For a moment I thought this would be Harry Potter in space, but it isn't.

Rating: 9/10 (4 November 2013)

I never read the book. Since few movies live up to the book they relied upon, this was good for me and the wife.
It is entertaining. It does not require you to overheat any brain cells. I suggest you relieve yourself before you go in and don't take the large drink in with you.
The premise is well known. But you will pick up bits and pieces from other movies such as The Matrix, Happy Potter and the Whatever, The Last Star Fighter, Star Wars, Star Trek (the original TV series and The Next Generation), Independence Day, Full Metal Jacket, Stand By Me.....you get the point. Like all movies, there isn't anything new in it. But at least it isn't a complete rip off like any Quentin Tarrintino movies. It is packaged differently.
I suggest that you could make a great game of picking out elements of earlier films.
The wife did not like the end. I liked it because it is not Independence Day in regards to the ending. Like life, there are no good, tidy endings and all the characters are flawed (except the DI played almost cartoonishly).
I am glad I saw it. But I'll have a hard time remembering that I went to see it a few weeks from now...just like the last Star Trek movie. I don't even remember the plot of that one.