IMDb plot summary: While subjected to the horrors of World War II Germany, young Liesel finds solace by stealing books and sharing them with others. In the basement of her home, a Jewish refugee is being sheltered by her adoptive parents.
Directed by Brian Percival. Starring Sophie Nélisse, Geoffrey Rush, and Emily Watson.
Meep. I expected this movie to be kind of cheesy, but this is just straight-up bad. The first half is mind-numbingly boring, with some of the most flat and uninteresting characters I've ever seen on screen, and the second half is ridiculously sentimental and melodramatic. The fact that it's being narrated by Death itself is a lame gimmick that adds absolutely nothing to the plot and, in fact, feels like it comes from a totally different movie, with no connection at all to what's actually happening on the screen. I haven't read the book so I don't know whether this is a pretty faithful adaptation of an equally ridiculous book or whether there was actually something there and the movie just screwed it up. Even good actors like Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson can't save this one.
0.5 stars.
Flickchart: #1815 out of 2085, below Admission and above Thr3e.
1 comment:
This book is one of my top five favorites of all time - I am so sad that the movie was bad, but it confirmed my unwillingness to see it translated to the screen.
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