The Lovely Bones

Drama
4 stars
I cried through the whole thing! Sorry, I’ve never gotten around to reading the book, so I have no basis for comparison. I thought this was a well told story narrated by the deceased young girl (Saoirse Ronan; Atonement) as she describes the time leading up to her murder and her family’s struggles in its wake. Ronan narrates from the “in-between” ghostly world that probably could have been portrayed better, but I was too busy sniffling and wiping away tears to really care. Mark Wahlberg and Rachel Weisz co-star as her parents and Stanley Tucci is chilling (and nearly unrecognizable) as the creepy neighbor. I loved Susan Sarandon as the fabulous eccentric grandmother who enjoys her “medicine” a little too much. The kissing scene stolen from the movie Ghost was a little too much, but on the whole I thought it was a good movie for a good cry.

**** I have since read the book and can see that fans of the book will be disappointed to learn that the 11 or 12 year span of the book has been condensed to about 3, and a LOT has been cut out – including evidence that is either not included in the movie, or too much emphasis is placed on evidence that was dismissed in the book.