WHO'D be a gawky teenager? You get teased, shoved, laughed at, stuff thrown at your face. It's rubbish. Still, why not team up with a fellow outcast and create your own fantasy land?

Such is the premise behind Bridge to Terabithia, a sweet little tale about new neighbours Jesse and Leslie and the world they create out the back of their houses.

It's a nice, fluffy story (up to a point) meant to serve as a reminder of childhoods lost, the value of imagination, etc, and so right up the alleys of nine to 12-year-olds and those adults who let their inner child out for some mischief now and then.

It's when the fluff stops that comes as a shock. Still, a slice of reality is seldom a bad thing.