DIRECTOR Peter Jackson adapts another beloved book this week in ghostly drama The Lovely Bones.
Set in the 1970s, the film follows 14 year old Susie Salmon (Saoirse Ronan): a typical teenager in American suburbia with a penchant for photography and a crush on a highschool boy.
After a run in with a sinister neighbour Mr Harvey (Stanley Tucci), Susie is brutally murdered. But that is not the end of her.
Stuck inbetween heaven and earth, she is compelled to keep on watching the world as her father (Mark Wahlberg) becomes obsessed with finding his daughter and whoever was responsible for her disappearance.
But will her killer be found?
Plenty of emotion
It may not feature rampaging orcs or dinosaur destroying monkeys, but Peter Jackson is still able to pound on the emotion in this lengthy tale of love and loss.
Balancing the dissolving of a family in the wake of disaster with a taught whodunnit, and an additional arc of where we go when we die; there is plenty for the director to be keeping an eye on.
The opening scenes of expected tension are toned to perfection, with Jackson playing on extreme close-ups and heart-pounding use of sound - a process which punctuates throughout to great effect; while it is clear the Lord Of The Rings director is having the most fun when allowing his imagination to run riot in Susie's 'inbetween' world where the real and the fantastical combine.
Based on the best-selling novel by author Alice Sebold, Jackson once again teams up with Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens to tackle the screenplay.
But the story fails to engage in the same way.
Missing out certain plot-progressing points from the original source material, the adaptation fails to carry the substance hoped for.
But any short-comings in narrative are made-up for through a thoroughly captivating cast.
Experience shines
Mark Wahlberg redeems himself after an abysmal turn in The Happening as the obsessive and emotionally crippled father, and Rachel Weisz is as constant as ever as his distraught wife.
Hot on the heels of a name-making performance in Atonement, Saoirse Ronan also shines and carries the film on her shoulders throughout.
But it is the veterans of the screen who really impress.
Susan Sarandon steals every scene as the alcohol-swilling, chain-smoking grandmother while Stanley Tucci chillingly fills the shoes of the compulsive murderer, bringing a host of subtle nuances and shifty glances to terrify (a performance backed up with an Academy Award nomination).
Fans of the book are sure to pick flaws while the uninitiated may feel it lacks the drive and pace expected.
Nevertheless, as a gripping murder-mystery with a supernatural slant, The Lovely Bones is still an enjoyable and touching tale.
6/10 - Sorrowful but solid.