The Lovely Bones (2009) review

Narrating from the Great Beyond (or somewhere in that general area), fourteen-year-old Susie Salmon (Saoirse Ronan) talks about growing up with her parents Jack (Mark Wahlberg) and Abigail (Rachel Weisz) and siblings in Norristown, developing an interest in photography, having a crush on fellow student Ray (Reece Ritchie) and then being brutally murdered by serial killer George Harvey (Stanley Tucci) ... and then tries to send "signals" to the living to help them avenge her.  The "mystical" side to the story - which was adapted from the best-selling novel by Alice Sebold - is interesting in theory, but the way it's presented here is an absolute wreck-and-a-half: there's a steady abuse of symbolism, the effects are tacky (Purgatory looks like a video game) and tonally it's all over the place (Susan Sarandon's booze-bag grandmother could have come from a much better movie).  Even though she was only a teenager herself at the time of the filming, Ronan proves to be a capable (and sympathetic) lead, and fans of Mr. Tucci might be interested in seeing him play very against type.  But did his character have to be a man-child who actually constructs dollhouses?  And whose bright idea was it to use a magical icicle to "finish him off?"