The Lovely Bones (2009)

The Lovely Bones parents guide

Strong sex and nudity, which is more than most PG-13 titles carry. Beyond that, mild language and strong violence.

Our estimate: 18 and up, higher than the PG-13 suggests, because of the sex and nudity.

Scare

Mildly scary

A few tense or eerie moments.

Jump scares

A couple

One or two sudden jolts.

Gore

Light gore

Some blood or injury, briefly.

Violence

Strong violence

Violence is frequent or intense.

Sex and nudity

Strong

Strong means explicit or repeated sex, extended nudity, or sexual assault shown on screen, attempted or completed, even partly off screen. Any one of these is enough.

Language

Mild

Mild words like damn, hell or crap.

How we rate: an AI reads what is known about each title and tags it 0 to 3; we check the tags against a hand-rated set and correct them by hand when readers tell us. Estimates, not a scene-by-scene review. Spot a mistake? Tell us.

Three questions

Is The Lovely Bones scary?

Only a little. The Lovely Bones has a few tense moments, nothing that follows you to bed.

How gory is The Lovely Bones?

Light gore and strong violence.

What is The Lovely Bones rated, and is it OK for kids?

Better for teens than younger kids: it is rated PG-13, with strong sex and nudity, and strong violence.

What is The Lovely Bones about?

After being brutally murdered, 14-year-old Susie Salmon watches from heaven over her grief-stricken family -- and her killer. As she observes their daily lives, she must balance her thirst for revenge with her desire for her family to heal.

Cast and crew

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The Lovely Bones is on our Fantasy on Paramount+, Drama on Peacock, Fantasy on Peacock and Fantasy on Kanopy lists.

More like this feeling

Prompts we typed into CouchRot, and the lists that share its tags.

• “a movie that will make me cry”
• “a thriller with a twist, no spoilers”
• “funny but not stupid, under two hours”

Lists with the same feel: Tearjerkers.