The Lovely Bones: Though I was fairly meh about the book, the movie was more engaging. The basic storyline is the same: 14-year-old Susie Salmon is murdered and narrates the story from the afterlife. There is less focus on the family’s grieving process (including the removal of the mother’s affair and the father’s heart attack) and more on Susie’s journey to accepting her own death while exploring a realm quite reminiscent of What Dreams May Come. And you know, this was fine: I didn’t feel leaving out those details detracted from the story at all. Mark Wahlberg was touching as Susie’s father as he obsessively tried to solve her murder. Susan Sarandon was clearly having a ball as the eccentric grandmother. Stanley Tucci, whom I know primarily as Nigel and Puck, scared the everliving crap out of me. I’m not sure this movie would necessarily appeal to fans of the book – the critics certainly hated it – but it was a decent way to spend a couple hours on a Friday evening. Just not something I’d watch again.
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