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Movies / In Theaters / The Lovely Bones
The Lovely Bones

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The Lovely Bones (2009)

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Reviews Counted:177

Fresh:64

Rotten:113

Average Rating:5.2/10

Consensus: It's stuffed full of Peter Jackson's typically dazzling imagery, but The Lovely Bones suffers from abrupt shifts between horrific violence and cloying sentimentality.

Rated: Rating Pending

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:Dec 11, 2009 Limited

Box Office: $41,485,830

Synopsis: Oscar winner Peter Jackson directs this adaptation of Alice Sebold's beloved novel THE LOVELY BONES. After she is killed, young Susie Salmon (Saoirse Ronan, ATONEMENT) looks down from heaven on... Oscar winner Peter Jackson directs this adaptation of Alice Sebold's beloved novel THE LOVELY BONES. After she is killed, young Susie Salmon (Saoirse Ronan, ATONEMENT) looks down from heaven on both her parents (played by Mark Wahlberg and Rachel Weisz) and her murderer. [More]

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, Susan Sarandon, Saoirse Ronan

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

Director: Peter Jackson

Director: Peter Jackson
Screenwriter: Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens
Producer: Fran Walsh, Peter Jackson, Carolynne Cunningham, Aimee Peyronnet
Composer: Brian Eno
Studio: Paramount Pictures

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1 - 4 of 6

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Reviews for The Lovely Bones

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An entertaining but strange hybrid -- part murder mystery, part gooey teen romance/coming of age story, part philosophy lesson, part family drama

Full Review Source: Windy City Times | comment Comment
02/08/10
Richard Knight
Richard Knight
Windy City Times

very much a film of mood where emotions run deep and devastating, and those emotions are the most potent special effect in a work that is sometimes a bit top heavy with them

Full Review Source: Killer Movie Reviews | comment Comment
02/07/10
Andrea Chase
Andrea Chase
Killer Movie Reviews

Alice Sebold's evocative best seller proves to be more unfilmable than Tolkien's sprawling fantasy trilogy - a disappointment, yet it's impossible for anyone to do it better

Full Review Source: I.E. Weekly | comment Comment
02/05/10
Amy Nicholson
Amy Nicholson
I.E. Weekly

Despite its visually remarkable attempts to engage the film is an utter loss.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Spectrum | comment Comment
02/02/10
Jolene Mendez
Jolene Mendez
Entertainment Spectrum

"Somehow the depth of the novel has become nothing more than an exercise in producing a polished, beautiful-looking fantasy."

Full Review Source: SFX Magazine | comment Comment
02/02/10
Jayne Nelson
Jayne Nelson
SFX Magazine

The sum of the parts of this film while tantalizing and worth a watch, leave the viewer, like its lead character, lacking closure.

Full Review Source: Spectrum (St. George, Utah) | comment Comment
02/01/10
Bruce Bennett
Bruce Bennett
Spectrum (St. George, Utah)

The story is just told very poorly... what is this movie? A thriller? A ghost story? A police procedural? A tearjerker? It's all of those and none of them.

Full Review Source: The Trend | comment Comment
01/31/10
Stephen Silver
Stephen Silver
The Trend

The Lovely Bones demeure un film aux idées intrigantes et aux intentions fort honorables, mais dont l'exécution s'avère trop souvent déficiente.

Full Review Source: Panorama | comment Comment
01/29/10
Jean-François Vandeuren
Jean-François Vandeuren
Panorama

Thematically muddled, the film nevertheless has a strong sense of visual presence and features a handful of strong performances.

Full Review Source: Oscar Guy | comment Comment
01/28/10
Wesley Lovell
Wesley Lovell
Oscar Guy

Learning to live beyond grief is the heart of the story and the performances bring out that premise beautifully.

Full Review Source: Atlantic City Weekly | comment Comment
01/27/10
Lori Hoffman
Lori Hoffman
Atlantic City Weekly

An okay movie hampered by Wahlberg's sleepy performance and Sarnadon's visit from another planet

Full Review Source: jackiekcooper.com | comment 1 Comment
01/24/10
Jackie K. Cooper
Jackie K. Cooper
jackiekcooper.com

It is hard to know what Jackson was intending to do with this film. Instead of telling the earth-story he seems to have wanted to give us some indelible images of heaven

Full Review Source: rec.arts.movies.reviews | comment Comment
01/23/10
Mark R. Leeper
Mark R. Leeper
rec.arts.movies.reviews

[The film] remains a mystery -- not a mystery as in who committed the crime, but a mystery in its intended theme and why that theme didn't unite the film at all.

Full Review Source: Scene-Stealers.com | comment Comment
01/20/10
Eric Melin
Eric Melin
Scene-Stealers.com

It's a great deal of effort by a lot of talented people that results in two-plus hours of tepid clockwork blandness.

Full Review Source: Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC) | comment Comment
01/20/10
Ken Hanke
Ken Hanke
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

while it has moments that soar both visually and emotionally, it ultimately feels torn and unwieldy

Full Review Source: Q Network Film Desk | comment Comment
01/19/10
James Kendrick
James Kendrick
Q Network Film Desk

The cinematic equivalent of that big farm your childhood dog allegedly went to.

Full Review Source: Washington City Paper | comment 1 Comment
01/18/10
Tricia Olszewski
Tricia Olszewski
Washington City Paper

Lush cinematography combined with first-rate acting and a valuable story make this a great film for the whole family.

Full Review Source: Monsters and Critics | comment 4 Comments
01/18/10
Ron Wilkinson
Ron Wilkinson
Monsters and Critics

... often visually striking but emotionally baffling, and ultimately seems stuck in the same sort of purgatory as its young heroine.

Full Review Source: Playback:stl | comment Comment
01/16/10
Sarah Boslaugh
Sarah Boslaugh
Playback:stl

Jackson and his usual screenwriting collaborators...have simplified and amplified Sebold's text, turning it from a meditation on the interior politics of family into a supernatural revenge story.

Full Review Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette | comment 3 Comments
01/16/10
Philip Martin
Philip Martin
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Because Peter Jackson is willing to wrestle with challenging material, it's easy to forgive him if he doesn't create additional masterpieces every time he steps behind the camera.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
01/15/10
Dan Lybarger
Dan Lybarger
eFilmCritic.com
 
 
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Latest News for The Lovely Bones

January 14, 2010: Critics Consensus: The Book of Eli Is a So-So Read
This week at the movies, we've got Biblical bloodshed (The Book of Eli, starring Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman); neighborhood intrigue (The Spy Next Door, starring Jackie... More...

January 11, 2010: Susan Sarandon: The RT Interview
Oscar winner Susan Sarandon is one of Hollywood's finest actresses. In Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones, she plays boozy, straight-talking Grandma Lynn, who brings some... More...

January 07, 2010: Saoirse Ronan, Teenage Assassin Opens in new window
"Lovely Bones" star Saoirse Ronan is in negotiations to star in Joe Wright's "Hanna," the tale of a teenage assassin. More...

December 24, 2009: Paramount Hides Its Lovely Bones Until January Opens in new window
Hoping to see Peter Jackson's adaptation of "The Lovely Bones" this Christmas? You'll have to wait until mid-January, now that Paramount has bumped the film, which has been... More...

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