Anybody READ Bridge to Taribithia?

POSSIBLE SPOILER NEAR THE END.
I have been seeing tons of comercials for this movie recently, and I still remembering reading this book as a child. I was traumatized by it. When I first watched the clips I was thinking "they are totally misrepresenting this movie." Now, the more I see, the more I'm wondering if they've just completely changed the plot/ending. I won't give away a lot, but if you don't want any hints as to how the book ends, don't read any further.
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>The trailer makes it look like another "Narnia." but I would compare the book more with the movie "My Girl."
The book has a very sad, depressing ending. If the movie is the same, I really don't want to take my girls to it, but they are making it look so cool in the commercials. Has anybody else read the book and knows what I mean, and has anyone heard anything about them changing the ending. After all, the Little Mermaid story is completley different from how they made the Disney movie, so maybe this will be the same.

I've read the book and I too was confused by the trailers I've been seeing.

I've never read it but my kids have read it in school, and both have protested when they see the movie ads that it looks nothing like the book at all. I usually read their books just to keep up with them and discuss but that is one I never got around to and now I'm sorry I didn't.

I, too, am quite confused by the trailers and tv spots for this film. I took my cousing to see Deck the Halls, and after the preview for Terebithia I turned to her (she's 13 and has read the book recently) and she looked just as confused as I did! I don't think I'll go see it. There was a version made in the 80's I remember watching in school that was exactly like the book.

So could someone pm me if this book is ok for an 11 year old boy? He just finished Eragon and loved it. So much so that he wrote a short story simillar to it.

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Originally Posted by offwego

So could someone pm me if this book is ok for an 11 year old boy? He just finished Eragon and loved it. So much so that he wrote a short story simillar to it.

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Absolutely. I read it as an independent study in Grade 4. It is a tear jerker for sure. It is a Newberry award winner.

I was confused by the trailers too!?? I wonder if the story has been changed..?

My sixteen year old daughter read it when she was younger. When we saw the trailer on TV last night she remarked that she really hated the book as it was too sad and had an awful ending. She is a voracious reader and always has been. I don't know if she read it too young or was just too tenderhearted at the time. There are not many books that she puts in the "hated it" catagory but this was one of them.

Today I read an interview with the author who made it clear that this movie did stick to it's original ending. I really thought they'd distorted it by the trailers. There are going to be a lot of mad parents out there when they think they are taking there kids to yet another fantasy movie and end up with a gigantic dose of tragedy. I've been warning everybody that I know.

I have been confused by the commercials, as well. They seem to be really highlighting the fantasy elements of the book (when the characters are pretending), but that did not seem to me to be the central theme of the book. Anyway, that is one of the saddest books I've ever read, and I have no desire to see the movie.

Hmm, Disney movie with fanciful characters and unnecessary deaths. Yup, a winning formula if I ever heard one. Supposedly this is something Walt would have endorsed if you read some of the books about him. He had a theory that the loss of a loved one and pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps was good entertainment. Seems to have worked for 50 years.

My son just brought this book home from the school library. Can someone PM me and tell me what is so tragic about it? It's been a tough year for my son and I don't want to add to it. Thanks for any help.

I PM'ed you, merlinmagic4...

I totally agree with the comments here. I was very upset when I read this book as a child, and the commercials make me want to see the movie, but not after recalling the ending. I think I will pass...

I read it for a sixth grade summer reading project a while ago and I find no problem with the movie. When I saw the trailer, my sister(who also read the book) and I were wondering the same thing. I hope its a different ending, because I thought it was depressing, I would have no problem with a different ending, I mean a movie is just a movie..

From what I am reading on the internet, the film stays very faithful to the book. They seem to just be playing up the "fantasy" part in the commercials.

Thanks for starting this thread, Niecyboo. Not being familiar with the story, I would have taken my boys to see this movie based on the previews. Now I'm rethinking.

Yes, thanks for starting this thread and thanks to those who pm'd me. We'll be skipping this one.

Oh boy, my Ds (11) just brought the book home today from school. It seems this is their next book to read in reading class. (5th grade). His teacher says they will see the movie in class when it comes out on video. (Which I can't imagine coming out soon, or even before June?) They just got done reading "Where the Red Fern Grows"- He REALLY cried at that one at the end! What is it with such sad endings? Thanks for the heads up, at least I have an idea on what's coming!

I guess I'm diffrent I read the book in 4th grade and several times after that. I loved it. (I still own a copy at 26 years old). It is sad but that stuff happens in real life. Just ask my 15 year old cousin what happend in his life last year.

I don't know if I want to see the movie cause i don't want to ruin the book. I may go check it out anyways.

I just finished reading this book and I was shocked! No one had disclosed even a bit of the ending to me and I apparently had not completely read this thread. From what I was seeing in the commercials for the movie I was thinking fantasy but in the book there is really very little of the fantasy thing going on. I was actually (at 36) crying in the car waiting for Ty to come out of Tae-kwan-do when I finished this book. It was a great book, I hope the movie was not altered in any way.

I am equation it with the book "A Walk To Remember". That was a tear jerker but the movie left me dry eyed and wondering how someone reads such a great book and thinks to themselves that they want to see it on the big screen but then remove all of the stuff that make is a great book.

I hope this was not done to Bridge. Oh, and I am pushing my 8 year old son to read it also. He loves to read. At 8 I think he is old enough to understand and feel what he is meant to feel by reading it but young enough to have it be a positive thing for him rather than a negative thing.

I read it in 5th grade and that was probably about 15 years ago. From what I remember about the book and what I saw on the trailer I'm really confused, so I asked my little brother and he even told me he was confused by the trailer too. But then again, not all movies are exactly like the book.

My Ds just finished the book recently, and his reading group actually just went on a field trip to see it in the theater (to compare the two). He actually said he thought the movie was better than the book. He was surprised by how good it was. And he never says that! He liked how they added a bit of fantasy to the movie. The book doesn't really have much fantasy to speak of, so it was a nice addition. Still sad, though. He was so cute, he said in his head "just look away from the screen, just look away from the screen..." when it got sad at the end. (Had to be cool, you know, no crying for this boy in front of his friends!)