Must watch! Fans of the book must watch it a 2nd time!

Rating: 8/10 (17 November 2013)

Without giving much away, the setup is pretty simple. Earth was attacked and near destroyed by an alien race, we beat them... barely. And now preparations have been ongoing for 50 years to fight the aliens. Genius children being easier to mold and manipulate as well as being able to process data at a level beyond that of adults are the chosen ones. And the one shining star among all those children is Ender (Asa Butterfield). This is his journey, the genius boy who with the weight of saving earth on his young shoulders, has to master being a soldier and commander in time to fight the battle for survival.
Being a major fan of the book and the entire enderverse series of books I was biased (can't help that). So the first time I saw it, I was just picking up on all the places where the book differed, didn't live up etc etc. But on a second viewing (Yes I did go a second time, because I didn't hate the first screening and a few scenes intrigued me enough for a re-watch), I must say I enjoyed it more thoroughly. Turns out key was to get over ALL the things they didn't do from the books and actually enjoy what they did manage to get across in such a short time and from such a difficult-to-adapt book. So for people on the fence based on all the mixed reviews bear in mind most of the really negative feedback is from fans of the book (not all for sure, but most). As a movie it does hold its ground, CGI was fantastic, acting of the lead Ender (Asa Butterfield) is outstanding, seriously! Even fans of the book, once you get over that this Ender is so obviously much older than the one in the book, you learn to appreciate how brilliantly Asa portrayed him. Do watch it! I was biased but all my friends who had not read the book came out exhilarated and eager to read the book, which is a fairly successful adaptation in my opinion.