With Peter Jackson recently having been knighted, you could forgive him for feeling a little bit in awe of his success over the last 20 years, and particularly his huge success over the past 10. He is a visionary film maker and deserves the accolades he has received and when his first post 'Lord of the Rings'/'King Kong' films, 'The Lovely Bones', hit cinemas I eagerly went along as I had really enjoyed the trailer and am a fan of his.

"On December 6, 1973, 14-year-old Susie Salmon is raped and murdered by a neighbour, George Harvey, a serial killer of young girls. Susie finds herself in 'the in-between' - a Heaven-like place, observing her family as they grieve for her. She also watches her killer who, having covered his tracks successfully, is preparing to murder again. Her father Jack becomes obsessed with his daughter's murder, while her mother Abigail moves away to numb the pain. Susie struggles to balance her desire for vengeance on Harvey and her desire to have her family recover from their loss."

I've been a big fan of Jackson's for many years and he has made many 'great' films and some that were just 'good', but I will have to say, for me, this is his first 'bad' film. Why do I think it was bad? Well that's a slightly harder question to answer when comparing it to most other bad films I've seen. Was it because I already knew that the young girl had died and who the killer was as that was part of the advertising campaign and the whole premise of the film? Well I think that probably was a part of it. But generally the film just didn't work for me.

I had no emotional connection to the characters and the plight they were going through. Visually it felt disjointed and Jackson never seemed to let the film's story just tell itself as many scenes felt almost forced. There were some outstanding acting performances but also some terrible scenes, like the 'kiss' scene near the end and the demise of the killer. So, sadly, I have to say overall I thought it was a bad film which had some great performances, but they were the only thing that saved it in my eyes.

6 out of 10 from me.