Torn between: Promising start, an ok-paced storyline (semi-weak middle) and a limp ending, there aren’t any elves, dwarves, hobbits or other magical forest creatures to save this visually breath-taking, could-have-been-great tween gets murdered by obviously bent neighborhood creep feature. This reviewer could hardly keep his face straight whenever Marky Mark was onscreen, thanks to recent SNL spoofs “Say hi to your mom for me!”. Heheheh. Better straight to video or picked up from used bin, there’s enough decent acting in The Lovely Bones – but Jackson has to get his mojo back from Middle-earth.

See also: http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2008/05/peter_jacksons_the_lovely_bones_plagued_by.html

I cannot better this review. It says almost everything I felt about the film, except that it started good and ended badly, as if Jackson dropped the ball entirely at the end. Too bad. It could have been good, but ended badly. The best part of the film was using Brian Eno to score it and a song by Cocteau Twins in the soundtrack.