The Lovely Bones MOVIE TALK

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This movie was released in 2003 and I'm only just watching so I'm a little late for the train but... I was 2 when it first came out so I have legitimate reason.
This book, The Lovely Bones, is okay. And the movie was okay. It won't ever be on my list of favourite books but it's not my least favourite story in the world. Interestingly, my issues with the movie were the exact same issues I had with the book so I can safely say it was at least a faithful and accurate adaptation.
This movie had a load of great actors in it but was generally average. The best part was probably the very beginning and the very end but the main middle chunk felt like it had a lot of filler and unnecessary scenes.
The Lovely Bones follows Susie, a young girl murdered at 14 years old. It shows her journey in the in-between of earth and heaven and how her family cope with her death.

TRAILER

AMAZON

SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD
I cried at the beginning of this movie. Just like I did with the book. Watching such a young girl get murdered and seeing her family find out the news was heart-breaking. It's difficult to watch parents find out their child is gone and it gets me every time.

My other favourite part was the end because it was tense and actually gripping for the first time. The whole sequence of Lindsey sneaking into Mr. Harvey's house was suspenseful even if she only narrowly escaped due to stupidity- why did she take so long? Did she want him to catch her?!
Like with the book, I got really bored at Susie's role in the in-between and found it unnecessary to the progression of the plot. The movie really could've entirely been around her father finding the murderer because Susie didn't really do anything in the in-between besides look into the distance and walk into different environments. That was the literally the extent of her role... other than dying.

Ray and Ruth were really minor parts as well that just didn't properly work with the movie. It was too strange and disjointed that Ray supposedly didn't even know Susie existed at the beginning to being fully in love with her on the day she was murdered. And the whole idea of Ruth seeing the dead could've worked but... they did nothing with it! It served no help to the plot and was just another random loose end thrown into the story.
And finally, I was completely unsatisfied with the very end. I can't remember if this happened in the book but it was so unsatisfying for Mr Harvey to die without being put to justice for all these girls he's murdered. He's a completely disgusting man and, to me, dying was the easy way out and he should've ended up in prison.

Thanks for reading! Feel free to comment your thoughts. Stay amazing!
Chloe