From a die hard fan to a disappointed one

Rating: 3/10 (31 October 2013)

I read this book for the first time as a teenager in high school and found it to be a world of unknown limitations, where rational thought intelligent decisions, and carefully calculated emotions ruled the day guided by a genius mind. The images conveyed in every page of detailed descriptive writing, from the desperation of Valentine losing a 6 year old Ender, to the anguish of Ender, knowing he killed Bonzo, every major emotion was exploited and bared before the reader. The book was too short for what the readers wanted, and left us craving more, both in the continuing back stories such as Ender's Shadow as well as the deeper philosophical aspects of Xenophobia and those books which followed.
This movie, however, left those of us who eagerly awaited the transition of the novel to the big screen appalled and eager for the lights to come up so we could hastily exit the theater, shaking our heads in utter disappointment at the epic failure that is Ender's Game: the movie. From the lack of voice-over (the only proper way to explain the large portion of the book told through Ender's thoughts) to the stilted acting, to the condensation of close to a decade of learning to less than a year, each minute was painful to watch, and even more difficult to swallow. The only thing that could have made this movie more of a disappointment in my book, would have been if it had been not only poorly written and acted, but also lacking in the visual graphics.
I will say, the movie is beautiful to watch, though incorrect according to the descriptions in the book, but at least there's something nice on the screen that can ease the sting of the tattered shreds of a great story that's being crammed down your throat...