42
Metascore
36 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80EmpireEmpireLike “The Lord Of The Rings,” The Lovely Bones does a fantastic job with revered, complex source material. As terrific on terra firma as it is audacious in its astral plane, it is doubtful we’ll see a more imaginative, courageous film in 2010.
- 70TimeRichard CorlissTimeRichard CorlissWhen else has the obscenity of child murder been the cause of such gravity and grace?
- 60Time OutJoshua RothkopfTime OutJoshua RothkopfIt’s a movie that tips toward overkill--even Ronan’s voice is amplified into a weird whisper. More quiet would have helped.
- 58Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumEntertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumA sad-but-hopeful, dramatic-but-gentle fairy tale intentionally made less upsetting for teens.
- 50NewsweekDavid AnsenNewsweekDavid AnsenHow do you literalize heaven? It's a problem moviemakers have struggled with forever, and Jackson hasn't solved it.
- 50The Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttThe Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttJackson and his team tell a fundamentally different story. It's one that is not without its tension, humor and compelling details. But it's also a simpler, more button-pushing tale that misses the joy and heartbreak of the original.
- 50The New YorkerDavid DenbyThe New YorkerDavid DenbyThe Lovely Bones has been fashioned as a holiday family movie about murder and grief; it’s a thoroughly queasy experience.
- 50The A.V. ClubTasha RobinsonThe A.V. ClubTasha RobinsonFor all its successes, Bones remains more crafted than sincere, more meant to look achingly pretty on the screen than to resonate in the heart.
- 40VarietyTodd McCarthyVarietyTodd McCarthyJackson undermines solid work from a good cast with show-offy celestial evocations that severely disrupt the emotional connections with the characters.
- 20Village VoiceJ. HobermanVillage VoiceJ. HobermanIn Jackson's hands, The Lovely Bones is doubly appalling. Part Disney's "Alice in Wonderland," part Fritz Lang's "M," the movie is horrific yet cloying, alternately distended and abrupt, sometimes poignant and often ridiculous.