The Lovely Bones

The Lovely Bones is originally a book by Alice Sebold.  I'll start by admitting I did not read it.  I don't read much fiction.  However, this caught my eye as many people said it was an amazing book.  On top of that, Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings, ehh King Kong) was directing it.

The cast was decent, everything you'd expect out of Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, and an elder Susan Surandon.  Stanley Tucci is almost unrecognizable as Suzie Salmon (Saoirse Ronan)'s killer.  He does a terrific job, as does the young 15 year old.

The movie is not very graphic, but does do a good job of explaining all of the events.

The premise is of Suzie Salmon getting murdered by a person from the neighborhood but her soul is stuck in an in-between of earth and heaven and people can feel her presence, and she is on a quest to be at peace with her death, as is her family.  She almost leaves an aura of clues about her unsolved murder throughout the movie until suspicions of who killed her arise out of her family.

The concept is wild in thought, and tough to execute.  While Jackson did the best that was possible, this movie is truly one of those movies where it should have stayed a book.  I think some tasks are just too much. Also, to fully develop an in-between is an abstract concept that is left best to the mind, not to the eyes.

While I feel this movie wasn't a let down, it wasn't as good as I thought it was going to be, going in with no previous thoughts on the book/movie.

I rate this movie a 6.9 out of 10.