I Think I May Be Losing It...

Yesterday, the youngest blonde boy and I went to see Bridge to Terabithia. It is now a movie from Disney based on the Newberry Medal Award winning novel by Katherine Paterson. I've never read the book (that will be come obvious in a minute), but the movie was great.

Here's the basic story:

Jess Aarons had to be the Fastest runner at Lark Creek Elementary School, the best, but when he was challenged by Leslie Burke, a girl, that was just the beginning of a new season in Jess's life. Leslie and her parents were new comers to the rural community where Jess Lived, and were thought to be a bit odd, for they didn't even own a TV, though their house was filled with books. Some-what to Jess's surprise, he and Leslie became friends, and the worlds of imagination and learning that she opened to him changed him for ever. It was Leslie's idea to create Terabithia, their secret Kingdom in the woods where they reigned supreme. There no enemy - not their teacher Monster Mouth Meyers, their schoolmates Gary Fulcher and Janice Avery, Jess's Four sisters, or even Jess's own fears and Leslie's imaginary foes - could defeat them.

Essentially, the story is about two dreamers, two artists caught in a world not of their choosing who use their art to create a world of beauty and wonder and hope that provides a welcome respite from the crush of reality. It is a really beautiful story about these two great kids and the friendship the form.

One of the things I loved about the movie was the limited use of CG. Sure, it was sprinkled throughout, but it was used sparingly. After all, the whole point is that the kids were using their imagination.

***SPOILER ALERT***

So, if you don't know the story, toward the end of the story, Leslie dies. Just like that... she's gone. I thought this was a Disney movie. Oh yeah... I remember... I think Disney also released Where the Red Fern Grows and Old Yeller. How could I have been so blind?

***END SPOILER***

So I'm in this theater with my 6-year-old, thankful that there are only 13 other people in this massive room, and I am weeping.

Check that. I am crying. Let me be a little more specific. I am just on the verge of going into UGLY CRY. My face is drenched. Snot is running out of my nose. I know that I must have looked like a lunatic!

So there it is. The beginning of my slide into insanity. I look forward to my padded room with the little window that people look in and say things like, "How sad... He had so much going for him... What happened." To which the doctors in the white lab coats will reply, "He went to see Bridge to Terabithia."

All that said: Go see the movie.