The Lovely Bones
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Best known for his CGI epics (Lord of the Rings, King Kong) and darkly comic splatterfests (Brain Dead, Bad Taste), superstar director Peter Jackson now returns to dramatic subject matter not explored since 1994's Heavenly Creatures.
The Lovely Bones is set in Pennsylvania in the 1970s. It tells the story of a young girl, Susie Salmon (Atonement's Saoirse Ronan), who is brutally raped and murdered. She watches the impact of the events on her family, and murderer, from the afterlife. Jackson has assembled an all-star cast to play out the thriller, including Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, Susan Sarandon and Stanley Tucci.
Starring
Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, Susan Sarandon, Saoirse Ronan, Stanley Tucci, Rose McIver
Directed by
Peter Jackson ('Badtaste', 'Meet the Feebles', 'Braindead', 'Heavenly Creatures', 'The Frighteners', 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy, 'King Kong')
Written by
Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens
Executive Producers
Steven Spielberg, Ken Kamins, Tessa Ross, Jim Wilson
(M) contains violence | Adaptation, Drama, Thriller | USA, UK, New Zealand | Official Website
USER REVIEWS
Add your two cents...
Average rating 
Amazing!
Depressing. Sad. But awesome!
Reviewed by JayLoved it!!
The beginning was abit slow, but you need to understand the relationships to understand the whole story of the movie. I have not cried so much since Titanic. I loved this movie. It makes you think how lucky you are to have family and friends. I would highly recommend for a girls night xxxxx
Reviewed by Dianewow
This movie is sad but really captured the events well.
good job me!
PRESS REVIEWS
Average rating 
Christchurch Press (Tracey Bond)
I'll be honest, I'm in two minds about this one, I enjoyed the movie and some sections were classic Peter Jackson, but I was left feeling it could have been so much more.
Click to read full review.Dominion Post (Graeme Tuckett)
It's fair to say that this is a quality bit of work.
Click to read full review.Empire Magazine (UK)
Like “The Lord Of The Rings,” The Lovely Bones does a fantastic job with revered, complex source material. As terrific on terra firma as it is audacious in its astral plane, it is doubtful we’ll see a more imaginative, courageous film in 2010.
Click to read full review.Hollywood Reporter
Jackson and his team tell a fundamentally different story. It's one that is not without its tension, humor and compelling details. But it's also a simpler, more button-pushing tale that misses the joy and heartbreak of the original.
Click to read full review.Rolling Stone (USA)
All this is conveyed in the remarkable performance of Ronan, an Oscar nominee for Atonement. She and Tucci -- magnificent as a man of uncontrollable impulses -- help Jackson cut a path to a humanity that supersedes life and death.
Click to read full review.Time Magazine
When else has the obscenity of child murder been the cause of such gravity and grace?
Click to read full review.TV3 (Kate Rodger)
The Lovely Bones wasn’t the five star wonder-movie I’d hoped for, but I left the cinema more than satisfied with Jackson’s take on Susie Salmon.
Click to read full review.Variety (USA)
Jackson undermines solid work from a good cast with show-offy celestial evocations that severely disrupt the emotional connections with the characters.
Click to read full review.ViewAuckland.co.nz (Matt Turner)
Despite a strong central performance from Saoirse Ronan, The Lovely Bones is a bloated, over-indulgent and frequently dull drama that never really comes to life.
Click to read full review.Flicks.co.nz "The Lovely Bones" Movie Review
Flicks.co.nz rating
Andrew Hedley, Flicks.co.nz
Peter Jackson’s extravagant adaptation of Alice Sebold’s novel doesn’t have quite the emotional impact one might hope for, namely due to the twin narrative strands of heartfelt family bonding and grisly serial killing remaining at odds with each other. Rather than leaving the cinema feeling uplifted, you might be creeped out.
The material has Jackson’s fingerprints all over it; bold camera movements, traces of horror and a showman’s gift for staging sequences. Jackson’s penchant for black humour means that psychopathic villain Mr Harvey (Stanley Tucci in “I’m a paedophile” makeup) is the most charismatic character. At times Jackson ratchets up the macabre, particularly effectively in an amazing sequence revealing the resting places of previous murder victims.
But it’s the overly calculated attempt at wringing out drama from the proceedings that feels phoney. Wahlberg and Weisz are given undeveloped roles, while lead character Susie narrates the happenings on earth with cloying earnestness. As it’s his interpretation of the source material, Jackson apes Vincent Ward’s What Dreams May Come in a highly computerised and slightly naff tableau of dreamscapes; part teletubbies, part NZ tourism advertisement.
Brian Eno’s plinkety-plonk keyboard soundtrack is relentless but the inclusion of songs from the ‘70s period is awesome. The Lovely Bones might have benefitted from a lighter touch but kudos to Jackson for trying something on a smaller, more personal, scale. His visually imaginative but emotionally under-developed drama at least strikes a unique tone.
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