I really wanted to like it

Rating: 6/10 (2 February 2014)

I came away from this movie with a sense of disappointment. I wanted to like this movie, I really did. The production quality on the film was amazing. The actors for the most part were good as well.
This film, had it been successful, would have been the first of many; the story has a total of 6 books in its series, followed by another that contains 5 books.
The flaw however, lies in the script. The people working on this movie seemingly decided that character development was below them, it was an unnecessary thing that those who lack directorial talent did. There is very little substance to this film, and what little there is has no consequence. Every plot-line that showed the main character grow, was either removed or minimized to such an extent that it no longer held any meaning.
In its place, you are graced with scenes that should have made up the character development, with a voice-over narration from the main character. Usually these voice-overs describe what the character is going through, their emotional state and what their current environment is doing to them. It's a cheap way to get inside the main characters head, so it comes as no surprise that they decided to go with this as a method of placebo character development. I could live with that, had they done it correctly. Instead, you're forced to listen to Ender describe exactly what you see on screen.
Had I not read the book, I believe I would have come away from this movie questioning why a few things I saw happen, happened. They even went so far as to spoil what was a major plot-twist in the book, only one third through the film.
This film had potential. It had a budget. It had an amazing production and post-production team. Is was however, its script that lead to its inevitable downward spiral that will likely kill any chance of a sequel.