"Lovely Bones" waters down source novel

In order to do any justice to the novel "The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold, the film would have to be rated R to incorporate the vividly described yet damaging rape/murder scene of the main character, and it would have to maintain the extremely important thematic element of sexual experiences throughout the story. Needless to say, Peter Jackson's film adaptation of the novel fell short of my expectations in more ways than one.

The book and the film center on Susie Salmon, a naïve fourteen-year-old with high hopes for the future as a wildlife photographer played by Saoirse Ronan.  Susie harbors intense feelings for Ray Singh, a high school senior played by Reece Ritchie. One afternoon, Ray corners her at her locker both thrilling and terrifying her. After he tells her she is beautiful, he urgently invites her to meet him at the mall the next Saturday, which she happily accepts. With the promise of the date on her mind, she takes a shortcut home through a cornfield.

Her creepy neighbor down the street, Mr. Harvey, played by Stanley Tucci, appears and entices her to come check out his underground fort, which he has built for "all the neighborhood kids." She is about to decline, but he cinches her with the prospect of being the first kid in the neighborhood to see it. Of course, his intentions were never so grand to begin with and after some time he rapes and kills her.

The Lovely Bones almost completely puts Susie Salmon's story on the back burner and ultimately uses her as a means to urge her father from the "in-between" to decipher one man among many in the town as her murderer. The intricate plot and events of the novel are reduced to nothing more than a thriller focusing mainly on her father's anguish and thirst for revenge. Using words straight from the film, "He [Mr. Harvey] didn't understand how much a father could love his child," which basically sums up the whole point and process of the movie.

With that being said, Susie remains the central character in the film. The film focuses on her feelings and her encroachment into the lives of the living on Earth.

One aspect of the movie I would like to applaud were the beautiful visual effects of Susie's heaven. The purpose of the heaven becomes obvious as a way for Susie to live the life she's missed out on; however it never fails to remind Susie, and the audience, of the hard truth: however awesome her heaven is, her killer is still loose and her family is still falling apart.

The Lovely Bones was over-hyped to be amazingly successful with the help of its big name director and the large following of Sebold's popular novel, but it was a let down due to the loss of substance during transcription/translation to film.