I thought it was a lovely film with all emotions from fear sadness and laughter, extremely well cast also

I hadn't read the book. I found the film to be tedious. The cinematography was excellent. I would recommend this film if you have nothing else to do and feel like wasting $20.00

I have not read the book and had no pre-conceived ideas about what or what not to expect. I was very disappointed in the movie and would not recommend it to anyone, if it were not for my wife and teenage daughter being with me I would have walked halfway through, the movie lack any substance and the ending was also lacking, I felt ripped off. Both my wife and daughter have read the book, although they were also disappointed with the movie and claimed that while the book was an awesome read and this was not reflected in the movie. Having said this, two of our friends teenage children raved about the movie, go figure!

I find it interesting that many of the complaints about this film are about the story line, which was taken from a book. Why then was the book so successful, while the movie receives all kinds of flack?

Other than the story line itself, I do not understand the complaints that it was not "graphic" enough. I don't think the mention of rape was necessary, nor do I think we needed to see the grotesque raping and killing of a 14 year old girl. The movie was sad enough without it.

It's not perfect, but I myself thoroughly enjoyed this film.

Disappointing ending. Not at all like the book. No closure for the parents. Wont watch another of Sir PG films again.

I really can't understand all the negative publicity this film has recieved - i really enjoyed it. i thought jackson's interpretation of the book was fantastic and visually stunning. i think people need to remember that when a full sized novel is translated onto the big screen, the end result cannot and willnot be the way you imagined the book to 'look' simply because you were probably the only one who 'saw' it that way. a movie interpretation is just that, an interpretation, and this was one that i absolutely loved.

Went and saw the movies on the weekend. Was dissapointed. BUt then I usually dont like movies. Most movies unless exceptionally I'll think I wasted money on. The actor who played the serial killer was excellent. Really unnerving. I rather like the world Jackson created, the after life or limmbo place the victim occupied. Nothing in film like that as been doen beofre so kinda of ground breakinig I suppose. However the morbid retelling of the serial killer was horrible. There are far too many programmes on TV about serial killers. It was too grim, too bleak for me.

Just watched The Lovely Bones last night. Not what I expected at all, it reminded me of a combination of The Ice Storm meets What dreams may come. Mark Wahlberg was decent as the father, but poorly cast. When he is on screen he commands an attention, his blocking and gestures were in line with previous films and I awaited him to kick some ass, though this was not that kind of story. I'm not sure how intentional it was but the love interest of a pre-teenager and what LOOKS like a twenty year old Arab man, in the 70s!? the conflict and whispers it would create on its own, never mind a grandmother that experienced the 30, 40s, 50s and 60s and may very well be a racist nag.

Overall, I found the scenes far too long, the story kept moving away from the point, I lost the connection with all the characters except the younger sister. Watching her go from fear, to anger, to asking questions and taking action. Susie having a connection with people in the living world was pointless as nothing came of it. The mothers departure was very “oh I’m off” The father smashing the bottles had elements of a build, that never came to anything. The little boy was a wonderful little performance and a pleasure to watch as he does not know quite what is going on, but is aware of his sister no longer being there.

Watching Heavenly Creatures, and then The Lovely Bones, it seems that Jackson has lost his angle, his little edge of telling a story, and replaced it with over the top CGI, epic scale, and scenes and sequences that go on long after the actors have cut. Many people are going to love this film, in the fashion they fell in love with Donny Darko, it’s weird, and it answers little of it’s questions, the more people that are confused the more the young individualists force themselves to like it, to create their identity as being one of the unique and special. This is how cult classics are made, Lovely Bones should have been made for less money and forced Peter back to his roots, finding what shots are important and what ones you have to cut, endless money means you can put anything in your movie.

**

Sorry Peter Jackson but it looks as though you've produced the ultimate Xmas turkey. LA Times (Dec 23) reports that Paramount is now targetting the film's audience at teenage girls, after initial small release where box office has been very weak, a sign that word of mouth is as poor as the negative reviews of the film. It seems Mr Jackson couldnt decide what genre he was working in. Shoulda made a low-budget horror flick in his backyard with no CGI whatsoever. Then we might have seen something exciting. Problem is he's so famous, made so much money (reported fee for direction the film: $5million US!), he's definitely lost it on this one. Go see "Avatar" instead if you want to see something mindblowing, and beautiful.

I read a New yorker review, these are lengthy reviews which look at a movie from all angles, very thorough. The main complaint they give is that the movie and the book is a bit of an easy cliche, you know, writing about the afterlife from a ghost perceptive. And they are open to sentimenality of a pretty severe kind, as we see in Ghost, with Demi Moore (which was well plotted and had the advantage of two very good actors.) That is, the love between the dead and the living lives on but tragically cannot be reciporcated. Also, that ghosts live on. Its sentimental because thats exactly what people want to beleive. Its an easy product to sell, stories that involve these themes.