The Lovely Bones

On her way home from school on a snowy December day in 1973, 14-year-old Susie Salmon is lured into a makeshift underground den in a cornfield and brutally raped and murdered, the latest victim of a serial killer--the man she knew as her neighbor, Mr. Harvey. From heaven, Susie keeps watch over her grieving family and friends, as well as her brazen killer and the sad detective working on her case.

Even at a good two hours in length 'The Lovely Bones' seems to have large chunks of the story removed, strangely, and what is left is a mix match fragmented film thats not sure what it wants to be, with both emotion and style confused together. On one hand a thriller the next a fantasy film. 

There is a good central performance from Saoirse Ronan but both Susan Sarandon and Rachel Weitz are wasted, as for Mark Wahlberg, the actor doesn’t have the weight to carry the father role.

Surprisly from the guys who brought you the likes of 'The Lord Of The Rings and King Kong the special effects are bad.
The killer has killer written all over him, evil contact lens check, glasses check, parting hair cut check, to almost comic book prepositions, for a serious character and story tread a mistake.

There are scenes of beauty, the rose flower scene and ships in a bottles smashing against the rocks are both standouts. Still a miss step from Peter Jackson after his more serious work success of 'Heavenly Creatures' for example.