Not all reviews were positive. Claudia Puig of "USA Today" said "for a movie about the power of imagination, "Bridge to Terabithia" is not as clever as you would hope". Puig said it was an average translation of the novel. But the adult characters were too caricatured or exaggerated in the movie. The real-life portions of the movie were "derivative and simplistic", but Jess' emotional feelings seemed "powerfully authentic, and this is where the movie finds its truth and soul". "The Wall Street Journal" critic Joe Morgenstern felt the movie overused fantasy. The critic added that the "agreeable simplicity in between computer-generated monsters". The young members of the cast were "appealing but unpolished". Morgenstern thought Csupó lacked experience in direction. Although Deschanel was the best among the adults, she seemed self-directed.