Lovely Bones Is Jackson's Best Yet

The Lovely Bones got a sneak showing in London last night, and one reviewer is already calling it the best film of next year—while another lambastes it as candy-coated crap. An anonymous critic from the Sun says he’s already sure he won’t “see anything more astonishing, emotionally draining, and life-affirming” next year, and calls it Peter Jackson’s best film. “Yes, even better than The Lord of The Rings” (emphasis his).

But Xan Brooks of the Guardian pans the film, which amounts to “an ongoing clean-up operation” of Alice Sebold’s acclaimed book. How do you make a PG-13 movie about the rape and murder of a 14-year-old? Why, just remove the rape! Jackson never mentions it, nor does he show the murder, nor any plot point that’s less than squeaky-clean. He surveys the crime scene with his “eyes averted, spraying cloying perfume left and right.” (More The Lovely Bones stories.)