Considering the story matter of Alice Sebold’s bestselling novel, you wouldn’t necessarily think of Peter Jackson as an obvious first choice to direct its big screen appearance. After all, despite many fantasy sequences, it’s about as far away from Middle Earth as you can get. But what Jackson has done here has proven is that he’s far more capable than just directing hobbits about the place.

It’s the 1970’s, and Susie Salmon (Saoirse Ronan) is just finding here feet as a teenager. Thanks to a present from her folks – a camera – she thinks she’s already got her future career figured out as a photographer. The only thing she is struggling to figure out is the opposite of sex. She likes a boy, but she’s not even sure he knows that she exists.

The one thing she does have going for her is a loving family. They’re not quite the Waltons, but in truth they’re not far off. Thankfully though, they have a pretty disruptive figure in the shape of Lynn (Susan Sarandon) – the hippest and hottest grandma in town.

But then one day, the unthinkable happens. Susie doesn’t come home from school. Unbeknownst to her family, Susie is murdered by a neighbour (Stanley Tucci) in a corn field on the way home. As expected, this devastates the entire family. And although her body is never recovered, Len (Michael Imperioli), the detective working the case, informs the parents Jack (Mark Walberg) and Abigail (Rachel Weisz) that there’s no way she could still be alive.

Susie’s not out of the picture completely however, as she finds herself stuck between worlds. While her murderer roams free, neither Susie nor her family have any peace. He is of course, closer than any of them think. But despite being very good at covering up his tracks, has he really gotten away with murder?

Listen, I didn't mean it ok? Beige really does bring out the brownness in your eyes.

As Jackson has shown in the past, he’s a stickler for detail, and he shows it off to good effect here. The only way this film could evoke the early seventies any more than it already does would be if the DVD came with free joss sticks. It walks a fine line between subtle and cheesy, but Jackson gets it just right.

You would expect a direct of his calibre and experience to excel at the more surreal blue-screen stuff, and he doesn’t disappoint. His vision of the world of in-betweens impresses on all levels, making it the kind of place where you would love to hang out, whether or not you were dead or alive.

But what he also does remarkably well with is in getting great performances from both his seasoned pro’s – particularly a memorable turn by Sarandon – and from his more youthful actors. It serves as a great reminder to us all that Jackson can certainly relate to audiences on a more human and personal level , as well as on a Tolkien one.

As if that wasn’t enough to ask for, he also throws in a large amount of great hair; both Walberg’s and Tucci’s hair pieces give so much of themselves that they really deserve screen credits all of their own.

The only real criticism that can levelled at it is with a script that occasionally makes an audience work harder than it really needs to. Sometimes the leap from one part of the story to the next borders on the improbable – most notably in the attempt to identify the killer; the clues that appear in front of Jack don’t necessarily add up to a direct connection, but that’s what he seemingly gets from it. It’s only a small grumble, and won’t seriously spoil your overall enjoyment.

It may well be the story that certainly many of the lovers of the book turned up for, but it will be Jackson’s glorious vision that will impress them even more. It certainly has a very unique look and feel for such a Hollywood blockbuster, and for that we should all be extremely thankful.

Now if we could all make a concerted effort to keep Jackson clear of Middle Earth a bit longer, the films he makes on regular earth might well end up being a blessing to us all.