The Lovely Bones [Dvd] (2009)

Director Peter Jackson takes a personal risky leap in his direction of the film version of Alice Sebold's bestselling novel The Lovely Bones. Yet the leap pays off in emotional depth and riveting visuals that transport the viewer to other worlds--even ones the viewer may not want to visit. The Lovely Bones is lofted by its star-making performance by the young Saoirse Ronan (Atonement) who plays Susie Salmon the 14-year-old girl who is murdered early in the film and who narrates the action from her 'in-between place' after dying but before going to heaven. Ronan makes Susie as earthy and awkward as any young teen yet her presence and her gorgeous pale eyes remind viewers that she's otherworldly too. The Lovely Bones takes some big departures from the book as many critics have pointed out but it works well on its own merits. The drama involves how (even whether) Susie's family will recover after her ghastly murder and what happens to her killer and the futile-seeming search for justice a