jesse took May Belle to Terabithia as a way to honour Leslie's memory and a way to keep her alive. In the book he implies that he won't keep going to Terabithia for long since Leslie died, but he wants to pass on Leslie's imagination and ideals on to May Belle and Joyce Ann. It wasn't a way to balance reality and fantasy, but to honour Leslie.
@@augustusfreeman4032 i love your explanition well done !
MAN, this Movie crushed me so hard at my young ages that every time I see a picture of the movie anywhere, a part of me wants to cry but I try to manage it.
Me too. My parents had some kind of adult party event, and for me not to be in the way, they put me in a car with blankets and that movie. It was the first time I cried because of fiction. I will remember that moment forever - how horrible I felt, and couldn't even go to my parents and ask for help.
My favorite part of this movie is after Leslie dies, he keeps seeing this shadow monster chase after him and he keeps running away but it’s really just his dad trying to help him come to grips with the fact that she’s gone. Super powerful stuff
Thanks for this video. I, at 45, can't watch this movie. I was a kid when I read this book, with my first real "best friend". A girl in my class named Mariah. I didn't know at the time but she had a fatal illness (I knew she had health issues, but not that serious).
She recommended we read this book together... every day at recess, before and after school, and on several weekends... we'd sit and read together, taking turns reading it...
Only about a month after we'd finished... she tragically passed away. She KNEW she was dying, and how much we meant to each other... she tried to prepare me for losing her... it was one of her favorite books.
To this day I remember her, her face, her favorite blue dress she was buried in.... and this book...
It's a powerful story about finding yourself, connection with another person, and the hardship of loss... and it holds a deeply special (even if traumatic) place in my heart.
❤❤ I can't know what to say but feel like u have same story as this movie surprisingly u read the same book with her thats movies is about, that soul go in heaven definitely. I know how sad u feel 😢😢about that but sometimes crying is the best method to overcome if u don't cry & hide the feeling inside u it causes u anxiety
I'm sorry ❤
I'm sorry for your loss
Having also lost a friend suddenly when I was 14, I know how painful that can be
@@dislexyc same I also lost my childhood love in age of 14 but she is alive i lost in the way that she transfered in another city from that time I nvere ever talk with her. She is my best best friend named harshita sharma my love ❤️
Damn she played you 😢
When I was young I was obsessed with this movie, watched it on repeat everyday after school. When I was 16, my childhood best friend broke through ice in the river close to where we both lived and passed away 😞 the movie pretty much became my reality. Never noticed how morbid it was until I watched it a lot older. RIP Dylan ❤ 7/10/03-2/7/19
Dang sorry for your loss my best friend(used to be) didn’t pass away but he did ghost me and never told me why
10 minute gang
My deepest condolences, I'm so sorry for your loss. 💔😔
@@aimeesiok4821 ?? bro read the room
Oh that is terribly heartbreaking… I hope you’re doing better now. Sorry for your loss. ❤️🩹 I can’t imagine how much that must’ve hurt, and still does.
no matter how many times i’ve seen this movie, it STILL breaks my heart. even just watching this video has me in tears. nothing can compare to the pure shock i felt watching this for the first time as a kid
I think the lack of buildup to Leslie's death is what makes it so real. It's a freak accident and that happens in life. No prep for it, it just happened. Leslie was there one day and then she was gone the next. I think the realism is what makes this movie so so great and, along with the deeply superb performances from its young actors, why it's stands out as such a truly remarkable children's film.
Yeah, the only buildup in the movie is the water volume in the river that was very high the last time they crossed it.
1 thousandth like!!
I remember that in the book at least, there’s a little bit of foreshadowing, but dang it still hurts
It wasn't a freak accident, the rope would have eventually broke because of wear and tear, not mention the fact that it's been there before Jess and his family even moved there. And there was definitely build up; because of the creek flooding, the fact Leslie couldn't swim in the movie (IIRC) and Jess looking ominously at Leslie's house before departing with Miss Edmunds.
Also it's interesting how different men and women look back on this movie. Men praise the "realism" and "cynicism", while women talk about how "traumatized" from the movie and how they shipped Jess and Leslie. However cynical form of entertainment are *very* popular men nowadays, so it's not all that surprising.
@@augustusfreeman4032 I've never heard men or women praise the movie differently. Everyone I know says the same thing; it traumatised them. And they'd probably agree about shipping Jess and Leslie, too.
I just love how "real" this movie felt. It's really a perfect middle-school movie with how difficult life feels like it suddenly gets and issues that kids could relate too like bullying and toxic parents. There are magical moments, but it's only as a form of escapism for Leslie and Jess. Life sucks, but they have each other and one friend was all they needed...until that suddenly changed which is exactly how death is in the real world. I deeply miss stories like this because this movie came out in 2007 and I've never forgotten it ♥
I think that Leslie's death made Jess's parents realize that what happened to Leslie could have happened to Jess, which was an eye-opener. Hopefully, this movie was eye-opening to a lot of parents to not neglect your children.
13:55 now why did I start crying while watching this as if I didn't know what was the line🤠
The scene of her reading the story about scuba diving is often considered foreshadowing, and they added bubbles coming from her mouth while she was reading it. She imagined the scuba diving but it was ultimately her imagination that killed her. The death is still sudden but this is one of those movies you have to see more than once to understand what it’s all trying to tell you.
I rewatched this movie when I was 14 about 6 months or so after a middle school friend of mine died and while it was one of the most painful viewing experiences I've ever had, it made things easier somehow. It reminded me that I wasn't alone in my denial, fear, loneliness, and grief. Absolute 10/10 movie. Can't wait to sit my future kids down some day and watch it with them.
Same freaking experience here, and god damn do I feel you dude, hope your in a better place now
Not with this movie but with many others, characters going through the same things as you makes it just a little bit easier :) (hope youre doing well and wish the best for you)
I was about 17 when this movie came out. I remember bawling my eyes out when hearing about Leslie's death.
How a place they considered their sanctuary ultimately led to her death & him trying to grasp that fact that she was gone. It just hits you SO HARD!
I had just turned 17 when it came out and my dad took me and my siblings to theaters to see it, and I SOBBED so hard at the part where she died, I couldn't see. I didn't stop crying the rest of the movie.
15:01 THIS PART TOO 🥺🥺🥺🥺 because I have a little sister and we used to play together all the time when we were kids and I never cared that she was four years younger than me we just shared our imaginations together and our older sister stopped playing with us way sooner so it was like watching myself trying to hold onto my childhood by remaining close with my little sister meanwhile my older sister drifted further away....... this movie hits me everywhere like I can't stop sobbing
I remember watching this movie as an elementary school kid when it first came out. The scene when the dad told the boy about his friend's death hit me so hard. The concept of "death" could happen to anyone at anytime and at any age took awhile for me to process and learn.
Same! We read the original book in I think 4th or 5th grade reading class in school, and I remember having such a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that she just… died. I kept waiting for the magic to be real and for her to come back for the rest of the book and felt so cheated when it never did and she was just… gone. It’s not like I didn’t know people could die, but I think that was the first time I was confronted with the idea that a regular kid could just die. Not be horribly sick or something just a tragic avoidable accident and gone. It’s a tough lesson, but I guess it’s a good one to include in kids’ media so kids have a safe way to learn about and cope with that hopefully before facing it for real.
this movie is THE BEST to introduce the topic of death to kids
Same! I was around the same age, and watching him struggle to understand was the same. As a kid I kinda thought she might come back. In the end this movie was gentle in making me understand bad things happen but life can move on.
When Walden Media used to produce shit for Disney, both with Bridge to Terabithia and Narnia, they covered some serious ground with dark topics like the passing of a friend or a 16 year old that remembers when he was a 30 year old king to save a fantasy realm. Shame it stopped being that way
Curious: What movies are you referencing?
16 year old that remembers being 30 and a king in a fantasy realm? That's Narnia! @@vicefandonna1575
@@vicefandonna1575 to quote the original comment you replied to
"Bridge to Terabithia and Narnia"
That was good cinema... The type of movies that my father used to always pick for us to go watch. He enjoyed them as much as me and my brother and I definitely think those were type of movies that help develope my creativity and imagination but also my maturity. The real topics and struggles mixed with the fantasy... Brilliant!
@@vicefandonna1575 Narnia? The first two films were produced by Walden Media and Disney, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian. Prince Caspian being one of the best book to movie I can think of, was considered 'too dark' and Disney didn't come back for the last film Walden Media backed, thus the director and a ton of other stuff changed for Voyage of the Dawn Treader. But yeah, I was talking about Prince Caspian
I lost my best friend to a car crash when we were 12, and she had a lot of the same qualities as Leslie. The movie came out a couple years before she died, but I always used to watch it for comfort after because it reminded me so much of our friendship and really helped me while i was grieving. And if I am being honest, i'm always grieving her, and the rewatch value of this movie always hits home for me
hey… hope you’re okay. my condolences
Thank you for the kind words
that’s so sweet! i bet she’s so proud of you :)
i'm sending so much love your way oxox
F
This movie also helps show the process of grief through Jess. I haven’t watched this movie in so long since maybe I was a kid but I’ve lost friends in tragic accidents so it hits close to home
So bridge to terabithia is actually based on a true story about a family who very suddenly lost their daughter when they went to the beach and lightning struck and killed her, which just makes it even sadder
So a SandStorm
@@tedcomet3121 honestly don’t know, but I believe there was a thunderstorm and a freak lightning bolt hit her
This part I found this out last year I believe completely further impact it has in me now
If it was based on that, the movie would have been about her, not Jesse, that one part of the movie was inspired by it
@neonclouds9295 The reason it's all from Jesse's point of view is because the little girl was the childhood friend of the author of the book's son. The author didn't witness the girl's death but she witnessed the aftermath and watched/helped her son go through the grieving process.
Her death is so perfectly executed in that movie. It just happens, like snap of the fingers, that's it. It perfectly hits that spot where realism of sudden death clashes with the fact that this is the movie and it has incredible impact on you as a viewer.
Same with the movie One Day.
@@RealTalkWithSSG Haven't seen that so thanks for the tip
@@RealTalkWithSSGthat movie hit me when it hurts like really bad
@@GRIMHOOD99 There were a ton of hints and foreshadowing throughout. The rope would have eventually break because of wear and tear, not mention the fact that it's been there before even Jess and his family moved there. The mentioned the creek flooding and how dangerous it was, the fact Leslie couldn't swim in the movie (IIRC), Jess and Leslie's final goodbye being extremely dramatized and Jess looking ominously at Leslie's house as he departs with Miss Edmunds.
Also it's interesting how different men and women look back on this movie. Men praise the "realism" and "cynicism", while women talk about how "traumatized" from the movie and how they shipped Jess and Leslie. However cynical form of entertainment are *very* popular men nowadays, so it's not surprising.
honestly this film is just so good. the characters are so beautifully written. the bully is realistic, the teachers being concerned for Jess while he is grieving instead of being horrible towards him like some other fictional stories like to do. The parents and their growth. twisting the manic pixie dream girl trope on its head.... I dont know its just really well put together and emotionally driven
I was in my teens when this movie came out. And it was a huge kick to the head when the reveal of Leslie's death was so abrupt and completely taken aback from the entire theme of child wonder and suddenly punched in the throat with the depressing realization that horrible things will just happen in life and we have no power over these things happening but we need to be strong to overcome the pain of sudden loss.
I read this book when I was ten years old on the recommendation of my teacher (who did say it was maybe too grown up for me, but I didn't listen). This was the first time I really understood just how emotional a piece of art could be. As a lifelong reader, it holds a special place in my (only slightly traumatised) heart
The book hits you right in the gut. That death comes out of nowhere at all, just like irl.
I was about that age when my 6th grade teacher read it out loud to the entire class...
We read it in primary school as assigned reading, haha. Then the movie came out just after.
my mom had to comfort me while I was reading this in my bed around 10 yrs old. I was sobbing so hard.
I read this book in first grade and it made me want to become a writer.
My brother died like 3 years before I saw this as a kid and I had no idea what I was in for... to say this traumatized me as a kid is too kind. This movie was a part of my healing after the most difficult times I can remember. It hits to this day.
So sorry for your loss ✨🥺
My brother died a year before the movie came out. So I feel that, I reacted pretty similarly to Jess when my parents told me he died.
What wasn’t shown here was that Jess and his dad do actually have a close emotional moment when Jess runs off and properly breaks down about Leslie’s death and his dad had followed him. and whilst Jess cries about how he wished he invited Leslie on the trip, his dad holds him and comforts him.
What hits so hard also is the ‘tell, no showing’ of Leslie’s death. It’s just said. We relate to Jess’s grieving process and long denial period because it’s hard to process a death more when it’s not seen and comes out of nowhere. The movie gave us the news at the same time Jess got it, and first time watchers would still be expecting it to be a trick and that Leslie will walk right back through the door. The movie then gives us a good amount of time to realise this is indeed happening.
We read and watched Bridge to Terabithia in 7th grade English. Did Boy in the Striped pajamas in 8th. Our English teachers just wanted middle school to be that much more depressing I guess
us it was 5thbridge to terabithia, 6th percy jackson, 7th the outsiders, 8th the hunger games and the boy in the striped pijamas. i swear they want us to develop issues
Personally I think the teacher taking Jess on a trip to the museum shows that she pays attention to Jess and how he gets bullied, and she knows he likes to draw.
Especially in a small rural seeming town. If basically everyone knows everyone else, or most everyone else, there would be no problems with letting your child go on what amounts to a school trip outside of school hours!
Yea but that’s still creepy and inappropriate 😭
If it’s creepy for a male teacher and a female student, then it’s creepy for a female teacher and a male student
@@NaishiYTright?? That scene always made me feel weird
He'll be drawing her like one of his French girls soon enough.
The author says "It grew out of a friendship which my son David had with a little girl named Lisa Hill. And they were wonderful friends for the second grade. And the summer after they both turned eight years old, Lisa was struck and killed by lightning. And it was out of those horrendous events that I began to try to make sense out of something that made no sense to me whatsoever."
the son helped the screen play for this
Oh my gosh. That makes a lot of sense. So sad.
The way her death was so unexpected was just the perfect way to portray death. No matter how much you try to expect it, its just always unexpected
There's a scene in Buffy the Vampire Slayer where Buffy's mom dies, and her friend Tara empathizes with her because she lost her mom some years back. Buffy asks her, "Was it sudden?" and Tara answers "It's always sudden" -- and this always stuck with me. Your comment reminded me of that incredible scene again, thank you
Man this movie stuck with me ever since i was a kid, i remember after Leslie died i teared up a lot and to this day the movie remains to be that only movie that actually made me tear up
This movie left me crying for an entire hour when I was a child. I literally could not stop crying. I remember calling my mom to tell her I had watched Terabithia and she consoled me the best she could. I've never cried harder at anything in my life.
I read this book in 6th grade and since I procrastinated I was left crying alone in the middle of the night when I reached that part. But probably the hardest thing was when my own child had to read it and I couldn't spoil it for her so I just had to wait and try to console her because I knew what was coming!
I watched the movie but I put it on because I couldn't sleep so I also ended up crying alone in the middle of the night.
Brother why on earth would you let your child touch that? 😭😭
The book hurts way more than the movie, I remember reading this and no other death has come close to Leslie
Use me as a “this movie traumatized me as a child” button lol
Considering that it's based on a book from the 70s and was required reading in schools in the 80s...the people who created the trailers for this knowing kids from 2007 had no clue have a special place in hell. They know what they did.
I watched it when I was 11. I'm 27 and I'm still not over it.
Most definitely, even though I'd read the book in advance, it was still heartbreaking knowing what would happen to Leslie.
Use you? 🤨
I was 9 watching it in theaters on a school field trip. First movie I remember crying over. And still love it to this day. 🖤
man just watching this brought back the tears, this movie broke me as a kid.
Moral of the Story: Invite your friends to the art museum or else they might drown
or just don't form attachments to anyone because they die anyway. at least that's what the movie did to me, or rather deepened this kind of trauma. took me until my early 20s to recover
@@JayFolipurba Nope. Invite your friends to the art museum or else they WILL suffer a very dramatic death in a very specific river even though it’s only like three feet deep even if there was a flood in the book your very existence is based on
@@JustACactus616 presumably she hit her head on the bottom and was unconscious, that's why she drowned (irrespective of the depth)
@@eveningstar2735 maybe if you woulda invited her she wouldn’t die it’s all your fault now
@@JustACactus616 you're so right :( however will I atone for this grievous crime
It's truly incredible how well the tonal shift occurs. It really emphasizes how everything can change in a second and i think that's why this movie is so ingrained into every kids mind.
This movie holds a large place in my heart. When I was 15 I was put into foster care and I went to a group home because my grandparents didn’t want to take me in. While I was in the group home I read the book a few times in a row and since then the book has been a comfort to me despite being very sad.
Damn man you had it hard 😢
I hope you are doing okay now ❤
My heart broke at 12 years old when I first watched this movie… and it still aches watching this video. The pain takes a back seat but it never goes away.
This movie is a landmark for me in recognizing the humanity in people, and the importance of a creative childhood. The relationship between Jess and his little sister particularly hits home for me, in that I too once reached an age where hanging out with my little sister was the last thing I wanted to do, despite how much she admired and needed me, and I learned to still include her. Them helping the school bully let go of some of her insecurities, even if unintentionally, is also sweet. It shouldn’t have taken Leslie passing for Jess’s dad to realize how much Jess needed a father figure to be present with him emotionally, but he did finally make some progress. The abrupt tonal shift of Leslie’s death is so painfully real. Most of the time in real life, you don’t get this sixth sense thing telling you something is gonna go horribly wrong. You can even be having the best day ever, and it can suddenly turn into the worst one.
Honestly, props to the book for not foreshadowing it at all. Because in hindsight, swinging on a random rope you found in the woods is dangerous, but it's just a fun thing to do for 2 kids.
I do. And I lost a friend and I feel like if I listened to that voice, maybe he would still be here. He was such a sweet soul. He was really helpful, nice, sweet. I feel so awful for his wife! He committed suicide and I just knew he was going through something. I just didn't know he would do that. I didn't know he was depressed but I could feel it. I don't know. I have a good ability to sense things like that. Not saying I'm psychic or anything but I personally can tell. Even with my pets I knew when they were going to go. It comes on as a thought and feeling. Just an overall thought or feeling that's not directed at anything. Sometimes it's specific, it all depends. I use this sixth sense a lot to guide me and to help me. I will even know who's calling me even when I don't expect a phone call and sometimes I even know why. I don't know. Again, I'm not saying I'm psychic but I get a lot of different feelings and thoughts.
@@wintermoon7003 I totally get you! I said most of the time that sixth sense doesn’t kick in, but there are definitely moments when it does. Especially with pets, they will let you know in their own way when it’s time. I once got a call from my dad updating me about my grandma, who had achieved remission from cancer, that she’d had a dizzy spell and they were monitoring her overnight, but didn’t expect anything. I immediately booked a flight to her, landed that night, and had my last talk with her the next morning, before I had to go back to school. She died less than 2 days later. I can’t explain how I knew. But I did. And I’m glad I got that last moment with her. She fought so hard.
That’s wonderful that you learned to include your little sister. It’s so important, even when kids are at an age where they don’t wish to❤️ God bless✝️❤️
In the book it's strongly implied that the reason Jess' father is so distant is that he suspects him of being gay while he's homophobic...
As a kid I was enamored with Leslie, her death haunted me like I knew her personally
Saw this movie when I was a little kid and it broke me every time. Had a friend that was exactly like Leslie. Would go on crazy adventures and explore. Mapped out our entire neighborhood, built a treehouse in the forest, did so much. Friendship just kinda faded over the years. Didn’t go to the same school, different friend groups, just stopped hanging out. Now that we are adults everyone is independent. Wish I could go back
You would be suprised at how many people feel the same way.
A lost friendship is only a phonecall away, lets just say that.
Give it a try, if anything it will help with the nostalgia.
So far I’ve not regretted reaching out to old friends (who simply drifted apart with no bad blood) to just say “Hey, I was just thinking of the good old days. I had so much fun doing [X]. Hope you’re doing well!” Or something like that. It seems like a very low pressure way to reach out. The other person can just respond politely or keep the conversation going if they choose. YMMV but we usually end up having a pleasant interaction at the very least.
It's the old stand by me thing: Nobody has friends like when they were 12.
I watched this movie as a kid and it was my first experience with death that I really felt it. Obviously I had one of my grandparents passing away when I was a kid, but since we weren't close and I was barely 8/9 yo when it happened I kinda didn't feel the grief. This movie helped me to understand grief and how it is to lose someone for real and suddenly, I managed to appreciate my other grandparents that were alive and be more grateful for the time we would have together.
I remember my mom letting me rent this from the video store as a "treat" because to make up for something she and her boyfriend did. I went in thinking this movie would be so good and it would make up for a horrible day... boy, was I wrong. I loved the movie but literally cried my eyes out over it. I still cry every time I watch it.
Oh man that's a double whammy of childhood trauma right there
I wonder what your mom and boyfriend did
they wanted to take my brother and I on a "quick" walk in the woods and we ended up getting lost for a few hours.@@frozenlicks
You're right. This became a really depressing movie. My siblings and i cried for like, an hour.
Leslie's death was really sad, but it was actually more realistic being so blunt and sudden. That's how life is.
And yes, we need more movies that are "for families"
[A] I'm surprised you never talked about how Terabithia's Dark Master was actually Jess' father. He tried as hard as he could to run from it, but it didn't matter. Eventually, he couldn't outrun him anymore, and he realized that his father still loved him. It took all that pain and loss to make Terabithia into a better place, as his little sister inherited a prettier, purer, one. Now, there was no chance that May Belle would suffer in it.
[B] To this day, I will remember Jess breaking Scott Hoager's face. That brooding rage, and subsequent discussion with his teacher was the best part of that movie, hands down. It was the reason I studied Education in University. I know how both of them feel, far too much.
For me it was Jess looking forward to people treating him well/different for his loss, then immediately feeling guilty for thinking that.
i remember that fight well. i cheered.
I still haven’t watch movie but rip Leslie everyone needs a friend like here around her optimism
Man, i had a part time job cleaning cinema rooms when this movie debuted, Never have seen so many kids crying or parents taking off before they fully realized what just happened with Leslie's death. even watching this video now hits kind of hard (forgot how well performed is too. If it is was a crappy actuation u might joke about it, but is so well done is devastating...)
Parents taking off before they realized what happened? Can you elaborate? Like, they'd leave out of boredom while Leslie was still alive?
@DayleDiamond yeah a little confusing.
Probably before their kids realized the girl had died so they don’t have to deal with a crying kid
@@ashesandposies Exept that it comes out of nowhere, they'd have to teleport mid sentence.
@@DayleDiamond lol true
I really felt sad for jess’s younger sister. Besides leslie, she was the only one who wanted to hang out with him and support him. He even followed him and Leslie because she just wanted to hang out with them and have friends.
I am glad she got to be the next person to be part of their world.
That's just how it often is. Young sibling just wants to hang out and have fun.
Older sibling thinks being to old for playing withyounger sibling, but is not mature enough to understand the value in doing it.
When both are older this can get better. (Did with my older brother and me. 5 years between us.)
It is precious, but also so sad, because his maturity comes from loss.
I remember being so absolutely shocked. And waiting for her to miraculously reappear, as happens so often in movies... but she didn't. And then a monster was chasing him through the woods, but turns it out was his dad...
they did that really well
we were waiting her to show up out of nowhere and say this is a prank or she just got lost somehow
and that’s EXACTLY how jess feels too
This movie actually helped me because my friend and his family died in a horrible car accident. I cried, I raged. I broke everything around me that a 10 year old could. I never let it go until I understood that it is me keeping their memories alive.
watching this as a kid hits way harder. we viewers are expected to go through the same emotions the main charecter go through after the death of Leslie. this shit is just depressing man, I'll always put it on my top 10 list of movies that changed my life.
it definitely hits hard as a kid, but honestly, as an adult myself it still does. especially since adults are more likely to have experienced sudden loss like this and it's all of a sudden something you can actually relate to
I'm a 17 year old guy and when i watched this movie for the first time a month or so back, I've never cried at a movie like I did watching it. Bawled for 30 minutes after it ended. Heartbreaking movie.
I am glad I am not the only one. I think I was about 17 at the time when I watched it. I hadn't heard anything about the movie and rented it from blockbuster thinking it was something like Narnia. Never cried so hard in my life up to that point. Here I am now a 33 year old man and I still tear up thinking about it.
Man you should read the book. It's gut wrenching
Rey the book thief next.
@@aennith5422I have. 😢
As someone who’s studying to be a teacher and now knows that you should strive to keep a professional boundary between you and your students, the scene where Jess’ teacher calls him up to take him to the museum (without his parents’ knowledge) makes my skin crawl. Nothing bad happened (to Jess) but it’s still REALLY not okay.
As an adult now, that part is alarming. It is eye-opening and shows that parents should never neglect their kids. This whole movie shows that parents should never neglect their kids.
The 70's was wild
@@RichOrElsethat's not when this takes place though is it? The teacher mentions no electronics or downloading stuff from the Internet. I only saw the movie once so I can't remember.
@@PinkSakuraBunnie The story was written in the 70s.
@@PinkSakuraBunnie The original novel from were the movie was adapted from takes place during the 70's though the movie seems to around the late 90's or early 00's, so I can understand why her conduct would appeared innapropiate by today's standards. Like they say context is key when looking back at history.
We watched this in my class in 5th grade and I didn't remember anything but as soon as I saw that rope...
I remember when I saw this movie for the first time, how absolutely brutal it was. Unbelievable directing. Visceral. Emotional. Incredible. Grounded in reality and stunning. I teared up just watching your video and remembering how he goes through the depression.
I don't think there was a movie I cried as much watching as a kid as Bridge to Terabithia. First time I saw it I didn't even realize that Terabithia was just something they had imagined (didn't help that all the trailers made it seem like Chronicles of Narnia) and I kept waiting for it to be revealed that Leslie had been kidnapped by the dark master or something, which made that scene in the woods with Jess and his father just devastating. Heck, every stage Jess was going through (denial, anger, guilt, and then finally acceptance) hit so hard.
Looking back, I don't think the third act is as tonally jarring as people make it out to be. The news of Leslie's death comes seemingly out of nowhere, yes, but that's how death works and even in the first two acts of the film there's a lot of heavier stuff hidden beneath the whimsy (poverty, neglect, Jess's dad taking out his frustrations of Jess, etc). Heck, at one point Jess and Leslie are literally discussing religion and hell.
I think that's why I loved the book so much too. It's very real. And realistic that a dangerous mode of play would happen with kids who have neglectful parents.
I remember reading this book by myself, then as a class In Middle school. When we got the part where Leslie dies, we had a substitute teacher, and I remember him saying I don’t want to hear talking only tears. Everyone thought he was joking, untill we started reading it. I knew it was coming but it still made me sad, and everyone else was too. I remember watching the movie and hating how different it was. But now, even watching this review, even thinking about it makes me literally tear up. This book was really impactful for me, and is even more so now. I also think that the part where she dies not being the ending is really impactful. Like it shows the grief that he’s dealing with, and how he deals with that as a middle schooler. I really like this book, and looking back, I was probably to harsh on the movie.
Oh god. I would hate to be that sub. I recently had to sub for a class that was reading The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and they were right at the end of the book. I had to read the worst part with them and I was sobbing so hard. It’s really tough when you don’t know the kids and you’re reading an emotional book. Plus half of them didn’t really understand what had happened as it’s all in the subtext and their reading comprehension skills weren’t great, so I had to explain it while my heart was shattering. Ugh, just awful.
I just showed this to my 12 year old daughter...still made me bawl when...you know what happens.😭 she was too pure for this world!
even though it's been years since I've seen the movie and read the book, this story has absolutely cemented itself in my brain as one of my favorites. it's fantastical, fun, and terribly sad, and both versions handle it so well. like others have said, there's no easing you into it, she just dies and all of the magic and joy you had throughout the first part just completely evaporates into grief. you and Jesse both mourn her loss and have to figure out what to do next. it's a phenomenal story about life and death and growing up and it was one of my favorites as a kid - I'm so glad you enjoyed it!
This was probably the first movie that left me sad after watching it. I was little and the idea of death was not fully understood by me. I knew people died but I thankfully never experienced losing someone close at the time so when Leslie dies I was just so lost and remember silently praying for all that to be a dream for Jess. Watching it again as an adult makes you understand if someone you adore isn't in your life anymore, life doesn't end for you. You still continue and make the best out of what you have. Appreciate what's around you. Man, why am i tearing up writing this? Thanks for the video and its been a while since a shed a tear or two so thanks for that as well
Definitely related to life doesn’t end for you part. I lost a good friend senior year of high school, the concept of me celebrating completing school with prom, graduation, etc, felt so wrong, how could I be happy and celebration while he had just passed away?
No i dont think i could go on. Its not that life has ended but the absence of the person. Its too great a sorrow.
This movie broke me when I first saw it, it is such a beautiful movie. Something that hit me real hard was that we can see how Jess doesn't have a strong connection with his dad at all, and tries to connect with him, and in the end of the movie when everything breaks for Jess, after Leslie's death, his dad comforts him. He really needed that from his dad and I think his dad needed that too. Such good writing!
The ending was realistic and not adjusted to be like a "movie." It really shows that this is the true nature and aspect of our very life, unpredictability and suprised.
I remember watching the movie and crying so hard when Leslie died that my mom refused to let me watch it after that because of how long it took me to calm down. It was so intense and as a child who had never lost someone at that point the concept of death hit me hard.
When Jesse went to the museum and didn’t invite Leslie I thought, “Well that sucks, hopefully he hangs out with her later.” I had a feeling that something bad was going to happen, but not her death, I was so devastated bro. I was a kid when I first watched the movie and man did it bother me, especially today remembering it. Also I just read a theory on Reddit about how it could’ve been a suicide and now I’m even more heartbroken for her. Add the fact that this death was inspired by the Author’s son’s friend dying, makes this story so tragic.
From what I read, I believe the author's son had a best friend who suddenly died from a lightning strike at a beach. This makes me think that the author intended for Leslie's death to be an accident because it was inspired by a real-life death that was an accident. Plus, I believe the rope was old and getting weaker with every swing.
To make things worse later that same year I was watching csi New York with the laughing man eddy. And the poor guy in that movie also lost his best friend Sam by drowning in a river. It just re reminded me of Leslie, and I so wished the killer in that episode actually got rid of the laughing man cause his product literally killed someone
@@dynogamergurl I almost drowned at a local pool when I was young. Luckily, a life guard saved me. Kids die from accidents all the time, so I am glad that this movie does not sugarcoat death.
So we actually read the book in my middle school English class (I think it was 6th grade) and I actually thought the same thing. I figured it was a bit less accidental and more... sadly purposeful..
@@starsiadrawsshe was not a depressed child so I don’t know how you guys be thinking it was intentional
I'll never forget, many moons ago, my teacher reading this to us in 2nd grade. He would read a chapter a day, and we were so enthralled with it. But when it got to the ending, it was like wrenching your guts out. It still feels like that seeing this movie. I do feel like it's a shame to miss out on reading the book.
I got to this one in 4th/5th grade. I'd read all the Narnias, and the Hobbit, Lloyd Alexander. Not LotR yet.
I hold this movie so close to my heart having lost one of my friends when we were 11. That one last scene of leslie always destroys me, it brings an almost hopeless feeling because you know what happens next but you just can't stop it. Her death is so blunt and unexpected and I think that is what carries to most weight, it just feel so realistic, to the point where I literally bruised my eye from crying so hard while rewatching the movie and seeing that last shot of her. They also did an amazing job when showing Jess trying to cope with the grief, it hits SO hard.
Watched this movie ONE TIME when it first came out and I’m still traumatized 😩😩😅
I've been looking for this film forever!
I watched it once as a kid and never learned what it was called
I sorta thought it was a just a dream but no, here it is
I only remember the bridge scene, the cool monsters, and crying heavily at the end
I’m glad you found it!!
The thing that bugged me the most about this film as a kid was the marketing. Me and my mom both love fantasy so we went to watch it in the theatre together, but like halfway in we were disappointed that it wasn't actually a fantasy film. All the trailers, posters etc make it seem like Terabithia is real and not just something the kids made up, it made my first watch of the film a bit awkward for lack of a better word.
I remember even when I first watched it being really weirded out that it wasn’t one. One of the final shots of the trailer (from what I remember) is Jess punching a monster with a gauntlet. It was so jarring.
Yes THIS! The trailer made it seem like a “Narnia” sort of and like it was going to be a happy upbeat movie. The shock of her death really struck me as a child and my mom was messed up about it too since she lost her brother as a child too.
I remember renting it out on VHS to watch with my kids when they were young. We thought it would be a happy fantasy movie, we really didn't enjoy it. It's not a bad film, I just don't get why they marketed it that way.
My little brother watched this when he was already feeling really depressed, we put it on thinking it would be a nice uplifting fantasy movie.. he was scarred 🥺 he was like 6-7
When I was younger, I remember genuinely believing that Terabithia existed, at least in the movie’s sense. That they really did escape to some fantasy world, and that his dad really was lying when he said that Leslie had died. I remember thinking that, man, she must be in teribithia somewhere, just waiting for him… I so desperately clinged to every hint of her, even if I wasn’t the smartest as an 8 year old. I tried to come up with ANY explanation as to how she could be alive in my head… I even momentarily believed that the shadow monster had become her, that jess was going to meet her when he was seeing the shadow monster, or that the shadow monster had hidden her somewhere, somehow. Anything. In my little kid brain, by the end of the movie, I thought that she lived in the forest still, that she was just around the corner in every step somebody took. I think somebody can get a very cynical view about this all when they realize that terabithia was really just in the kid’s heads… that Leslie really *did* die. A lot of people consider maturing to be the adoption of that viewpoint, of a simple: “this and/or that” kinda deal. A direct grappling with real life. But, I don’t believe maturing to be that… in a way, terabithia really *was* real. And that’s the real beauty of this. I think the moral of the story wasn’t death and dealing with it but rather an emphasis on growing up without losing the special traits of seeing things differently- imagination. Imagination is much more powerful then seemingly “Mature” people take it up to be. Even kiddish imagination, wild dreams… it can resurrect a dead soul, just as it can keep Leslie alive in that forest. Consider the fake it till you make it saying. Many people, especially those who consider themselves mature, don’t consider that to be true… not really. They don’t think that you can just fake something and then for it to be real, to have meaning. That’s the point of this movie. To not lose that.
This was one of my first tragic movies as a kid...a whole range of emotions for sure.
reading this book as a kid in class made me realize how powerful stories really are. and the movie does the book justice. still makes me cry to this day
The movie still makes me cry, it hits very close to home, I lost a friend at a young age and I understand what it feels like living with regret, wishing you could of done something differently so the outcome would be different. I believe a lot of us have that feeling wishing we had a Time Machine and could go back and rewrite our history and mistakes. It’s very rare for a movie to be almost as good as the book. This is Based on a true story..somewhat at least. The authors son lost his best friend to a lightning strike. And what he went through kinda not wanting to face the fact that they are gone forever… well depending on what you believe at least. As I grew older, I learned to accept the past for what it is, that nothing can be changed and the best you can do is live your life to the fullest as the people you have lost along the way would have wanted you to. Great video
Josh Hutcherson has had the same size head his whole life
One part of the movie I actually find pretty interesting, is that after Leslie dies from the old rope breaking and falling into the river (increased by the storm the night prior), Jess finds that a tree happened to have broken and fallen right next to the broken rope, almost as a second-chance bridge that's (while slippery thanks to the rain) a more sturdy way across to their escape to fantasy.
The real event that inspired this book, has the author's son's best friend die suddenly, but because of a lightning strike instead of drowning. The same occurrence that seems to have made the tree-bridge in the movie.
Such a heartfelt little touch and love letter to the real kid💗
The book originally came out in the 70's I believe, that's why the scene with the teacher taking Jess to the museum is in the movie as well. People weren't as worried about stranger danger at that point in time and rules about how teachers interacted with their students were more lenient.
Man, I was in High School when I watched this movie. I thought it was going to be a fantasy flick like Narnia and other movies but I was mistaken. I remember really liking Leslie as a character because she reminded me of myself when I was younger. Loving fantasy and always doing my best to brighten up everyone's day around me that I could. When her death was revealed it was a shock to my parents and I. We certainly weren't expecting it to go that dark and there was a lot of tears shed. I might have to revisit it now that I'm older and would have a more appreciation for it. Thanks for reviewing this movie, it brought back some good memories.
This movie destroyed me emotionally as a child. I watched this once and refused to even click anything with the name until today. Had nightmares of the trees and stuff for like 3 weeks after. I can Remember the emotions of this show so vividly despite it coming out so long ago. Now, as an adult, watching this episode to convince myself the movie wasn’t as bad as I remembered. I’m now in my feelings once again as my body remembers every emotion of every scene, especially after the 3rd act …. The mood and theme of this movie got so dark SO fast with no warning that it was gonna be a sad movie. I’m pretty sure this movie traumatized an insane amount of children on it’s release…… that being said, The screen writing and cinematography was actually wayyyyyy better than movies and cartoons we get today because like wtf was WISH and all these live adaptation movies ?