visually, the movie was very appealing. I saw it in imax and it was worth it. the score was also very good. Asa Butterfield, the kid who plays Ender, did an amazing job. He was too tall for the height Ender is in the book, (Asa is about 5'10'') so the message of Ender being a very young, small, kid was lost a little. Still, the acting made up for that. I could believe he was angry and conflicted.

The story started out strong, but when they launched for Battle School and I saw Bean sitting in the shuttle, I knew Bean's story was going to be lost and there would be no sequel (at least, not a sequel that is true to the books). I know it's Ender's Game and not Shadow, but Bean's character is very, very important and it made me sad he was lost. The main reason this bugs me is because there is no chance of "Ender's Shadow" being made into a movie, so I was hoping his story would be included in this film. Not so much.

It's just too much story to pack into 2 hours. The struggle Ender goes through the book was in large part gone. There is little to nothing explaining WHY what the kids were saying and doing was important. It felt like you just had to accept what was being told to you instead of believing it on your own through the action in the movie. I think of you had read the book, you'd catch a lot more than if you just saw the film. However, in my opinion, the film has to stand on its own and make the audience member feel fulfilled without reading the book. If I hadn't read the book, I'm not sure I would have appreciated everything briefly mentioned in the novel. For example, Ender's isolation. They TELL you he's being isolated, but in the vast majority of the movie, he's surrounded by kids. They tell Ender to let bean mop up the mess after a failed battle, but don't explain why it is Bean that Ender needs to trust. You don't see much of the struggle of Ender progressing through Battle School. It feels like he got there on Sunday and by Friday he was commanding his own army. Also, Peter's character is way more important than the movie got across. Bernard got more credit than he deserved. Bozo was just weird and his Spanish accent was Mexican, not Spanish. We lost a lot of characters. Achilles wasn't mentioned and Valentine was left on earth when Ender begins his search for a new colony in which to plant the Formics. My love for the book made my expectations too high, and I'm still not convinced it's a good stand - alone movie. It's just too much for two hours to do it justice. Nice try, but I'm mostly disappointed.

The first thing my husband said after we left was, "that would have been an amazing mini - series." I agreed. They needed more time. When a novel is translated into a movie, portions of the book will be sacrificed to make it work on film. In this case, I think the cost was too high.

2.5/5

Up to you. No spoilers. I want you to see it without preconceptions. That way you have an honest look at it.