Directed by: Peter Jackson
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, Susan Sarandon, Stanley Tucci
Alice Sebold’s novel The Lovely Bones is harsh, offensive, deep, emotional, thought provoking and compelling. Peter Jackson’s movie adaptation doesn’t share any of these qualities. While I greatly appreciate Jackson’s film for toning down the murder and strong sexual content of the book, I also felt that the tragedy and sadness of the book didn’t translate, either. The novel revolves around how a family deals with a grotesque and horrific tragedy, while Jackson’s story feels more like his take on life after death in a more family-friendly way. The sins of characters lose their harshness on the screen, which eliminates the moral of Susie’s tragic tale. Instead of Susie watching her family fall apart like she does in the book, we are given Susie’s walk-throughs of “the in-between”, where Jackson got make his imaginary after life become a reality. The book felt cold, harsh, and something that you doubted would ever turn out right. (Which makes the ending all the more powerful.) The movie is warm, funny, and, most importantly, lost. I honestly think that Jackson read and appreciated the book, but didn’t understand what it was saying. The film has the basic plot of Sebold’s novel, but it was merely the ghost of her book.
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