The Lovely Bones is the story of a 14-year-old girl from suburban Pennsylvania who is murdered by her neighbor. She tells the story from Heaven, showing the lives of the people around her and how they have changed all while attempting to get someone to find her lost body.I'm really torn on this, I feel so many things about this and maybe that's good but overall I'm left wondering what the book was like. First, the acting is all really solid - even Wahlberg who I normally feel is stiff and unconvincing in his roles. Sadly, Weisz (my favorite actress of this era) is left with only a few scenes which she nails solidly, but still her role is thin. More time is spent with Sarandon, but I'd rather have seen that time spent elsewhere. The story is interesting, and I think the book must have been much better because while the visuals are breathtaking, it feels somewhat like watching the movie What Dreams May Come sometimes. You get colors and images but I'd rather them be more connected to memories - and many of them were but you didn't feel that they were. Overall extremely interesting premise however it felt long and sometimes meandering or unfocused. All the acting is solid but the pace of the movie varies so much that you feel the ebb and flow of time too much to make you feel uncomfortable. But truly, Ronan and Tucci put in incredible performances, I'd never seen Tucci so unlikable ever.
I was very dissappointed in the ending of this movie. There just wasn't the "closure" I was looking for. Too many things are left unsaid.
***/*****
3/5 Stars
This one was weird for me too. Between the book and the movie it's almost impossible to compare. Jackson took so many liberties with the story and made such different decisions that changed the theme and focus of the book completely. It felt like when you tell a story from one person to the next. By the tenth person it's a totally different story from the first person to the tenth. Loved some of the visuals in the movie but overall I felt let down by a story that was pretty unique (and I thought impossible to film) in the first place.
ReplyDeleteEh...anticipation made the sting hurt more, right? I hate that.
ReplyDeleteThe book is so much better than the film. Christ. They leave out and summarize too much in my opinion.
ReplyDeletehttp://film-book.com/film-review-the-lovely-bones-2009/
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