The Book Thief

a slow tour through the many ww2 movie tropes. see! the war through a child's eyes! watch! as a hobby becomes her passion and her focus through times of trouble! cry! at melodrama timed to a workmanlike precision! laugh! at a poignant friendship with a kindly old man! but seriously it goes on and on to the point that a very sad moment near the end had me in tears from derisive laughter i just couldn't hold in anymore.

It's almost impossible to be indifferent when you have already read the book, in which case it is hard to give this a very high score, but for what's it worth, the film is a much simpler and subtler version of the book. Someone else may call that dull and shallow instead, but remaining faithful to a 550+ page long novel as much as this movie does is certainly a hard feat to accomplish and deserves praise just for this merit. Still, I'd recommend you watch the trailer, and read the book instead.

A holocaust-lite drama for older children that will start good conversations without traumatizing. Exquisite production design and strong performances from Geoffrey Rush and the lead actress. Sophie Nelisse is a young actress to watch out for. Wonderful talent that should have a long future in acting. Can't comment on how good the adaptation is because I haven't read the book.

This could have touched me if I hadn't watched countless other holocaust movies before. I could almost name the specific movies some scenes were taken from. And it was too decent: well-written characters, well-structured story, etc., but no shock, no discharge at all, it just strolls through the porcelain shop without breaking anything. Still, a good-looking and warm-hearted movie, and a very good family movie. Rush and Watson as good as always, kudos to Nélisse and the rest of the cast, too.

Travels an extremely well-tread road with absolutely nothing new or interesting to say. Some of the performances were good, but ultimately they existed for no real purpose.

I'm not sure if the sporadic supernatural narration elevates the story or was a distraction from it. / He sat for a moment in quiet contemplation, wondering if he could possibly think of something to add that would be either humorous or insightful, fingers poised over the keyboard like an octopus trained to play the drums, read sheet music and twirl the drumsticks but uncertain of what song to play next. / I also wondered why the main character was learning how to read English instead of German.

There's something gruesome and off-putting about this story being narrated by Death. I've read that the technique works fabulously within the novel (which I have not read, but I might), but here, it's clunky and strange, used so intermittently that every instance of it practically dragged me right out of the film. It's just about the only thing this movie has to put an interesting spin on WWII movies, so the fact that it doesn't work is a bit of a shame. It's a competent film but kinda boring.

Well produced and well performed Holocaust drama can’t shake the fact that we have seen versions of this story many times before – there needs to be more meat on the bones than can be found on this pleasant, but undernourished Sunday afternoon matinee effort. Thank goodness for Rush and Watson who predictably liven every scene they are in, with Nelisse providing a rock solid anchor – solid enough to overcome some missteps, especially the hideously tasteless and pompous narration.

A marvelous story of survival during war torn Germany. Sophie Nélisse was enchanting. Geoffry Rush was excellent & very charismatic. Emily Watson was also quite good. Excellent performances. The narration could have been deleted. The story is slow & methodical but carries a lot of emotional impact. Excellent production quality & music. It builds a great connection to the characters. The overall story is tragic, but this is more about the human spirit, friendship & compassion. Well done.

Not a bad film, certainly top-notch in terms of production design and casting, but sadly it felt like a too watered-down version of the book. The characters looked real enough on the screen, but had none of the spirit, tenacity or emotion that they did on the page. The Death-narrator felt incredibly clunky - the most obvious example of the screenwriters having no real idea how to adapt an unconventional piece of literature. Visuals and acting: superb. Storytelling: a really wasted opportunity.

A good story, with an ending I enjoyed, although not exactly a Hollywood ending. It's rare that I find endings well done, so that's a big compliment. The drawback to this movie is the pacing. It seemed very slow. Not as slow as Boyhood, but slow none the less. Pick up the pace and this probably would have become one of my top movies.

It brought nothing new. It's a nice story though.

The narrator was tacky but everything else ruled, especially the idea of taking Mein Kampf and painting over it so you can write your own stories, which triggers my lit nerd brain so hard.

Told from the death's perspective, the people from World War 2 will always be the greatest generation for what they had to go through.

What's with the theme of Nazi illiteracy? I watched The Reader (2008) not that long ago. That one takes place in post-war Germany. The Book Thief (2013) takes place during the war years and is another promotion about the joys of reading. Not always the most exciting of stories, but beautifully shot with likable characters. Sophie Nélisse's blue-eyed face sure lit up the screen!

Story and acting is alright, but I rank this movie this high because it captures you. I think wars should never be forgotten or think lightly of, therefore I appreciate movies like these, who show the hardships of it. 61/100.

Entertainment: 4/4. Spirit: 2/3. Sustainability: 1/3.

I haven't read the book so I'm not sure if it stays true to the book. The movie however was very heart warming. There were one or two parts where I dozed off, but it quickly got my attention again.

Disappointed after having read the book. Poor directing, several weak performances. Lucky enough the acting from Nélisse and Rush is good and bring a great chemistry to the picture. Zusak's book deserved better than being an average movie.

I'm going to have to steal the book that this movie was based on from my wife. The Book Thief is an excellent war-time drama, that skips all the bloody scenes and missing limbs and focuses on families. I loved that we got a glimpse of Germany not through the eyes of soldiers or the Jewish people, but through the eyes of a young girl living amongst the Nazis...

A nice little story about a girl in Nazi-Germany, which plays it very safe (arguably a little too safe) on the setting. It's slow and long (and even boring at some points), which I found to be frustrating at times, because the story doesn't always warrant the movie to be as slow as it is, but in the end it all comes together nicely. A nice extra was the brilliant narration.

Movies based on WWII and the extermination of Jews never seem to stop. And somehow or the other you still end up liking each one of those. This one has a girl with a liking for books thrown in to serve as the main storyline. I can't remember the name of any of the lead characters but everyone did a great job here. Watch it!

I haven't read the book, so I can't comment on it as an adaptation, but as a film it's... okay. It's certainly not incompetent, but it's not anything new either. It felt like they couldn't quite figure out who the target audience was. It was quite childish in its nature, but, honestly, a bit too boring to be for younger audiences. The ending was the best part, I thought. I wouldn't really recommend it, but there are much worse things you could watch.

Overall, well done. I'd forgotten most of the story line from the book so was able to watch the movie with fresh eyes. The narration bit did drag the movie down, as did the choppiness of the scenes in the second half of the film. Well acted, lovely cinematography.

Reasonably entertaining with a couple of memorable scenes but nothing outstanding.

On-the-nose stuff, but boy howdy, did it suck me in. Having never read the novel on which it's based, I was impressed to find that I was thoroughly intrigued by these characters and the fates they may meet; period drama isn't my favourite genre, but I was thoroughly sold this time around. Beautiful cinematography and undoubtedly solid source material played major roles in my enjoyment, but credit is also due to Sophie Nélisse, delivering a transcendantly good performance on a par with her elders

Decent acting and story with clueless directing. The narration probably worked better in the book too.

Suffering from a mediocre script, from which the nationality-bewildered cast doesnt get much help, The Book Thief manages to get its accolades through beautiful set designs, and an endearing lead in Sophie Nelisse.

:/ doesn't really do the book justice, but it was a cute film on it's own.

Not a bad film overall. A good film for the family.

great production design, beautiful score, some good acting however the voiceover doesn't work and the script adaptation is beyond bad...

Read the book instead...

The movie is enjoyable and quite close to the book, that I read some months ago. Too bad that in the movie Frau Holtzapfel is not even mentioned, in the novel she was a quite meaningful character. Liesel and Rudy never seemed completely real in the movie, maybe because of the unimpressive acting, and because of the costumes and makeup that were too nice considering that the kids were supposed to be very poor. Anyway, it's still a movie worth watching, despite these minor flaws.

The Book Thief is an emotionally gripping drama that happens to be set during the years of the Nazis holding control over Germany. It's not about the period, which we've probably explored enough in film; it's about the characters, their relationships, and the way these people impact each other. It's compelling, it's humorous, it balances its tone to ensure it never falls too far to one side of the comedy and melodrama, and it contains powerful performances from the entire cast.

This isn't an easy film to live with. Death tells us that he was very productive at his job during the story's years of 1938 to 1945. And even though we don't witness the true gruesomeness of it all, the weight and misery of war and Jewish persecution is a heavy cinematic burden to bear. (pluggedin.com)

Intelligencia for the intelligencia. Yes, there are some minor mis-steps along the way, but for the most part this is a thinking person's-film. Kudos for what they achieved.

This movie hurt me deeply, the book is on my TBR list and I anticipate it hurting me deeply as well.

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I love how the movie let me down gently.

I dunno. It was alright I guess. It went along at a pretty steady clip, and I enjoyed it for the most part, but the diabolus ex machina at the climax, narrated by death himself, felt pointlessly cruel. I don't suppose I would have felt that way if the narrator hadn't sounded so smug as he described those characters dying, but the narration, which had already taken me out of the movie several times before, finally killed it for me. I wish I could've liked it more, but oh well. No film is perfect.

didn't have much content (nothing in it that is great enough to make it worth watching)

B

I don't know why I have watched this film or what I have gained from watching. ıt's just.. beautiful

Non riesce a ricreare la magia e la poesia del libro, ma ha comunque una buona storia alla base e si vede.

Couldn't get into this film at all. I must admit I stopped paying attention at some point and did some other stuff while watching, which is why I may not be able to judge this film fairly. Still I am fairly sure there are better films in this genre, both on a cinematic, philosophical and emotional level.

It was kind of pointless.

Küçük kız oyuncu. Bu kız gelecekte umarım hak ettiği yere gelir. Nasıl bir bakıştır o öyle. Doğalında mı rol mü? Oyunculukları gerçekten olağanüstü buldum. Etkilendim. Bu bir kitaptan uyarlama. Kitabını okumadım ancak bendeki etkisi edebi oldu.

film gorsel, islenis, duygusal olarak da asiri yapay. dramatize edilmeye calisilmis sahneler. simdiki zamanin mizah anlayisiyla islenen, masalsi anlatimiyla inandiriciliktan uzak bir senaryo

Let's consider, the book I somewhat enjoyed. A book that has a somewhat interesting plot. Now the movie, which in its constant abbreviation of the book, warps the mild enjoyment I got from this book. Sure, view of Nazi Germany sheds a different light on this awful circumstance, but that alone can not save this disappointing adaptation.

1208: good. especially childhood part!

The typical Anne Frank-esque, post-Schindler's List Holocaust crap -- and, for the fans of serious nazisploitation stuff, the perfect companion for the lousy The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.