Jess is a boy with a brilliant imagination, he enjoys running and drawing, and like many 11 year olds, hates doing his chores. When Leslie, a new girl in his class, moves in nextdoor they reluctantly become friends - Well she had beaten everyone in his year in a running race - a race he should have won.

It isn't long before they become best of friends and after discovering a rope swing in the forrest enter the imaginary kingdom of Terabithia, where they rule and fight against all kinds of creatures including goblins, trolls and other creatures of their imagination.

This is a really nice film. It reminded me of the games I used to play when I was young and the adventures that we had.

Spoilers follow...

I was convinced that at some point there would be a cross-over and that somehow it would be revealed that it did actually exist outside of their imaginations, especially after the rope swing incident. It surprised me that they would cover death in this film - usually something that Disney shy away from.

It shows just how well they had introduced the characters though, as to how sad that moment was. Being the kind of film that it is, I expected the twist to be that the person was found in Terabithia having been kidnapped or something...

If you remember anything of this charming little movie it might well be Leslie's campaign chant - 'Free to pee!'

see also:
Arthur Christmas, Up, Flushed Away, Cloudy with a chance of meatballs

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photo © Disney.