Film: The Lovely Bones

GENRE: Drama/Fantasy

RATING: PG-13 for some violent content and language

RUNTIME: 2 hours and 15 minutes

STARRING: Saoirse Ronan (Atonement),

Mark Wahlberg (The Happening)

Stanley Tucci (Julie & Julia)

DIRECTOR: PeterJackson (Lord of the Rings, King Kong)

WRITERS: Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens and

Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings)

PLOT: A murdered girl watches her family and her killer deal the aftermath of the horrific incident.

FIVE OBSERVATIONS:

1 Stanley Tucci is really creepy as the suspected killer. Didn’t know why they had to go so far as to give him the perv pedophile mustache. Tucci steals this movie.

2 Some of the images shown in the afterlife are really amazing. I found I was more captivated in the beginning rather than the end of the film, however.

3 Enjoyed watching relative newcomer Rose McIver as the sister trying to solve the murder. Some nice work, very suspenseful. Loved her last scenes.

4 I didn’t like how they didn’t spend more time on the parents relating as a couple. They focus on Wahlberg and then all of sudden the marriage is in turmoil. Some more conversation between the parents would have been nice. I also thought they should have included a little more on the emo girl who can sense Susie. Her and potential boyfriend Ray are given an introduction then ignored and then brought back in at the end. Sloppy storytelling.

5 I have no problem with the fact that this film didn’t depict the rape as described in the book. I thought it was just as effective this way without being gratuitous. For some reason, people complained about Jackson leaving out the rape, but you know if he put it in the movie, people would have complained that he showed the raping of a young girl. I guess you just can’t win sometimes.

RECOMMENDATION: DVD (HD for some images)

UPCOMING REVIEWS: Chuck, Shutter Island