Review of The Lovely Bones (2009) by Anneka G — 23 Sep 2017

I´ll give it two stars to be generous, as the murder scene was particularly chilling... the rest of the film was a load of overacted pap. The actors seemed to do the best with the material they had, but it was so overdone in parts.

As soon as the film starts with the dead narrator´s voice gushing in a sickly sweet tone, I questioned how this was going to balance with the tragic events to come. It doesn´t work. One minute we have horrific violence (the bath scene after her death) and then cloying scenes of heaven full of candy and rainbows.

I know it´s supposed to represent a 14 year old´s idea of heaven, but it did not deal with any serious themes about death. This was a horrific crime where a young girl´s life was brutally taken away - the mother weeps for one scene and then the family are somehow "over" it in the next and noone cries again, just sighs, as if she´s run away with the circus or like their dog died.

This film could have really had a powerful message and shown how tears and despair are natural and healthy reactions to grief. It could have helped those grieving to know that it´s an overwhelming emotion and not a stage you just magically skip over.

They could have had a tender scene of the family coming together and crying in their despair. Instead we get the mother, who barely snaps at the father. declared as "not handling things well".

Where were the signs of that? Why are all these emotions glossed over when that is supposedly the topic of the book? The main character´s acting was heartful and seemed realistic, but the family situation wasnt believable at all.

And the grandma scene was just insulting - maybe a bit of dark humour would have fitted in but a "comedy montage" about a glamorous granny who floods the laundry room and dances in the foam - after her grandchild has been raped and mutilated? It offended me on so many levels.

The ending made no sense and there was no closure for me. If Susie Salmon had died a natural death, the notion of acceptance and life carrying on might have worked, but not when it´s about an outrageous child murder.

Ridiculous.