History Headscratchers / BridgeToTerabithia

** Apparently this was due to ExecutiveMeddling, as they seemed to want to draw in a broader audience to watch the film. Considering the age of the book and how such films ''usually'' fare these days, it might not be totally unjustified, but I understand the frustration. However, I personally actually enjoyed it ''more'' when I learned it wasn't a cliche fantasy romp, and I found the use of fantasy-in-CGI to bring the film to life a stroke of genius, even if it ''did'' lead to MisaimedMarketing. The author herself said she felt the film stayed true to the heart of the book - though considering her ''son'' was on board [[spoiler: and that a major event in his life inspired the book]], this fact isn't surprising.

* It [[Administrivia/RenamedTropes Just Bugs Me]] that Walden Media chose to move the setting of ''Bridge to Terabithia'' to ThePresentDay while they kept ''Film/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'' in-period since, 1) UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo is really only used as an excuse to get the kids up to the Professor's house while TheSeventies and the whole post-Vietnam mindset looms large in the background of BTT, and 2) They were re-creating the US in New Zealand, it wouldn't have been ''that'' much harder to throw in a period setting
** I don't know, but these are some likely factors:
*** 1) Just because Walden Media did both films does not necessarily mean they both had the same creative team.
*** 2) ''Narnia'' was written in 1950, so it was always a period setting, even if it was only by ten years at the time it was written. ''Terabithia'' was set in the present when it was written.
*** 3) When the movie was set was presumably decided while the script was being written. They might not have even known they were going to be shooting it in New Zealand at that point.
** I heard an interview of the scriptwriter for Bridge to Terabithia; he said the main reason is that setting things in "period" can get quite expensive. He also said they tried for a timeless feel by not including specifically modern gadgets (Ipods etc.)
*** Also, Chronicles of Narnia might be more famous, and in any case, its seeing is a lot more engrained in what the reader remembers of the story. ''Terabithia'' seems very timeless -- even the stuff about the Vietnam War and hippies can go over the head of a little kid.
** The suggestion that World War Two is "just an excuse" for the ''Chronicles of Narnia'' seems highly questionable; while the book might not be explicitly about the war (and even that's debatable -- the war is arguably heavily echoed in the fact that the novel is about a battle against a charismatic yet cold villain who has locked a country in "eternal winter"), it's a vital part of what sets up the story to begin with. Take away the fact that the Pensivies are Blitz evacuees and transplant them to the modern day, you really don't have much of a reason to send them to a big country house in the middle of nowhere without their parents (or, for that matter, many big old country houses that are still occupied).

* I still cannot understand '''why''' did the author change [[spoiler: Leslie's death from lightning to drowning. Lightnings kill few people, but it happens, and everyone knows that. By contrast, the final variant is just one big ContrivedCoincidence: The rope snaps '''just''' on a day when it has been raining for a long time before ''and'' when Leslie is alone ''and'' in a way that she lands in a river ''but'' hits that rock with her head (and who built the rope directly over suck rock, anyway?? This makes her death even '''less''' believable than in reality, and in addition, gives big impetus to denial: unlike lightning death, which is typically felt as [[FinalDeath Final]] this variant outright provokes '''LDD''' (Leslie didn't die) reaction, rather than force the reader to deal with her death.]]

* I've run into a number of people who confuse the book with Zilpha Keatley Snyder's ''The Changeling'' or think that the same author wrote both books. At least one told me they distinctly remembered reading that Ivy dies falling out of a tree. It does have a number of very similar elements but it's not ''that'' close.

** Also, the BigBad and the protagonist's father being portrayed by the same actor is a well-known trope in itself, cf. ''Theatre/PeterPan'' and ''{{Film/Jumanji}}'' for additional examples.

* It [[Administrivia/RenamedTropes Just Bugs Me]] that Walden Media chose to move the setting of ''Bridge to Terabithia'' to ThePresentDay while they kept ''Film/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'' in-period since, 1)UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo is really only used as an excuse to get the kids up to the Professor's house while TheSeventies and the whole post-Vietnam mindset looms large in the background of BTT, and 2) They were re-creating the US in New Zealand, it wouldn't have been ''that'' much harder to throw in a period setting

** Jesse probably recognizes it's his Dad, he just doesn't want to face his father because he knows it'll mean confronting his own grief and guilt to talk to him about it. The Dark Master had always represented things he didn't want to face.

* What bugs me is that, having read the book for the first time several years ago, I can't bring myself to read it again. Every time I try, I remember how it ends and I stop. Of course, the fact that I want to reread it at all means that I loved it, but still...

*** An old rope continually used practically daily by two kids over most of a school year would easily snap. We can easily assume that she went there plenty of times when he did not, making that not much of a coincidence. The rope was over the river specifically to cross the river, most likely set up by some kids long ago for the same reason Jess and Leslie cross over it. The rock she hit her head on was in the river, most likely part of the edge if I had to guess. So she drowned after she hit her head on the rocky edge of a moderately-deep river that she crosses on a daily basis using an old dangerous rope and you think getting hit by lightning on a clear sunny day in a forest filled with tall trees is less of a ContrivedCoincidence? [[SarcasmMode I believe it]].
** Actually, to me it made it more heart wenching, getting struck by lightning is one in a million type of accident. but the events, the rope snapping, it flooded, she hit her head. Unlikely events coming afer the other like God him self wanted her dead. It really hits home that ANY ONE CAN DIE, even little girls, even your best friend. And it could have been him as well, survivals giult coming into factor as well. The hope spot was intentional, he believed she wasn't dead, so the audience believed it as well, until you realize the horrible truth.
** Also, a lightning seemed an act of God against daydreaming kids. To be secular, they have to change it.

** Because Freud? There's something Freudian about this, and it has to do with his dad being a WellDoneSonGuy.

* I don't remember if it's explained in the book, but in the movie, [[spoiler: who found Leslie's body?]] Where? When? How? [[spoiler: Where was it resting?]]

* I don't remember if it's explained in the book, but in the movie, [[spoiler: who found Leslie's body?]] Where? When? How?