OK but needs more danger earlier

Rating: 6/10 (22 November 2014)

It's 1938 Germany. Liesel Meminger (Sophie Nélisse)'s little brother dies. She is left to foster parents Hans (Geoffrey Rush) and Rosa Hubermann (Emily Watson). Rosa is not happy because she was promised two kids with the expected allowance. Rosa is not nice especially about Liesel's communist mother. Hans is much nicer calling Liesel "Her Majesty". Liesel befriends neighbor boy Rudy Steiner. She is bullied for being illiterate but she knows how to fight. Hans teaches her to read. After a Nazi book burning rally, Liesel saves one of the books. Max Vandenburg (Ben Schnetzer) is a Jew and on the run. His father gave up his life in the Great War to save Hans, and Hans returns the favor by hiding him in the basement.
The intention is good. The movie is professionally made with some great actors. The girl Sophie Nélisse is a good little actress. However there is a lack of tension for the first half of the movie. The narration by Death gives a surreal literary feel to the movie. Director Brian Percival needs to find ways to inject danger into the movie as much as possible. I'm not suggesting that Nazi jack boots should be stomping around all the time or bombs should be falling day and night. Rudy could sneak in and run around. Or the bully kid could be stalking little Liesel. The movie needs danger to raise the tension and do it much earlier.