Review: The Lovely Bones
Adapting a novel to film can never be a simple feat. People will always find holes in the film and will inevitably compare the film to the novel. The outcome of this generally seems to be that the book was better, so the film is destined to be second best.
Adapting novels to the silver screen seems to be a popular idea but it must be a daunting prospect when you come to production. I’m sure both Paul and Chris Weitz know that daunting feeling when adapting well-loved books more than many.
Peter Jackson had a go at it too by taking on the monumental task of adapting JRR Tolkien’s epic trilogy The Lord of the Rings. That venture was a success though (at the very least from a money-making perspective) so that experience probably subdued the daunting feeling that would come with trying to adapt Alice Sebold’s bestseller.
The story is set during the month of December in 1973, in a small town in Philadelphia and it focuses predominantly on a 14-year old girl called Susie Salmon (Saoirse Ronan). She lives with her parents (Mark Wahlberg & Rachel Weisz) and her younger brother and sister.
She loves taking photos of everything, dreaming of becoming a photographer one day. That’s never going to happen though because Susie’s life is cut short when she is murdered by George (Stanley Tucci), a local resident who has a very dark secret.
Visually this film is exquisite. The Lovely Bones certainly has its moments. Watch for the jaw-dropping terrain trekking.
The rest of the film shows Susie coming to terms with her death through a series of dream like moments in her afterlife as well as her family coping with the loss. The Lovely Bones has a strong enough narrative with a intriguing suspenseful edge to it that plays with your expectations and keeps you engaged throughout. It’s by no means a perfect story though – several ties between the multiple narratives feel strained and weak and the transitions & sequence of events have the tendency to bump and judder along. In general though the film is very much a memorable and gratifying experience.
The narrative is helped along by a strong set of performances with the stars of the show being youth actress Saoirse Ronan as Susie Salmon & Stanley Tucci as the disturbed killer George Harvey. Mark Wahlberg is surprisingly good as the father who struggles to come to terms with the death and tries to overcome his grief by finding out who did it.
Rachel Weisz and Susan Sarandon lend a hand to the proceedings as the mother & grandmother respectively, with Sarandon offering some comic relief to the sinister tone of the film’s plot line. The acting in The Lovely Bones can’t really be faulted – pretty much everyone plays their part in one way or another with enough conviction and purpose to not find flaws to pick at. My only gripe would be with both the policeman character and Susie’s brief love interest but even their performances whilst a little shaky & unconvincing still wouldn’t be considered bad.
Scenes such as these add a layer of spirituality to the film playing alongside the undertones of life after death.
This is the same feeling I had with the film as a whole – The Lovely Bones shouldn’t be thought of as a bad film but it could have been better. The visuals are where The Lovely Bones really shine but at times they feel overly extravagant. Scenes where Susie is walking through the different terrains are exceptional moments of rewarding cinematic value but others get lost in translation.
I don’t want to fault the visuals as they are the most impressive part of the film but Peter Jackson seems to be intent on making Susie’s trip through Limbo as visually stunning as possible, even if this means that it can feel like a spectacle. The strong camerawork adds a layer of visual beauty to The Lovely Bones though that is only a positive and unlike the CGI elements feeling sometimes unnecessary the wide array of excellent camera shots never feel out of place or excessive.
Overall Impressions:
You can see what Peter Jackson is trying to do with The Lovely Bones but the end product is a mixture of enjoyment and confusion. The multi-narrative structure was convoluted in direction but more than acceptable whilst the visual cinematography of the film was highly impressive but overly extravagant at times also.
It seems that Peter Jackson was trying to do the novel it came from justice by sticking fairly closely to the plot but adding a few touches of visual quality to give the film its own identity. I’d say that he does a decent job and I applaud his courage to try something like this but it wasn’t a completely successful outcome.
The Lovely Bones is by no means a bad film and it is one that film lovers can appreciate if only for the aesthetics. But for those who watch a film for the cheap thrills this film will seem too artsy for your liking. Worth a watch but it’s not for everybody.
Rating: 
I really enjoyed this film, there were great elements of horror and comedy and the main character’s one you instantly like. The scenery’s lovely and it’s definately worth the money