I can't help feeling slightly stupid doing this, but anyway... I hate the word review, but I can't think of another at the moment. This is definitely not the review of a critic. Far far from it, to be exact :)
When a movie starts with a snowglobe, I'm sold:
I love snowglobes... I only have one and it's very Christmasy. Still, it's somewhere around the house even today!
I read the book "The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold as soon as I found out that it was going to be Peter Jackson's new movie. I am an avid "Lord Of The Rings" fan, so in my book Peter Jackson can do no wrong. The story is sort of bittersweet and sad and it is definitely NOT a children's book. Also, the trailer was breathtaking (strong expression for a trailer, I know).
Having read the book, the movie does meet my expectations. I can't say however that it is now among my favorites. I wanted to love it, but I ended up rather liking it. What's to blame? I don't think there was an other option actually. Sometimes the material does limit you. The book is definitely good. It is not a masterpiece. It doesn't aspire to be one. It is the realistic story of a family. The supernatural elements are not so prominent in the book, they mostly help us understand the characters on Earth, not picture life in Heaven. Peter Jackson takes it a step further. He creates that World for us, beyond the book-and we know that he can do it better than anybody.
Shattering glass ships, dancing on green planets, frozen lakes where giant red roses blossom underneath the ice... I loved these images. I am a sucker for them. What can I say?
But... it takes a very devoted Peter Jackson fan and someone who has already read the book to really like this movie. I wouldn't find it particularly touching or thought provoking if I were nothing of the above.
Therefore, definitely not a failure, but also not an experience that stays with you for very long. Sometimes I wish I hadn't read the book, so I would be rather new to the experience of the movie. But then I remember that reading Atonement didn't stop me from adoring the movie.
Is it the nature of the story? Is it the storytelling? Or the actors (all of them apart from Mark Wahlberg, the only one who managed to slightly move me-and no, Saoirse Ronan was not magnificent)? Something doesn't work. The script changes also don't help, but PJ should know how to do that.
Anyway, do I recommend it? Sure. It is a good movie. But it's not "multiple viewings" material :)
There are a couple of very beautiful wallpapers that I really love though:
No comments:
Post a Comment