The Citizen Review " A man goes to the movies. A critic must be honest enough to admit that he is that man." -Robert Warshow

Jack says: C

The Lovely Bones is one of those confusing dramas where one must watch it two or three times to fully grasp or understand it's intent. Unfortunately, it's also one of those dramas where you don't want to endure it's wrath more than once.

There were parts of this film that I found enjoyable. The writing (which I hear is mostly derivitive of the Alice Sebold bestseller) was very good. Susie Salmon's monologue was poetically passive, if not slightly ambivalent. It was delicate and quietly beautiful. I thought the scenes that simply examined how the family reacted to the given situation were at times very good too. It showed how random the horrible act was, and how everything can suddenly change, and how we realize that we are so unaware. It also showed that life is so delicate and that very few things are needed for us to be alive, and how easily they can be taken away.

There were also parts that were in my opinion just unnecessary. Not unnecessary just in the aspect that they were frivolous and didn't help the story, but scenes that were probably not meant for the screen. The scene that leads up to the murder of Susie is so horrifying and taxing that I had to turn away. It wasn't exactly distasteful, it wasn't gruesome. It was subtly disturbing, but I don't think it needed to be. We all know how horrific murder is, we don't need a lesson.

The book The Lovely Bones is unread by myself but it seems like a book that doesn't translate well for screen. The scenes where she was in "the blue in-between" weren't inconsistent but they just were wrong. I don't know why. It seems like the film would have been better as a dramatic study of the family after Susie's death, and her just narrating it. But on the same token, those heaven scenes might be necessary. What I guess I'm saying is that this just can't be made into a film, at least not by Peter Jackson.

After leaving the theater, my friends and I were confused. We weren't sure whether it was good, or if we even liked it. But we were pretty sure we wouldn't want to see it again. I think we were so confused because the film was confused along with us.