Review of The Book Thief (2013) by Mrmoviebuff — 12 May 2016

'The Book Thief' means well, it's an innocent film depicting a little girl's point of view of the war, so that means we will not be seeing a graphic view of the combat and violence of these horrific events that take place.

Directed by Brian Percival (of 'Downton Abbey'), he adapts the widely acclaimed novel by Markus Zusak, Percival sets the ideal tone of the movie. The movie focuses on a young girl named Liesel Meminger (Sophie Nelisse) who meets her new foster parents (played by Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson) and tries to get comfortable in her new home. She begins to grow closer towards her foster father as he notices that she collects a lot of books. However, it seems that she is not quite as literate and nor is he, so they develop a sort-of school in the basement of their home and learn how to read.

Later on, we meet a young, Jewish man named Max (Ben Schnetzer) who is a refugee and stays with the family. Liesel develops a friendship with the innocent man, discovering that they share a love for reading. Liesel even runs away to a hidden library somewhere to take some books and read them to Max for comfort. During her journey, she meets a young boy named Rudy (Nico Liersch) who doesn't mind getting into trouble for her, he seems infatuated, and so does she.

This is a warm film, filled with some touching moments and is well acted...it has hints of being the next 'Hugo' (2011), but what does hold it back is its ability to emphasize on the horrors of the war, even though this isn't that kind of film, a lot of things seemed to be glossed over. There is an emotional impact throughout this movie, and it does its job to hold your attention for longer than possible. I guess, at times, it feels empty, almost like opening a shiny wrapped present, but what's inside is a box full of accessories, but not the product itself.

It's a film I wanted to love...but I just admired it.