Bridge To Terabithia- Awakening a Child's Imagination

Kids these days seem to have a lack of imagination. This is mainly because they don't do much more than play Playstations, and Nintendo's, and computers and such. I'm not against these inventions, as I play around with them, myself, but kids are allowed too much time with these things.

I remember being young, and all I wanted to do was go outside! I didn't care if it was sunny, raining, snowing, POURING WITH WINDS EXCEEDING 100mph! I had (and still do have) a vivid imagination, full of far away lands where I was the "fairy queen", or the "princess of .....", and nothing was going to change that. Not then- Not now.

My kids, fall into that group of "PS2" and "Wii" fans. Well, I have to admit, that sometv shows, and movies are beneficial for kids of all ages. One of these movies, I am praising up like crazy right now, is a movie filled with adventure, imagination, friendship, fantasy,magic, loss... The movie is brilliant. Every since my two younger girls watched this movie, their imaginations have SOARED! They are ages 3 and 6.

Bridge To Terabithia: This is a Walt Disney movie that just came out not too long ago. (From the studios that brought us The Chronicles of Narnia)

It's about a boy named Jess Aarons, (played by Josh Hutcherson) and a girl, Leslie Burke (played by AnnaSophia Robb). They are both loners, so-to-speak, not very popular, in other words. Leslie starts at Jess's school, as a "new kid", and everyone thinks she is "weird", just because she is herself, dresses different, expresses herself differently than everyone else... Her and Jess were a lot alike, and they became friends, and find out they are neighbors. They start hanging out after school, and every chance they could. They also build a place called "Terabithia" in the woods behind their homes.

Leslie teaches Jess how to use his imagination to make everything real, and eventually they become best friends, learn some very important lessons, and in the meantime, create ogres, giants, and other fantastical creatures.

In watching this movie as an adult, it brings back memories of when I was younger, more imaginative, and definitely a lot more naive. But those were happy days, days I had a lot less worry and a lot less stress. I was free to imagine what I wanted! Now, even though I haven't changed much, I tend to not use my imagination like I did then.

My girls' imaginations took off like crazy after watching this movie! They playoutside more, and as I watched them one day, I realized that they were "playing" Bridge To Terabithia! They do this every day now. They fight goblins, they are "Queen Taegan" and "Princess Piper"... They crowned each other with twigs they intertwined, made swords out of fallen limbs, tried to build a "castle", (but they found they needed a little more experience with a hammer!) Our dog, Nanook, became "Princess Piper's" horse!... THAT was funny!...

Besides Bridge To Terabithia being an awesome movie that teaches a couple good lessons, I totally recommend it to all parents of children who seem to need a little push inthe imagination direction. And, of course to all of you who love a great heartwarming, "fantasy-adventure"... This movie truly deserves an award for "best, and most inspiring movie of the century" (In MY book, anyway...)

 AnnaSophia Robb is not only an awesome new little actress, but also multi-talented! She sings this song to remind everyone to "Keep Your Mind Wide Open".  Your imagination is something you should never lose touch of...