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So far, Paramount’s The Lovely Bones](The Lovely Bones (2010) - Movie | Moviefone) hasn’t quite gotten the critical response expected from a film directed and written by a team of Oscar winners. Alice Sebold’s dramatic novel about a raped and murdered teen watching from a sort of limbo as her family and friends wrestle with the unsolved crime while the culprit roams free was itself in limbo for several years. But despite the tumult, it seemed that Bones could still make the Oscar race, especially with Peter Jackson and his frequent collaborators Philippa Boyens and Fran Walsh behind the screenplay, and a star-studded cast that includes Oscar-winner Saoirse Ronan as the narrator Susie Salmon.
However, Bones didn’t quite satisfy critics; it’s at 38% over at Rotten Tomatoes, and Cinematical’s own Elisabeth Rappe wrote in her review, “It’s neither a faithful adaptation nor a daring reinvention of the material, and it’s truly baffling why Jackson wanted to adapt it at all.” The adults aren’t buying it, but, much to Paramount’s surprise, it looks like the movie’s real audience could be young women.
The LA Times](Paramount digs up 'Bones' audience) reports that “after test research on the movie, Paramount found there was a potentially hidden audience of females between 13 and 25.” As someone who read and adored the book and was disappointed by the movie, this first struck me as somewhat puzzling, but the more I chewed on it, the more it makes sense. While some adults found that Jackson’s CGI wonderland overshadowed the emotional complexities of the book, including its forthright treatment of Susie’s budding desire, the conflict between justice and revenge, and the horror of her murder and rape, the movie was written by Jackson and Walsh “so that it would be watchable by their 13-year-old daughter.” It’s only logical, then, that that’s the audience who would enjoy it most.
Continue reading Teens are the New Target for ‘The Lovely Bones’