Maybe "Bridge to Terabithia" was a passable book, but that doesn't mean it makes a good movie. Unfortunately, since that little devil spawn called "Harry Potter" came out, every producer in Hollywood is digging up some otherwise unknown children's book in hopes of cashing in on the Potter craze and all those gullible little tykes who might drag their parents to any old children's film that rolls out.

Turning this book into a movie turns out to be a bad idea because the fantasy is imagined and even the kids in the story recognize that they are only using their imagination to pass the time. Director Gabor Csupo struggles mightily trying to remain true to the book yet putting in enough CGI to keep all those illiterate children from falling asleep. Those boys and girls don't read for a reason. They've got directors like Csupo filling in the gaps for them. Who needs an imagination when you can get somebody else to provide one for you?

The story is about a poor kid named Jesse (Josh Hutcherson) who gets made fun of at school because of his family's social status. His father (Robert Patrick) is a farmer. I say grow the fuck up, Jess. Who didn't get made fun of? Who wasn't bullied? Somebody was always making fun of somebody for something. Anyway, Jesse has no friends, but finally finds one in the new girl, Leslie Burke (AnnaSophia Robb), who likes the same things Jesse does. They start hanging out together and going into the forest near their houses and imagining that they're the inhabitants of the secret world of Terabithia, which on the scale of interesting fantastical places is way behind the Shire and slightly ahead of wherever the hell "Eragon" took place.

In case you're a parent, you should be prepared to escort your crying child from the theater toward the end when the story delivers a wallop to the gut. Without giving anything away, Jesse learns to be nicer to his sister and they agree that they will be King and Princess of Terabithia together, which seemed slightly incestuous to me.