Sadly Lacking in Acting, Action and Overall Content

Rating: 2/10 (2 November 2013)

I tried going into this movie without high expectations because I knew this would be a hard book to convert to movie format. Unfortunately this movie fell way below my expectations, dashed my hopes, and was much worse than I feared it would be. Though I tried not to compare the movie to the book, this movie falls so far short of the book that I am surprised that O.S. Card allowed this movie to carry the same title at all. The most exciting parts of the book are completely missing as well as some of the most important character building elements of what made Ender who he was as a person and as a genius commander. Aside from the poor acting, there are also far too few battle room scenes to even make sense of what is going on there. For example, you can see dragon army rising in the standings somehow, no training scenes of the army, and only one or two battles with dragon army. There was not even a "skimming over" scene that could have helped explain why anyone would put the fate of mankind on this boys shoulders. Far too few battles in command school as well. Too much information was omitted to make this movie worth watching. This book should have been split into 2-3 movies to have done it right. I so badly wanted to write a good review for this movie that I gave it 2 stars instead of the 1 that it really deserves. Too, bad. Take my advise: If you saw the previews and enjoyed them, then try to be satisfied with those and move on with your life. Watching the film is not worth the added disappointment you will feel as you walk away from this movie with a much lighter wallet. :(