The Lovely Bones – Review

I’ll make no bones about it, I am a huge aficionado of the work of New Zealand auteur Peter Jackson. From his early horror films (Bad Taste, Meet the Feebles, and Dead Alive) to the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, he is a fanboy at heart, who is living out his dream of making films and leaving his imprint on the world of cinema. He has never forgotten that no matter how many special effects you throw on the screen, no matter how good a technician you are, it’s the story that brings together the heart and soul of a picture.

Based on the best-selling tome by Alice Sebold, The Lovely Bones tells the story of 14-year old Susie Salmon, who is raped and murdered by her neighbor in rural Pennsylvania on December 6, 1973. She is transported to an in-between realm between Heaven and Earth, where at one moment it can be beautiful in its scenery, and in another melancholy, with reminders of the world she has left behind.

She is befriended by a spirit guide Holly (Nikki Soohoo), who encourages her to move on and let her family heal their pains. Her father (Mark Wahlberg) and mother’s (Rachel Weisz) marriage has become fractured as Jack spends his time looking for his daughter’s killer and ignores Abigail, who takes time away from the household so she can deal with the loss of her child.

Susie cannot come to terms with the fact that her life was cut short by a hollow human being who has covered his tracks and has gotten away with this heinous crime. Little does she know that she is not the first victim of George Harvey (Stanley Tucci), and if she doesn’t intervene somehow, she won’t be the last.

It’s might sound alarming to call a movie which deals with such ugly subject matter as beautiful – but it is -  Peter Jackson, the Art Directors, and the CGI team have created a piece of artwork come to life with Technicolor vibrancy as seasons change and drip with colors as environments diversify depending on where you are. This is world that a young girl has created where she can be happy and surrounded by symbollic imagery of the world she left behind. This is also a period piece – and like with David Fincher’s Zodiac - the 1970′s Americana is nailed with the the clothes, technology, and innocence of a time where you felt comfortable leaving your child for a moment, long before kids were put on milk cartons when they were missing.

Across the board the acting was strong, but Stanley Tucci and Saoirse Ronan steal the show with Oscar caliber performances as the sinister killer and his innocent prey. Tucci is genuinely menacing in his role and never takes it into the over the top arena. Subtly goes along way in bringing some trust from his victims, as witnessed in his luring of Susie to a perverted room under the ground equipped with board games and soda pop. Saoirse captures the purity of a young girl who enjoys the little things in life like taking pictures with her camera and having a crush on a boy at school. She is happy to be alive in the world and has a bright future to look forward to.

Since I have not read the book, I can’t tell you if the writing team of Peter Jackson, Philippa Boyens, and Fran Walsh (Jackson’s wife) screenplay has divagted from its original source material, but I can assure you that after a four-year rest (King Kong) from directing, Peter Jackson has delivered a long in the tooth, yet exhilarating fable that is similar to the after life ambitions seen in Richard Matheson’s What Dreams May Come. His career has come full circle as The Lovely Bones has the dramatic and fantastic elements seen in his 1996 endeavor Heavenly Creatures, which was his first detour away from scares and proving he could conquer any genre.

Rating: