Asked for a burrito, got a really good-looking cheese quesadilla

Rating: 5/10 (2 November 2013)

Movie goers looking for a cinematic thrill ride with lots of eye candy and nothing too emotionally demanding will get exactly what they want from Enders Game. Movie goers looking to enjoy the emotional and philosophical ride that they experienced in Orson Scott Card's book, Enders Game, will leave feeling flat and unfulfilled.
The film manages to adequately document the plot of the book while going above and beyond to create the visual aesthetic. The computer effects, costumes, and art design (if you ignore Ender's eye shadow) are stunning.
Unfortunately, the producers did not give the same attention to other important elements in film. Where the book drew the audience in, giving them an internal and external viewing experience, this film simply showed the audience everything they needed to get the gist of the plot. In fact, all of the vehicles that Card used to create depth and wonder in his novel were absent: character development, patience, Ender's personal journey through his computer game, his siblings, and all of his families activities that were crucial to having any empathy and understanding for Ender himself –all absent from the film.
The film does not show, it tells. The complex themes in the book are cut down to a simple story of unrealistically quick adaptation and ingenuity.
The soundtrack is the same cliché heroic orchestral hurrah that we hear in every TV epic. They might as well have just used the Game of Thrones soundtrack, in fact, they might have.
Without the stunning visuals and a few good performances it would be a complete failure. Asa Butterfield is the only real standout as Ender. Other performances were adequate, but unfortunately the writer's didn't give the actors much to work with in terms of emotion or expression of any kind.
Films can have the same level of depth as books. It is dumb to expect the same experience in the film that you got from the book, but you can at least hope to see the film done with all the necessary trappings of a story well told. Overall it is a visual joyride, a depiction of Orson Scott Card's plot (albeit significantly watered-down) and little more.