Ender's Game

Synopsis

After multiple invasions from an alien species, humans have banded together to build a defensive force. This force has learned that training children from a young age which is where we met Ender Wiggen who is a prodigy.

Review

I want to like this movie. I loved the book, which I will review the entire series in the future, and years ago I liked the movie because of that. However, having watched it, even comparing to my memory of the book, it doesn't hold up well.

There are a couple of scenes that are supposed to be very poignant to Ender in his growth, however the CGI ruins it and this is the same feeling I felt years ago. All they had to do was just use her face rather than CGI all of it and it would have gone so much better.

As for the story, they changed some very important plot lines that ruined their ability to move forward. However, I think this more about them making changes to tell this story to fit a movie. This movie would be better suited as a miniseries rather than a 2-hour movie. There is so much drama, and politics that play such a big role in the end that you have to have more.

Some acting is excellent. Hailee Steinfeld reminds me exactly of Petra from the book, Harrison Ford as well. Asa Butterfield however should not have done this. It isn't his fault. He is a decent actor, but him going through puberty during this movie and his voice cracking and screeching ruin some of the most critical scenes for Ender.

My Rating

If I ever got a chance to talk to Orson Scott Card and whoever owns the film rights, I would want to redo it with a miniseries that combines both Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow books. You 100% could make it multi season, but I think 6–10 episodes at an hour a piece could allow for a ton of story. It is hard not to compare this to the book and watch it as a standalone video, but as a standalone its terrible. The story is weak, the action makes no sense without major missing context, and the gravity of the final test is lost due to poor story telling. The movie is a 5 and does a disservice to the book on a grand scale.

Parental Rating

No language, very limited violence, and no sex. A family oriented movie, which makes sense since the book is for young adults. I don't think my dad would watch it on his own, but my mom would, and he would watch it with her. So based on that, approved by both.

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