Review of The Lovely Bones (2009) by Terry A — 25 Dec 2011

Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones emerged from a turbulent pre-production so it's no real surprise that it turned out to be a bit of a mess. For starters the tone is all over the place. There are whole sections which have the feel of a 'family' film, a mood in which the film feels quite comfortable so when the darker moments arrive it has a jarring effect and really compromises the effect. It should have been grittier but it is way too fluffy, I wasn't too keen on the way the concept of the mid-place that Susie found herself between earth and heaven was dealt with either. It results in a muddled tonewhich effectively dilutes any drama. Speaking of which, I enjoyed the performances, which were generally solid although no one particularly stood out. The final point, and ***SPOLIER ALERT***, the moment when Stanley Tucci's Harvey meets his end is laughable.

Overall this feels like an overly convoluted way to tell a relatively straight forward story, which frankly should have been better and I wanted it to be better. There are scenes which demonstrate the potential of this film but as far as I can see Jackson fluffed it.