I have a love/hate relationship with Peter Jackson. He’s given me some of my favorite movies of all time – The Lord of the Rings – and some of my least favorite – King Kong. So, when I first saw the trailer for The Lovely Bones, I wasn’t sure if I should get excited for it or not. It looked high-concept and very much like What Dreams May Come (which I loved, so sue me).

But, was it going to be lean, trim, and focused (Lord of the Rings). Or was it going to be a meandering unfocused unnecessarily long bore fest (King Kong)? The short review: it’s a bit of both.

It’s the 70’s and Susie Salmon (like the fish) is a fourteen year old girl living a typical fourteen year old girl’s life. She has many friends, a loving family, and a senior British student that has a crush on her. Yup, Susie has it all. That is until one lowly afternoon in December when she is murdered.

The story starts on that key and never really lets up. We explore several different themes and ideals through the film. First, we see Susie in the in-between. That place that spirits go to come to terms with the fact that they are dead before moving on to heaven. From there, Susie can watch and even sometimes affect the people still alive. In very much the fashion of It’s a Wonderful Life, Susie gets to see the effect her death has on the world she knew. Her father becomes obsessed with finding the killer, causing the mom to break down and leave. Cynical grandma moves in and the family ties that had once so strongly held them all together start ripping at the seams.

Likewise, we get to see into the mind of the killer, played to wonderfully creepy effect by Stanley Tucci. This is the 70’s after all. No one thinks that stuff like this happens and the cops don’t have the best methods of finding the killer – since they can’t find a body. Tucci must skirt the cops without giving himself away; a hard task for someone as naturally creepy as he.

Peter Jackson brings out his flare for the unnecessary in several scenes. Scenes which are considerably overlong or completely without merit at all. Sure, it’s cute when crazy grandma (Susan Sarandon) and the young boy play in the bubbles, but is it really needed? There are many superfluous scenes throughout the film that simply add to the already overstuffed film. At a little over two hours, it felt like three.

Aside from pacing problems, the cast is stellar all around. Mark Wahlberg proves that despite The Happening, he can still act. While Rachel Weisz really isn’t given a lot to work with, she makes the most of it as the distraught mother. Susan Sarandon is great as the crazy bad influence grandmother. My favorite performance came from Susie herself. Saoirse Ronan will be the next Dakota Fanning. She is able to portray a very wide range of emotions, from wild eyed childish purity, to fear, to accepting her own death, to releasing her pent up hatred of the man that took her life. She acts it all with nary a drop into clichéd caricature.

Stanley Tucci gives the best performance I’ve seen from him. I’m a Tucci fan anyway, but his role in this film required him to unrelentingly gross. To be totally committed to being defined as “that guy who played the child rapist,” and he did it incredibly well. You’ll feel every seething emotion that runs through Susie’s head as we watch him plot his next victim. By the end, you’ll appreciate where his arc ends up as well as the devious creepiness he was able to portray.

 

As far as technical direction, I can’t say that anything was particularly memorable. Everything was absolutely passable and great, without being truly special. In fact, I can’t remember any of the score. Basically, nothing was done poorly.

Well, I guess the verdict would have to be: see it if you’re a fan of the book or Peter Jackson. If not, the wait for DVD will not be too long. There is plenty of great acting in the movie all of which is enjoyable. Not the worst movie I’ve seen in a long time, but certainly not the best. A solid – meh.