---
title: "The Lovely Bones"
year: 2009
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-lovely-bones"
fi1m_id: "the-lovely-bones"
imdb_id: "tt0380510"
tmdb_id: 7980
wikidata_id: "Q839123"
fi1m_score: 46
critics_score: 47
critics_reviews: 20
published: "2026-10-01T21:11:05.522577+00:00"
updated: "2026-10-01T21:11:06.133230+00:00"
region: "HR"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# The Lovely Bones (2009)

Directed by Peter Jackson · 2h 16m · Fantasy, Drama

## Identity

The Lovely Bones

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/the-lovely-bones
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** the-lovely-bones
- **IMDb ID:** tt0380510
- **TMDB ID:** 7980
- **Wikidata ID:** Q839123
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0380510/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/7980, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q839123

**Fi1m score: 46** · Critics 47 from 20 reviews

*In a sentence:* The afterlife gets another makeover while the grieving family waits

> Peter Jackson’s grief drama has a touching centre in Saoirse Ronan, but its busy afterlife keeps interrupting the people left behind. There is too little room for the family.

## Synopsis

Susie Salmon (Saoirse Ronan) is murdered, leaving Jack Salmon (Mark Wahlberg) and Abigail Salmon (Rachel Weisz) grieving in the family home. For Susie, a run through town gives way to an afterlife of changing landscapes, shaped by her feelings. She wants to remain close to the family she has lost, but cannot return to their ordinary routines. George Harvey (Stanley Tucci) brings a threat that the living still have to face. Susie’s story follows both the Salmons’ attempts to cope with her death and her own experience of a place beyond their reach.

## Review

*The Lovely Bones* is an uneven, often frustrating grief drama, despite a central performance that makes its losses matter. Adapting Alice Sebold’s novel, Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens give Susie’s afterlife a prominence the living struggle to match. We need time with the family to understand what her death has done to them. Instead, the fantasy repeatedly demands attention just as those relationships begin to matter. At 136 minutes, this is not a shortage of time.

Saoirse Ronan makes Susie Salmon feel like a girl whose life we might have wanted to follow without a crime. There is curiosity in the performance, and enough youthful energy to make the interruption of that life painful. The small moments with her family let us see the person whose absence the rest of the film asks us to feel. The early family scenes allow ordinary affection to do the work. They establish how much the film can achieve simply by staying with its actors.

Stanley Tucci brings a different kind of precision to George Harvey, and his menace makes the scenes on earth more compelling than many of the fantasies. The performance is carefully controlled, giving Peter Jackson something disturbing to watch without needing to exaggerate it. Suspense also suits the director’s habit of making us look closely and wait. The difficulty is that the attention paid to danger does not extend with equal patience to the family.

Naomi Shohan’s production design makes the changing landscapes feel like places a girl might imagine; Andrew Lesnie photographs them with a softness that becomes oppressive. Some have an appealing strangeness, and the idea that Susie’s surroundings might change with her feelings makes sense. Yet their prettiness becomes a distraction when we ought to be thinking about her isolation. We were unsettled by the sequence in which Susie runs through town, because her confusion makes familiar surroundings feel unsafe. That is where the visual invention helps us understand her.

Brian Eno’s score is more persuasive, supplying a haunting unease that the pictures do not always sustain. Jabez Olssen’s editing has the thankless job of moving between grief, threat and the changing fantasy settings, and too often the emotional shift feels imposed. A scene can ask us to feel afraid, then leave us looking at something pretty before that fear has settled. The family scenes suffer most from these interruptions.

Mark Wahlberg and Rachel Weisz have too little room as Jack Salmon and Abigail Salmon. Their grief is clear, but the screenplay does not spend enough time on the relationships through which we might understand it. That is a serious limitation in a film asking us to care about a family trying to live after a murder. The fantasy is meant to help us bear that experience, yet its repeated interruptions make it easier to stop thinking about it.

Fantasy can be a useful way of approaching bereavement, especially when ordinary conversation seems inadequate. Here, Peter Jackson reaches for another imagined landscape before the ordinary conversation has had much chance to happen. There is enough in Saoirse Ronan’s performance and Brian Eno’s music to make the film worth considering for their admirers. For the family drama, we would look elsewhere.

*Fi1m score 46, published 1 October 2026.*

## What the critics say

Most critics find The Lovely Bones emotionally weakened by Peter Jackson’s emphasis on fantasy spectacle, though the performances attract more consistent approval. Praise centres on Saoirse Ronan’s small, human moments, with Stanley Tucci’s menace also drawing favourable notices. Several reviews admire the shifting afterlife landscapes and the suspense of the earthbound scenes, even when they find the adaptation uneven or its treatment of grief unconvincing.

The sharpest division concerns whether those images deepen the emotion or get in its way. Detractors repeatedly fault the sentimental tone, thin family relationships and awkward shifts between grief, fantasy and thriller. The spread is wide rather than cautiously mixed: Total Film finds the film touching and entertaining, with energetic direction, while Eye for Film responds to its emotional pull, suspense and Brian Eno’s score. For the negative majority, however, the visual invention cannot compensate for the loss of intimacy.

## Straight answers

**Is The Lovely Bones worth watching?**

*The Lovely Bones* is difficult to recommend beyond admirers of Saoirse Ronan or Brian Eno; we score it 46 out of 100. Ronan gives the grief a touching centre and Eno’s music supplies unease, but the changing afterlife landscapes repeatedly interrupt the family drama just as it begins to matter.

**How long is The Lovely Bones, and what is it rated?**

*The Lovely Bones* runs 2h 16m. It is a fantasy and drama film.

**Where can I watch The Lovely Bones in Croatia?**

*The Lovely Bones* is available to rent from Amazon Prime Video from HRK 3.99. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service.

**How violent or frightening is The Lovely Bones, and is it suitable for children?**

*The Lovely Bones* has a UK 12A certificate, but its story of a girl’s murder, family grief and continuing menace calls for caution with younger children. We find Stanley Tucci’s controlled threat disturbing, and Susie’s confused run through town makes familiar surroundings feel unsafe; the concern is frightening subject matter rather than fantasy alone.

**How does The Lovely Bones compare to Heavenly Creatures?**

*The Lovely Bones* is the less satisfying of these two Peter Jackson fantasy dramas; we recommend [*Heavenly Creatures*](https://film.one/film/heavenly-creatures) for its closer attention to recognisable human behaviour. Its consuming teenage friendship makes the fantasy frightening, whereas Susie’s changing afterlife too often distracts from her family’s grief, though the restless camera in *Heavenly Creatures* can overstate what the performances already convey.

**Is The Lovely Bones based on a true story or a book?**

*The Lovely Bones* is adapted from Alice Sebold’s novel, with Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens responsible for the screenplay. We find that the adaptation gives Susie’s afterlife too much attention and her grieving family too little; that criticism concerns how the film works, rather than how faithfully it follows the book.

**What should I watch after The Lovely Bones?**

After *The Lovely Bones*, try [*Heavenly Creatures*](https://film.one/film/heavenly-creatures) (1994, Fi1m 84): Adolescent fantasy becomes frightening through its closeness to recognisable human behaviour. Then [*Petite Maman*](https://film.one/film/petite-maman) (2021, Fi1m 88): Childhood, grief and impossible encounters, handled with patience rather than spectacle.

### Reviews we read (20)

- **Total Film**, Jamie Graham (4/5): The critic finds the film touching and entertaining, though it risks tipping into schmaltz. They praise Jackson’s energetic direction and the vivid, emotionally shifting fantasy landscapes. [Read](https://www.gamesradar.com/the-lovely-bones-review/)
- **Empire**, Ian Freer (75/100, inferred): Freer finds the film bold, emotionally alive and largely successful despite some unevenness. He particularly praises Stanley Tucci’s meticulous performance and the suspenseful detective work by Susie’s sister. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/lovely-bones-review/)
- **Screen Daily**, Mike Goodridge (64/100, inferred): The page identifies this as Mike Goodridge’s review of the 2009 film, but the review text is unavailable. Its verdict and any specifically praised or criticized element cannot be determined from the accessible page. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/the-lovely-bones/5008515.article)
- **The New York Times**, A.O. Scott (64/100, inferred): The page content is inaccessible, so the critic’s verdict cannot be verified. No specific praise or complaint can be established from the available text. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/11/movies/11lovelybones.html)
- **RogerEbert.com**, Roger Ebert (2.5/4): Ebert finds the film visually accomplished but emotionally misjudged. He singles out its striking fantasy imagery, while faulting the story’s handling of its subject. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-lovely-bones-2010)
- **Slant Magazine**, Ed Gonzalez (2.5/4): Gonzalez calls the film an exciting but compromised vision, an interesting failure. He praises Saoirse Ronan’s performance and the film’s convincing portrayal of grief, while faulting its underthought storytelling and glossy afterlife imagery. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/the-lovely-bones/)
- **The AV Club**, Tasha Robinson (C): Robinson finds the film visually impressive and often moving, but ultimately overworked and emotionally insincere. She praises the tension in scenes where viewers know what is coming and the dreamlike depiction of the murder. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/the-lovely-bones-1798207619)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Kenneth Turan (40/100, inferred): Turan finds the film hit-and-miss, with its clashing emotional tones undermining its more successful moments. He praises Saoirse Ronan’s performance and the imaginative, beautifully photographed dreamscape of Susie’s afterlife. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-dec-11-la-et-lovely-bones11-2009dec11-story.html)
- **Radio Times**, Stella Papamichael (2/5): The review finds Jackson’s adaptation visually overemphasised and emotionally weakened. It particularly faults the soft-focus approach for draining the novel’s examination of a grieving family of its power. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-59z6d6/the-lovely-bones/)
- **Time Out**, Dave Calhoun (2/5): The review is negative about Jackson’s adaptation. It suggests the film fails to recapture the intimate territory of *Heavenly Creatures*. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-lovely-bones-1)
- **The Guardian**, Xan Brooks (30/100, inferred): Brooks finds the film handsomely made but ultimately too coy and sentimental to confront its central horror. He praises the captivating, teenage-girl vision of the afterlife, while criticizing the unreal, cartoonish world and the film’s avoidance of the crime’s details. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/nov/24/the-lovely-bones-film-review)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, Kirk Honeycutt (30/100, inferred): The critic finds the adaptation a simpler, mawkish revenge thriller that loses much of the novel’s emotional depth. Saoirse Ronan’s performance is singled out for praise as the glue holding the story together. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/lovely-bones-film-review-93781/)
- **Variety**, Todd McCarthy (30/100, inferred): McCarthy finds the film a significant artistic disappointment, arguing that its visual excess disrupts its emotional core. He praises Saoirse Ronan’s lively performance and the grounded early family scenes. [Read](https://variety.com/2009/film/reviews/the-lovely-bones-2-1200477283/)
- **Evening Standard** (25/100, inferred): The critic finds the film a miscast, uncontrolled failure whose fantasy imagery overwhelms its emotional story. Stanley Tucci’s menace and Saoirse Ronan’s small, human moments are singled out as effective amid the film’s excesses. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/heaven-its-hell-in-the-lovely-bones-7418693.html)
- **The New Yorker**, David Denby (15/100, inferred): Denby finds the film bizarre, sentimental, and thoroughly queasy. He especially faults Jackson’s heaven imagery and the story’s redundancy and lack of drama. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/12/14/love-hurts)
- **Eye for Film**, Stephen Carty (82/100, inferred): Carty finds the film involving, moving and suspenseful despite a mid-film tonal shift and an ending that could be more satisfying. He especially praises Saoirse Ronan’s central performance and Brian Eno’s haunting score. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/the-lovely-bones-film-review-by-stephen-carty)
- **Den of Geek**, Carley Tauchert (4/5): The review finds the adaptation ultimately heartbreaking and soul-affirming, despite changes and omissions that may frustrate readers of the book. It praises Stanley Tucci’s unnerving performance and the film’s striking visual interpretation of Susie’s afterlife. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/the-lovely-bones-review/)
- **Digital Spy**, Stella Papamichael (25/100, inferred): The critic finds the adaptation spiritually hollow and more concerned with spectacle than genuine resonance. She faults Jackson for glossing over the family relationships that gave the story its emotional force. [Read](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a200937/the-lovely-bones/)
- **HeyUGuys**, Jon Lyus (15/100, inferred): Lyus strongly dislikes the adaptation, arguing that its emotional story is undermined by mismatched tones and shallow character work. He praises the bleakly rendered sequence in which Susie runs through town, calling it a moment when Jackson’s visual storytelling succeeds. [Read](https://www.heyuguys.com/review-the-lovely-bones/)
- **The Playlist** (15/100, inferred): The headline signals a strongly negative verdict. The blocked page prevents identifying what the critic specifically praises or complains about. [Read](https://theplaylist.net/review-lovely-bones-is-sadly-disaster-20091207/)

## Details

- **Director:** Peter Jackson
- **Director:** Peter Jackson
- **Screenplay:** Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson
- **Novel:** Alice Sebold
- **Cinematography:** Andrew Lesnie
- **Editor:** Jabez Olssen
- **Music:** Brian Eno
- **Production design:** Naomi Shohan
- **Costume design:** Nancy Steiner
- **Producer:** Carolynne Cunningham, Peter Jackson, Aimée Peyronnet
- **Cast:** Saoirse Ronan as Susie Salmon; Mark Wahlberg as Jack Salmon; Rachel Weisz as Abigail Salmon; Susan Sarandon as Grandma Lynn; Stanley Tucci as George Harvey; Rose McIver as Lindsey Salmon; Michael Imperioli as Len Fenerman; Carolyn Dando as Ruth Connors
- **Runtime:** 2h 16m
- **First release (the UK):** 24 November 2009
- **Genres:** Fantasy, Drama
- **Budget:** $65 million
- **Box office:** $94 million
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QydPyttFzhs

## Where to watch in Croatia

- Amazon Prime Video: rent HRK 3.99, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: buy HRK 9.99, hd

*Checked 2026-10-01.*

Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HR, HU, ID, IE, IL, IN, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, MY, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, TH, TR, UA, US, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## Awards

- Academy Awards 2010: Best Supporting Actor (nominated)

## If you liked this

- *Heavenly Creatures* (1994), Fi1m 84: Adolescent fantasy becomes frightening through its closeness to recognisable human behaviour. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/heavenly-creatures.md)
- *A Monster Calls* (2016): A child’s encounters with fantasy give difficult feelings time to develop.
- *The Devil's Backbone* (2001): A ghost story that gives its children lives beyond their suffering.
- *After Life* (1998): An afterlife built from ordinary memories, with room for uncertainty and tenderness.
- *Petite Maman* (2021), Fi1m 88: Childhood, grief and impossible encounters, handled with patience rather than spectacle. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/petite-maman.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/the-lovely-bones