Based on the Alice Sebold novel of the same name, The Lovely Bones is the tale of 14-year-old Susie Salmon who is tragically raped and murdered by her neighbor in a suburban town in 1970s Pennsylvania. Upon her death Susie finds herself stuck in the "in-between," watching her family struggle to stay together as they try to find her killer and accept her death. The story is told from Susie's perspective as she floats back and forth between the fantastical "in-between" world and the real world while striving to make contact with the living to help them find her missing body. In doing so, Susie also observes her father's obsessive quest for vengeance and unwillingness to accept his daughter's demise.

Click for more after the jump...

Peter Jackson has returned to small-time intimate filmmaking after he brought us larger-than-life pictures with the Lord of the Rings Trilogy and King Kong. Once upon a time, he was a small-time director who made movies like Heavenly Creatures, Dead Alive, and Bad Taste. With The Lovely Bones, Jackson attempts to elevate this picture with the whiz bangery of modern technology, and the results are decidedly mixed.  

While the visual effects could never look more real and wonderful, they simply don't add much to the picture. The same goes for the Brian Eno score, which at times seems overly sentimental in combination with some of Jackson's tear-baiting scenes. While I'm unfamiliar with the source material, the script seems a bit confusing at times, for spoiler purposes I'll leave the details out. Jackson's use of horror and chills also has a difficult time balancing themselves out with the films humor and  mawkishness.

Where Jackson does excel is in his use of pace and tension to bring the simplest of scenes to an edge-of-your-seat thriller. This is also aided in part by the magnificent turn from America's favorite supporting actor, Stanley Tucci. Never has such an affable and friendly face been made to seem as menacing and creepy as Tucci in the role of Susie's disturbed neighbor Mr. Harvey.  

Saoirse Ronan also brings spectacular life to Susie as the wide-eyed 14-year-old. The rest of the cast is filled out with excellent turns from Susan Sarandon, Rachel Weisz, and good Mark Wahlberg (as opposed to bad Mark Wahlberg who shows up to work sometimes).

It's just a shame all these parts couldn't add up to more. While Jackson has a deft eye when it comes to directing, and he steers his cast true, he should have toned down on the grand visual effects and sentimentality.

--Greg MacLennan