Good concept, poorly executed.

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The film takes place in Nazi Germany. The opening narration is done by Mr. G. Reaper (Roger Allam). Liesel (Sophie Nélisse) is going to live with new parents. Unknown to her at this time, her mother was taken away because she was a communist. Liesel lives with some good Germans who care for her as their own. Liesel is illiterate but takes a shine to reading. She gets engrossed in reading books, while her loving adopted Papa (Geoffrey Rush) walks the fine line by hiding Max (Ben Schnetzer) a Jew whose father saved his life in WWI. The film gets its title from the fact Liesel would steal (and then return) books from the Burgermeister.The film contains both the feeling on impending doom and hope simultaneously. I felt like I was reading poetry while I watched the film. It was that well done. The performances were spectacular.Must see film for those who love a great movie. It is Oscar worthy.

Firstly, let me state at the onset that I have read the book and loved it. Movies based on books often start with an inherent handicap with viewers like me and movies which have done a better job than the source material can be counted on a single hand with fingers to spare. So my observations are definitely coloured from that perspective. Well, the movie is overall good and largely stays very close to the source material. It has high production value, the cast look their part and acting is largely good. However, the movie seems to lack a soul, and therein lies my problem.Firstly, I believe the source material is a warm story in a dark setting. With its brightly lit sets, immaculate and dare I say fashionable dresses, and generally well-off surroundings, the characters never come off as indigent or suffering. It was difficult to understand why Leisel's mom was calling her dirty when she first meets her. The coat she was wearing could have easily come from a Ralph Lauren store. Overall, the movie could have done better with a cheaper wardrobe and set design.Next, Rudy and Leisel in the book are extremely energetic and passionate. Rudy, especially, came across as someone destined to conquer the world by his sheer confidence and charm. In the movie, they are both much more reserved and the movie is lesser for it. It is the juxtaposition of the spirit of the kids with their extremely harsh surroundings that lent the book its gravity. And both are toned down to a large extent in the movie. For example, in the book, Rudy is constantly hungry which makes Liesel and Rudy steal food alongwith a bunch of other kids. A single apple makes for a good day! The gravity of their situation is never felt in the movie.Similarly, the character development while decent could have been much better and that is the most apparent in the case of Rosa Hubermann, Liesel's adopted mom. Also, the commentary by death which was brilliant in the book just came across as tacky in the movie without lending any value. Lastly, the editing at a few places was shoddy, especially in the last scene which was devastating in the book but was fairly average in the movie. I would recommend watching the movie and people who have not read the book would definitely enjoy it more.

It's heart may be in the right place but "The Book Thief" suffers mightily from the almost impossible task of translating a book which was basically about the power of words into a medium that is often at its best when it uses as few words as possible. When an illiterate young girl is adopted by a poor but worthy German family prior to the outbreak of the second world war her desire to better herself is aided and abetted by her adoptive father. As the influence of The Party grows the family give shelter to a Jew thus endangering all of them. That's about it,really in basic terms,but the girl and the fugitive from Nazism develop a friendship and he eventually leaves the house in order to protect them all. The village is destroyed in a bombing raid and only the girl survives. In the end,a bit like in "Titanic",we see the mementoes of her long life and history. It's all very standard stuff but somehow unaffecting when we should be in floods of tears. What happened to "Death"?Here he is an almost peripheral figure whereas in the novel he binds it together and adds to our understanding of the actions of the characters. And the German accents ?They were very much of the "Ve have vays of making you talk"variety and merely distracted the viewer.We know they're supposed to be Germans,for heaven's sake,this isn't "Hallo,Hallo!" where Herr Flick of the Gestapo is going to limp in slapping his leg with his baton. Mr Rush and Miss Watson were particularly guilty of giving us 1950s British War film Germans,but then they say there's nothing like a foreign accent as a prop an actor. I did want to like "The Book Thief" and I did want to be moved by it.Unfortunately I didn't and I wasn't.

The near last part and the last part would nearly fill you with tears. My family and myself stumbled on this by accident while flicking through the TV, and this movie suddenly appears on Channel 4. You would get a lump on your throat in the scene where the young girl searches for her Jewish friend among the crowds of Jewish men going to the concentration camps and of course, the Nazi's getting violent at her whenever she approached them. Honestly, they were such sick human beings on this earth that worshipped Hitler and his severe hatred for the Jews. Even the fact, all of the girls family lost their lives when the bombs came on top of them from the Americans (I think). Honestly, this movie is so hard to watch but Geoffrey Rush did a fantastic job as playing the father role. I give this movie a 8/10!