Customer Reviews

Bridge to Terabithia

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I loved the movie "Bridge to Terabithia," and was interested in what the soundtrack would sound like. I was disappointed, since they left out the good stuff. Aaron Zigman's orchestral score is decent; not the best I've heard, but decent. Unfortunately, the best part of the orchestral score, the opening credits, is left out of the soundtrack for some inexplicable reason. The pop songs included are a decidedly mixed bag. They range from good (I Learned From You, Keep Your Mind Wide Open- even though AnnaSophia is not the best singer) to throwaway (Shine). But above all, as mentioned in other reviews- they left out the best songs from the movie, namely, those sung by Ms. Edmonds and her class. For those of you wanting to know, those songs are "Someday" by Steve Earle, "Why Can't We Be Friends," by War, and "O-O-H Child" by the Five Stairsteps. Would it really have been difficult to put those on the soundtrack- either the versions by the original artists or as sung by Zooey Deschanel and the kids? Anyway, you can find the above-mentioned songs on various CDs here on Amazon. Or if you just want the songs by themselves, you can download them on iTunes or Real Rhapsody.

As an older fan of the book Bridge To Terabithia, (I first read it as a kid over 25 years ago) I was skeptical about the movie. It turned out to be wonderful! As a classicly trained musician and fan of film scores, I was skeptical about the soundtrack album, which I knew would be geared toward kids, not soundtrack album collectors.

This album contains mostly pop songs, only a couple of which were used in the movie. I'm not a fan of today's pop music, and I'd never heard of any of the artists on this album. But I would not call the songs bubblegum or a disaster! They were a lot better than I thought they'd be. The lyrics are sweet, moving, and uplifting, and fit in well with the themes of the movie. The music is also uplifting and quite catchy.

The best part, of course, is the small selection of pieces from Aaron Zigman's film score, which is one of the best scores I've heard in a long time. Disney really dropped the ball by including only a small fraction of Zigman's score on this album. Fortunately, they chose some of the best parts of the score, including the enchanting Into The Forest and the soaring, breathtaking The Battle. Jesse's Bridge, which closes the album, is one of the most moving pieces of instrumental music you will ever hear.

It's a shame that Disney didn't add more of Aaron Zigman's score to this album. There was plenty of room - as it is now, the album only runs about 48 minutes. Because there's so little of the actual soundtrack on this album, I can't give it a five-star rating. But it's still a good album and worthy of four stars.

Don't be so down on this album! Listen to it, if only for the precious few tracks of Aaron Zigman's beautiful score. And the quality of the pop songs just might surprise you.

What a let down - such wonderful music in the movie - most of it, the reason I wanted to buy the soundtrack - is not on the soundtrack!

This CD misses by a long shot by not including the classics that Zooey sung in the classroom with the kids. But what do you expect from a Disney production, to just look for an opportunity for them to promote their own recording artists! As for kids not being able to handle any "deep" songs, just take a look at the soundtracks for movies like "Shrek" and "Hoodwinked" where they show you can have great music soundtracks that appeals to a wide age range. Disney, once again you fall short on the soundtrack side.

This movie had a great soundtrack, but they left most of the actual soundtrack out. Half of the songs they included on this CD I'm not even sure were in the movie. The great music that I enjoyed in the theater is not on this CD. :-(

Loved the movie, but all of the key songs from the movie are not present on this soundtrack. Someday, Ooh Child and Why Can't We Be Friends were integral in the film but instead Disney omits them in favor of tracks from Miley Cyrus and Hayden Panetierre? Give me a break. Shame on Disney for this soundtrack. Clearly a corporate decision to cater to what "they think" makes a good soundtrack. They haven't got a clue.

I cannot fathom what could have possibly possessed the people in charge of this project, What could have convinced them that releasing this... this...Mess was a good idea? Ok, to be fair this ST is quite obviously geared for kids but even so. I have a six year old niece who would love the overflowing perfusion of sugar coated pop music, but I can't imagine a kid passed the age of nine or ten finding this cd anything but inane and patronizing(they would just say it sucked.) That is not to say that I have a problem with giving kids positive and encouraging messages, but this seems so mindless.

What does this mean for an adult with a vocal innerchild looking for a good film score? Not much I'm afraid, you have nine tracks of pop disaster, and four, thats right four tracks of score. Which by the way are the only things saving this from being total trash, and might have been quite lovely if they hadn't been cut off at the knees. Result, a talented composer wasted on what amounts to a musical cameo appearance.
Conclusion, Buy this cd if you have young kids or if your willing to pay for four tracks. otherwise let this one go by. your not missing much.

This is not the first time that the Disney Corporation has blown a soundtrack. I really think that they don't know how to do a good soundtrack anymore. They seem so concerned about making it palatable to the tweens that they forget that they paid someone good money to actually write a background score. All they seem concerned about is including some pop tunes because they must think this sells soundtracks. Well, if anyone is listening out there in the world of Disney - people who collect soundtracks would have liked to have gotten one for this movie. There are about 74 minutes available on a CD - why not go ahead and fill them with both the pop stuff and the actual score. Disney either forgets the score (like they did for this movie) - or only includes a paltry amount (maybe 30-40 minutes). Somebody at Disney better wake up - and maybe release a complete score for this movie - otherwise, you're better off skipping this mess.

This is a great cd, it is fun and enjoyable to listen to. the best songs on this cd are all of them. If you have not listened to this cd then i recommend you do

This Soundtrack Is Beautiful Along With The Movie Nobody Likes The Soundtrack Or Movie Simply Because It Has Positive Meaning Nobody In Todays World Likes Movies Or Music Unless It's Filled With Sex, Gore, Or Strong Language I Guess I Must Be The Only One Left In This World That Likes Clean Wholsome Music Oh Well Your Loss