As Holiday Season movie season heats up (ironic considering the frigid temperatures outside), a variety of topics get covered in a wide variety of films. While classic Disney musicals, AIDS victims and the the failure of Vince Vaughn have been the crux of many new films, The Book Thief tackles the topic of The Holocaust. This horrifying event has been covered several times in world of cinema, and while it’s far from the best film to cover the event, The Book Thief is still a notable film for a variety of reason.

Liesel Meminger (Sophie Nelisse) is a girl who is sent away by her mother to live with Hans and Rosa Hubermann (Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson). While living in their tiny neighborhood, Liesel learn to read, thanks to Hans, and things began to settle into normality; until the son of an old friend of Hans, Max Vandenburg (Ben Schnetzer) comes to stay with the family. The only problem with that is that Max is Jewish, and he is forced to be hidden from the Nazi soldiers who patrol the neighborhood. Through Max’s courage and Liesel’s readings and writings, hope is found in the midst of the horrors of the Holocaust.

For a surprisingly large amount of the running time of the film, The Book Thief plays things surprisingly safe, with more humor and joy to counterbalance the dreary setting (on a sidenote how is that a film dealing with a girl surviving the Holocaust is somehow more cheerful than the latest Superman movie?!?). More often than not, these upbeat moments do work, and actually work pretty well at establishing the characters. Speaking of, the characters in this film are a mixed bunch; Liesel is a bit bland, while the Hubermann’s feel startlingly real by the end of the film. Other supporting characters have similarly hit-and-miss results, with Max being a fascinating individual, while a recurring adolescent bully feels ripped straight out of a subpar Nickelodeon sitcom.

Much of the films writing and directing remain surprisingly ordinary, with neither one really doing anything noteworthy. If it weren’t for some outstanding performances (Rush in particular deserves more praise for his work here), it’s likely this film would just slip through the cracks. The story in particular goes on a bit too long, with several situations and characters never feeling as fully fleshed out as they could’ve been. I will say this though; the last 20 minutes of the film are extraordinary, again mainly thanks to the cast, but the script does do an admirable job too, even if there’s one final moment involving one of the films principal characters that feels just a bit too convenient.

While I wish it went more in-depth in some of it’s writing, The Book Thief is an admirable film that is mainly helped by it’s fantastic cast. I’m not sure if it’ll be everyone’s cup of tea (while I admired their gutsiness in doing a dark ending, it’ll surely turn off many audience members), The Book Thief is still a decent read that has moments of pure greatness.