The Lovely Bones

A young girl 14 years old is murdered and is in her own version of heaven. As she watches over her grieving family, she is trying to balance the desire for revenge against her killer, who has gotten away with murder, and the hope she has that her family can heal themselves from this horrible, heinous event. We witness the story through her eyes and her narration from Heaven.

A another great film from Peter Jackson. Taking the best selling novel of Alice Sebold as the source material , Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens have teamed up again ( same trio wrote the Screenplay to JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings) to create a very compelling visual art experience, coupled with a suspenseful murder drama. I would liken it it to Willie Wonka meets Alfred Hitchcock. With the macabre story of a young 14 year old girl that we know is raped, murdered and dismembered and then combine that with stunning visuals of her vision of heaven and almost dream like sequences as she sees her family's grief.

Mark Wahlberg and Rachel Weisz play the grieving parents, and in a fabulous supporting role is Susan Sarandon as the grandmother who plays almost a caricature of a grandmother, cartoonist in nature. She will provide some much needed comic relief at key times in the movie, keeping it from getting altogether too depressing. Stanley Tucci in a surprise character as George Harvey, a quiet, tormented man that is a calculating serial killer. We are not privy to his private thoughts and motivation for his behavior.

Having not read the book, I am almost compelled now to read it and find out more about this story. It is no secret that Alice Sebold was brutally raped as a young woman in college and wrote about it in her first book " Lucky". She continues to write stories based on violence , reporting that to her it is not unusual and most people are unaffected by it. That in itself may seem true, unless your the victim.

This story will grip you, the wonderful compassion of the different characters as seen through the eyes of Susie Salmon in this dream like state of Heaven, trying to influence the capture of her killer and balancing that with the love and hope of her family will hold you all the way to the conclusion.

Great work, story, adaptation, stunning visuals, and excellent performances.