The Book Thief is one of those movies that has the potential to change the world. If enough people viewed it, it could prevent a second holocaust-like event from occurring. The film does an excellent job of displaying the horrors of World War II, but does so without being too graphic. (It is rated PG-13.)

The story is sweet, albeit a tearjerker. It details the life and trials of a young bookworm, Liesel, who lives with her adoptive parents and a Jewish man who is hiding out in the basement of their small German house.

(SPOILER ALERT) The ending is kind of abrupt, but that does nothing but add to the effect of the movie, since in Nazi-occupied Germany, many people’s lives ended abruptly. Likewise, it’s annoying how the majority of the characters die, but that was the reality behind living in Nazi territory; many, many people died.

What makes the novel The Book Thief stand out is that it is narrated by death. This brings quite a bit to the book, and shows the plot in a different light. In movies, narrators tend to play smaller roles, and in this movie, we only hear narration from death a few times. If one hasn’t read the book, he/she probably would be left a little confused by death’s comments. The narration of the movie isn’t as prominent as it is in the book, and thus it doesn’t help make the movie pop as much as it does in the book.

That said, the movie does follow the storyline of the book quite well, and while the book is ALWAYS better than the movie in any case, this movie really gave the print edition a run for its money.