Really Well Done!

Rating: 9/10 (1 November 2013)

If I sound critical at all, please note that I did really like the movie. My issues with it are more "nitpicky" - looking for small things to improve when the overall movie was well done. Off the top I'll give it a 9/10. No spoilers here, no worries about that! ;) For the sake of context, I went to see the movie with a group of 5 friends, 2 of which had not read the book.
The visuals and action were spectacular. The book was published back in 1985, so they also made some needed "upgrades" to the technology shown in the movie. They did a really good job of re-imagining how everything would function, and making it easier for a person to follow visually. The acting was really well done as well. From what I understand they did have to make the younger characters older in the movie vs. the book. This was apparently done so that the actors were more mature and able to handle the script and the events that happen during the movie storyline. The "age change" didn't take anything away from the movie experience though. Since the movie didn't change the overall plot, the storyline itself was as great as I remembered it was (in the book).
In the movie, they obviously left out a lot of the details from the book. Even with the movie being over 2 hours long, to me it still felt rushed. According to the two people who hadn't read the books, they didn't feel that way at all. I'm guessing it felt rushed to me simply because they had to incorporate such a large number of events into the movie for the sake of viewing time. Some of my favorite parts in the book were left out, but all in all it seemed like the major plot points carried through loud and clear. The movie basically goes from step to step so quickly that the "action" so to speak never really stops. Most of the slower parts of the book were sped up quite a bit (which makes sense of course).
The character development was also very very summarized. You don't learn nearly as much about the characters in the movie. For example, some of the characters like Bean have such a good back story and viewpoint that the author went back years later and re-wrote the entire time frame from Bean's perspective (in a new completely separate book). A lot of the friendships between the kids are missed too. The movie focuses heavily on Ender's relationship with one character, and the really important friendships with two of the other main characters are minimalized. Again, I totally understand that they had to limit how much time is spent on character relationships within a 2 hour movie.
There were a few script changes between the movie and the book, but nothing major. There was no huge difference to get upset about, and all in all I think they covered their bases well. This makes sense since the book's author also co-produced the movie. I did notice a few things were made "nicer" in the movie vs. the books, but with movie ratings and intended audience nowadays - it made sense to me. I won't go into any specifics on the changes between the book and the movie here, simply to avoid spoiling the movie (or book) for anyone. Just rest assured that the movie in no way "ruins" the original plot or purpose compared to the book.
My only two "big" negatives about the movie were the timeline and the characters. For the timeline, I mean to say that it felt like they could have made 3 separate movies instead of just 1. I'm guessing if they had more optimistic expectations of how well the movie would do in the box office - we would had a trilogy instead. I'm not saying I wasn't happy with the movie... I'm just saying that they could have done a more complete job of it if they had 4 more hours to do it with. ;) Hypothetically if they *had* made this book into a movie trilogy, you had better believe that I'd be at opening night for every one of them! As for the character issues, again that was more of a "we only have 2 hours for this movie" kind of thing. There could have been a ton more character development; if only they had the time to do it. The other big issue is that a movie can't really convey what a character is thinking (aside form cheesy voice overs in some other movies). An overwhelming majority of the book takes place within Ender's thoughts. The book has so many interesting viewpoints, thought processes, feelings, etc. regarding what Ender thinks about and does. There is a lot of background information and motivations that make Ender follow the paths that he follows in the story. You get some of it due to clever script writing, but a lot of that understanding and character appeal is missed. Like I said I don't really see a way around this. There is a reason why this concept is always mentioned when people say "the book is better than the movie".
All in all though, I thought they did a great job with the Enders Game movie. It's worth watching no matter if you have read the book or not - it's that good. 9/10, enough said. ;)