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The Book Thief
The Book Thief
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The Book Thief

The Book Thief

2013
Drama, War
2h 11m
While subjected to the horrors of WWII Germany, young Liesel finds solace by stealing books and sharing them with others. Under the stairs in her home, a Jewish refuge is being sheltered by her adoptive parents. (imdb)

The Book Thief

2013
Drama, War
2h 11m
Your probable score
Avg Percentile 49.41% from 975 total ratings

Ratings & Reviews

(983)
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Rated 24 Sep 2014
45
20th
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.
Rated 15 Dec 2013
60
53rd
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.
Rated 29 Nov 2013
65
28th
Rated 30 Mar 2015
5
54th
Rated 01 Aug 2014
55
20th
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.
Rated 19 Jun 2014
85
64th
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.
Rated 02 Dec 2013
70
19th
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.
Rated 12 Mar 2022
71
40th
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.
Rated 13 Jun 2016
80
83rd
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.
Rated 13 Aug 2015
79
66th
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.
Rated 01 Jul 2015
70
63rd
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.
Rated 21 Jun 2015
70
38th
It brought nothing new. It's a nice story though.
Rated 28 May 2015
85
73rd
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.
Rated 19 Nov 2014
100
93rd
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.
Rated 20 Oct 2014
60
89th
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!
Rated 16 Aug 2014
61
72nd
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.
Rated 21 Jun 2014
70
77th
Entertainment: 4/4. Spirit: 2/3. Sustainability: 1/3.
Rated 26 May 2014
86
39th
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.
Rated 22 Apr 2014
53
30th
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.
Rated 12 Apr 2014
98
97th
Rated 06 Apr 2014
65
46th
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.
Rated 06 Apr 2014
79
65th
Rated 02 Apr 2014
60
43rd
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.
Rated 30 Mar 2014
85
60th
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.
Rated 08 Mar 2014
6
43rd
Reasonably entertaining with a couple of memorable scenes but nothing outstanding.
Rated 03 Mar 2014
78
44th
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
Rated 25 Feb 2014
46
21st
Decent acting and story with clueless directing. The narration probably worked better in the book too.
Rated 30 Jan 2014
70
61st
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.
Rated 28 Jan 2014
7
49th
:/ doesn't really do the book justice, but it was a cute film on it's own.
Rated 19 Jan 2014
60
31st
Not a bad film overall. A good film for the family.
Rated 16 Jan 2014
70
40th
great production design, beautiful score, some good acting however the voiceover doesn't work and the script adaptation is beyond bad...
Rated 13 Jan 2014
50
37th
Read the book instead...
Rated 11 Jan 2014
76
76th
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.
Rated 15 Nov 2013
70
77th
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.
Rated 09 Nov 2013
70
72nd
Rated 21 Aug 2022
92
79th
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.
Rated 19 Aug 2022
81
52nd
This movie hurt me deeply, the book is on my TBR list and I anticipate it hurting me deeply as well.
Rated 06 Aug 2021
75
59th
2016.12.5/????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Rated 30 Jul 2021
100
96th
I love how the movie let me down gently.
Rated 06 Jan 2018
85
42nd
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.
Rated 22 Dec 2017
76
36th
didn't have much content (nothing in it that is great enough to make it worth watching)
Rated 04 Sep 2017
77
46th
B
Rated 08 Feb 2017
78
56th
I don't know why I have watched this film or what I have gained from watching. ıt's just.. beautiful
Rated 22 Jun 2016
71
37th
Non riesce a ricreare la magia e la poesia del libro, ma ha comunque una buona storia alla base e si vede.
Rated 21 Mar 2015
59
17th
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.
Rated 06 Jan 2015
55
30th
It was kind of pointless.
Rated 18 Jul 2014
75
30th
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.
Rated 03 Mar 2014
30
5th
film gorsel, islenis, duygusal olarak da asiri yapay. dramatize edilmeye calisilmis sahneler. simdiki zamanin mizah anlayisiyla islenen, masalsi anlatimiyla inandiriciliktan uzak bir senaryo
Rated 18 Feb 2014
38
10th
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.
Rated 15 Feb 2014
88
37th
1208: good. especially childhood part!
Rated 05 Feb 2014
32
7th

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