The Lovely Bones

The Peter Jackson who directed Heavenly Creatures may have made something special out of The Lovely Bones. Unfortunately, the Jackson who has directed it is one who has become besotted with CGI's ability to create fantastical worlds, and his obsession swamps a story that needed to be told with the utmost delicacy. After a promising opening that skilfully introduces Susie Salmon (Saoirse Ronan) and her killer Mr Harvey (Stanley Tucci), the film is severely unbalanced by Jackson's overblown and garish rendering of Susie's afterlife. He never finds a satisfying balance between his imagined world and the real world, in which Susie's family struggle to come to terms with their grief, and the film gets worse as it progresses, leading to a truly laughable climax. Despite commendable performances from Ronan and Tucci, The Lovely Bones is a total misfire. Admittedly, this is very difficult material to get right, and it would tax the abilities of most directors, but that caveat doesn't excuse the dumfounding choices Jackson has made.