A huge disappointment...

Rating: 5/10 (24 March 2012)

**Contains spoilers** I was really disappointed with this movie. I was so excited for it before hand because there is a lot of action in the book that would be better seen on a screen. The book made the story exciting, intense, and it really drew the reader in. The movie was the complete opposite.
There was almost no character development. If I had never read the book, I feel that I would have left the theater asking who was Katniss, Peeta and everyone else. In, face this is what my boyfriend experienced. The script writers did not include any dialog that demonstrated the bonds that the characters shared such as the bond between Katniss and Peeta, between Katniss and Rue, and between Katniss and Cinna. For example, Rue's death was supposed to be a heart-wrenching moment and the events leading up to it happened so quickly, that I did not feel that Katniss felt anything for Rue. This made all of Katniss' actions after Rue's death seem superficial. Also, President Snow did not come off as dangerous and imposing as he did in the novel. There are many other examples that illustrate this point.
The dialog in general was very little and very lacking in sophistication and explanatory detail. I realize that the novel was narrated in first-person and thus there was not going to much dialog to begin with but they could have had better music to fill in all of the silences. In fact, because there was so little talking and music, I found the movie incredibly boring, something to book was definitely not. Maybe they should have had Katniss narrate some parts of the movie especially things that happened in the past, like her father's death and her family's struggle afterward. She could have been telling the audience the story as looking back on her experience. This would have been a huge change from the novel's present tense, but it would have provided the audience with more entertainment that just watching a camera follow people around the woods.
Also, people who did not read the novel, like my boyfriend, may be very confused about some parts of the film. The movie skimmed over many events that were very important to character development or the story. These include Katniss's father's death, her mother's depression, and Peeta's kindness when he gave Katniss a loaf of bread. I know that a lot happened in the novel and that a movie cannot show everything, but they glazed over too many important things that were needed to give background for the story and thus depth to the movie. This includes that everyone outside of the Capital were starving. I did not feel this or how hard everyone in the districts' lives were from the movie at all.
While there were some special effects, a lot more interesting things could have been done with the cinematography. Also, the shaky camera shots that were frequent at the beginning of the movie were distracting, unnecessary, and made the movie look poorly made.
The one and only thing that the movie brought that was a great addition to the book was the behind-the-scenes information provided by the commentators while the game aired, the gamemakers, and the scenes with the Head Gamemaker and President Snow. It was interesting to see why the things that happened to Katniss in the arena took place.
Overall, the movie lacked depth and intensity. This was primarily due to the serious lack of character and relationship development, the lack of dialog/good music, and the skimming over of major background story building. It was a poorly constructed movie that felt rushed 90% of the time and dragged on in unnecessary ways the other 10%. I would not recommend seeing it...