Even though its title suggests CGI-fluorescent fantasy, “Bridge to Terabithia,” a refreshingly modest children’s drama from Disney, is grounded not only in compassionate family values but also a healthy respect for individuality. Anyone who hasn’t read Katherine Paterson’s 1977 novel, which previously was made into a 1985 TV movie, may be surprised at some of the darker twists in the plot — which has stronger roots in the harsh lessons of childhood than in vacuous escapes to imaginary landscapes.

At the core, “Bridge” is a coming-of-age story about Jesse (Josh Hutcherson), a fifth-grade boy who begins to grow out of the shell he has built to buffer him from his older sisters, the bullies at school who frown on his constant cartooning, and the depressing economic struggle faced by his stressed-out parents, who make ends meet as farmers in rural Virginia. One day new neighbors arrive, and with them a girl about Jesse’s age who becomes the agency of his transformation.

Leslie (Anna Sophia Robb) may be the most singularly precocious ‘tween in the history of ‘tweendom. Putatively 11, the tomboyish all-star is a champion runner (who defeats Jesse in a school race right off the bat), a teacher’s pet, a coltish fashion innovator whose punky patchwork style is equal parts Pippi Longstocking and Kurt Cobain, and a literate yarn-spinner whose gift for fiction comes directly from her parents, a pair of free-spirited novelists.

That last gift is what connects her most strongly to Jesse, whose animated drawings find a perfect companion in Leslie’s fabulist musings. Together they invent the magic kingdom of Terabithia, which mostly consists of some meandering woods set off by a deep, rushing stream behind their houses. Accessible only by an old, gnarled rope that swings from a tree, this version of an enchanted forest glows with ominous trolls and friendly giants when the kids hang out there after school. Here they can command a world that falls easily under their control, unlike tension-filled domestic scenes or school hallways where bullies lurk and taunt.

Within all this, the director Gabor Csupo, who cut his teeth as an animator for “The Simpsons” and “Rugrats,” among other popular animated series, seems to alert his young target audience to coping strategies, and does so thoughtfully. The bullies may have worries of their own that cause them to behave that way. Blind conformity kills the spirit. And unfettered creativity is the key to the stars, even if it sometimes leads to trouble.

Such refusal to pander makes up for the flatter characterizations that define the secondary performances, and gives the film an emotional richness that only sharpens its child’s-eye view. It does this so effectively, at times, that the animated sequences — meant to replicate the novel’s nod toward C.S. Lewis and his Narnian bestiary — don’t feel so necessary. Although they amuse, these sequences could belong to another movie, one less sure of its flesh-and-blood verities. An even more impressive special effect is Zooey Deschanel, whose cheerful gamine of a music teacher leads her classes in strum-alongs to Bruce Springsteen road anthems and becomes the object of Jesse’s goo-goo-eyed affection.

The film’s main issue may be Ms. Robb’s character, who is almost too perfect to be believed. This budding future MacArthur Grant genius is such a wise and well-adjusted pre-adolescent iconoclast that she seems more fantastical than any furry, winged whatzit in Terabithia. In fact, she indeed turns out to be too good to be true. In a moment, poor Jesse is hammered with the consequences of a seemingly innocent choice, which is where the life-lesson stuff kicks in. It’s also where parents should be ready to do some post-screening debriefing with their munchkins, and where the film’s efforts at brightening reality through fantasy become too wishful. Still, without giving anything away, it’s rare to find a mainstream effort like this that holds the intelligence of the under-16 set in such high regard.