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Good to see on the big screen. The book, which I have not read, is apparently far more gritty, but Peter Jackson has done well by not concentrating on the grit. Therefore during the movie you will come to a point where you will dread the impending graphic depiction of a certain brutal event, but thankfully, it's only implied instead. Still, due to the toughness of the subject matter, I would not recommend this for younger teens (under 14) though one could argue it makes for good cautionary material for that age group.

The movie is beautiful and sad but ends on a lighter happier note with a slightly unexpected ending. The CGI is not as good as say, Avatar, but the CGI is not the point here. I was however, reminded of Gandalf's description of death to Pippen in Jackson's LOTR:ROTK. "A far green country......"

The male component in some of the younger couples in the theater panned the film afterwards. The female components were silent as if not to offend (read: they probably liked it). I figure these guys would have appreciated it more with 20 more years of life experience and/or some children of their own.

Some cheesiness but certainly more satisfying and thought provoking than Avatar whose only redeeming factors are the CGI and imaginative world, I give this movie a 7 out of 10. Not too far from the truely great movies and more in line with the IMDB ranking as opposed to the silly and ignorant RottenTomatoes.com ranking which almost caused me to skip this movie until the DVD came out. That would have been a mistake imho.

What's the subject matter of this film?

After reading some reviews, I came into the theater knowing that a 14 y.o. girl was raped, murdered, and dismembered. This is the brutal event from the book which I was dreading they would depict and was wondering how they would fit it within the bounds of a PG-13. However, when the time came (by the skin of the teeth), the event was implied and not shown and it's really not quite what what the movie is about.

So it's about a girl who was murdered and who observes (and affects) the lives of her family, friends, and murderer from a world between heaven and earth. On the surface, it's a little bit of a detective story. Apparently in the book, the girl feels sorry for the murderer because she sees his life. This part unfortunately did not make it to the screen (not that it would excuse murder or preclude the punishment for it in any way).

bcspace wrote:This is the brutal event from the book which I was dreading they would depict and was wondering how they would fit it within the bounds of a PG-13. However, when the time came (by the skin of the teeth), the event was implied and not shown and it's really not quite what what the movie is about.

I saw an interview with Peter Jackson where he discussed their dilemma, because that scene if obviously pivotal for the story (and it quite graphic in the book), but when they story-boarded it to prepare for filming, they were very disturbed and realized reading that scene is a different experience than seeing it acted out in a movie. Not to mention their concern that there may be a few sickos that would actually enjoy seeing such a scene.

So they took it out, which has apparently upset some of the book's fans.

Happens to many book-based movies. However, I think one review on RottenTomatoes hit the nail on the head when they said those who hadn't read the book (like me) would be able to appreciate it for what it was.