The Tiger Rising was meant to equal Bridge to Terabithia, but it barely scratches the surface

polygon.com:

When the movie version of Katherine Paterson’s children’s book Bridge to Terabithia came out in 2007, the marketing promised a fun fantasy adventure with epic CG action, akin to the popular Narnia franchise. That was a blatant lie, considering the book is a poignant, devastating exploration of childhood friendship and grief.

The Tiger Rising, a new film from director and writer Ray Giarratana, based on Kate DiCamillo’s kids’ novel of the same name, seems to be employing the same strategy. The trailers hint at a fantasy story that lays a deeper mystery on the story of a tiger in the Florida woods. But ultimately, the story is about processing grief. While that central metaphor and story is powerful, Giarratana’s film buries it under layers and layers of superfluous fluff.

[Ed. note: This review contains some spoilers for The Tiger Rising.]

Rob Horton (Christian Convery) is a shy boy living with his father in a rundown Florida motel after his mother’s death. He has a hard time at school, where the kids pick on him and make fun of the strange rash that’s developed on his legs. When new girl Sistine Bailey (Madalen Mills) ruffles feathers in the small town by declaring her classmates to be uncultured rednecks, Rob sticks up for her, and the two bond over a love of art, especially after she learns that he knows what the Sistine Chapel is and how it was painted. He takes her to see a caged tiger he discovered in the woods behind the motel, owned by his father’s seedy boss, Beauchamp (Dennis Quaid). Sistine wants to set the tiger free, consequences be damned, because no creature should be locked up where it doesn’t belong. But Rob is more cautious about that, fearful of what Beauchamp will do if he finds out they let the