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Katherine Paterson's Newberry-winning novel, Bridge to Terabithia, is one of the most frequently challenged children's books of all time. The 1977 pseudo-fantasy was infamous for its tragic third act as well as (relatively) strong language and mature philosophical ideas and themes. Unfortunately, Gabor Csupo's 2007 film adaption has little of the book's spirit. Despite boasting a screenplay co-written by the author's son, David L. Paterson, Bridge to Terabithia is a neutered, toothless version of its superior source material. It all feels so harmless and saccharine in its construction, to the point where the filmmakers seem genuinely uncomfortable in addressing the critical events in the last third. The result is a film that's about dealing with loss, which may be helpful when trying to cope with your wasted 95 minutes.

Jesse Aarons is a depressed eighth grader from a poor, country family. He loves to draw, but finds little support for his work at home. But when a odd new girl named Leslie Burke moves in next door, the two begin a friendship and create an imaginary world to escape from the stresses of life and the bullies at school.

The construction of the film is totally perfunctory and mechanical. Thinly-written characters are given obvious introductions to indicate their personalities without wasting much thought. More than a half-dozen pop/rock song-led montages fluff up the runtime. The whole affair feels completely soulless and thoughtless. It's a safe, corporate approved family film, and in spite of whatever problems the source material had, no one could give it those labels.

The third act is botched almost beyond repair. Though it contains the film's best scene (a touching moment between father and son in the woods), it handles the weighty material clumsily, lacking the gracefulness that was so desperately needed. There are three separate scenes where an adult takes Jesse aside and says something supposedly poignant about the current situation while Aaron Zigman's intrusive score starts screaming "cry already!" at the audience. It's all so poorly judged and borderline tasteless.

Josh Hutcherson and AnnaSophia Robb (as Jesse and Leslie respectively) are okay, but their scenes playing pretend in the woods are absolutely cringe-inducing. Bailee Madison makes for an admittedly adorable supporting character as Jesse's younger sister, and Zooey Deschanel is likable in a small role as one of Jesse's teachers. The rest of the cast is fine, but the lousy script puts a very low ceiling on their performances.

Csuop has essentially crafted a What's Eating Gilbert Grape-esque film, except it's for kids and it's terrible. Though only 95 minutes long, Bridge to Terabithia is frightfully dull and lacking the strong characters and genuineness it needs to function. Everybody involved seems to misunderstand the material. Even the last scene, ending with obnoxious CGI, overly triumphant musical accompaniment, and abruptly transitioning to the credits accompanied by pop/rock tunes gives no sense of recognition of the significant events that had just occurred. It feels as though the filmmakers wanted the audience (particularly the children) to forget about all the sadness and leave happy and ignorant. It's an insult to a book that was already somewhat overrated anyway.

Score: 3/10