Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Movie Trailer Review: The Lovely Bones

Opens: December 11, 2009


Website: Official The Lovely Bones site


Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, Stanley Tucci, Michael Imperioli, Susan Sarandon


My Review: It is my completely amateur opinion that there are going to be two types of people going to see The Lovely Bones in December: Those who have read and loved the book, and those who think they’re going to see a murder mystery and will be sorely disappointed. The story is about a 14-year-old girl who is murdered and then watches as her family and friends continue their lived on Earth. The murder happens in the very beginning, and the identity of the murderer is never kept a secret, so the mystery element that the trailer seems to be playing is somewhat misleading. But I guess the studio needs to do what it can to draw in an audience, and I’m not sure how many people will go for a drama that splits its time between heaven and Earth.


I’m in the first camp of potential audience members, having read the book and enjoyed it (except for a certain other-worldly part at the end that anyone else who has read it will know what I’m talking about). And no matter how the movie is received, I give director Peter Jackson a ton of credit for taking it on. It can’t be easy trying to make a movie of a story that already has a very rabid (and difficult to please) fan base. And then there’s that whole major parts of the story take place in heaven thing. How do you make a vision of heaven that is believable, yet still mystical, yet isn’t so fantastical that it will distract from the very real drama going on in the real world? I have no idea, but from what the trailer shows, Jackson is tapping into his Heavenly Creatures roots, rather than his Lord of the Rings fame, which is exactly what The Lovely Bones needs.


Would I Pay For It?: I am extremely eager to see how the vision of heaven in the book is portrayed on screen, and I’m also eager to associate star Saoirse Ronan with a character other than the brat she played in Atonement. So come December, I’ll mostly likely find my way to a theater to check this out.




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