An exceptional adaptation of the book!

Rating: 7/10 (23 March 2012)

I have read all three novels in the Hunger Games series and I loved each of them. I feel that this film portrayed some things perfectly, while completely missing the mark with others. The casting is spot-on for almost every character. Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson really impressed me, as did Stanley Tucci, Woody Harrelson, and Lenny Kravitz. The only character I feel they didn't portray accurately AT ALL is President Snow. I envisioned President Snow to be theatrical like the other people of the Capitol, but more creepy and evil. They did not portray him this way in the movie at all. In fact, his character is exceedingly boring and flat in the film.
I also feel that there was not enough relationship development between Katniss/Peeta and Katniss/Rue. It seems like this always happens in film adaptations, I'm not sure why it is so difficult to incorporate more bonding between characters in movies based off of books. I really liked the relationships between the careers, however. Cato and Clove were better than I imagined. I do not like how the camera was shaky for the majority of the film, especially during fight sequences. I guess they thought it would be "more effective" that way, but it isn't. I was worried that they were going to cut the "nitty gritty" out of the story. They didn't cut it out, but they sugar-coated it. The point of the games is that they are gruesome, violent, and in-your-face. The fight sequences would have been effective if they had not purposefully drowned them out with jerky camera movement.
I am on the fence about Rue's death scene and Katniss singing to her. It made me tear up, but it could have been so much better. Katniss should have sang the entire lullaby to her instead of singing part of it and it slowly fading as Rue passed. I loved the uprising scene, it made me cry and gave me chills. I also loved the scene with Clove/Katniss and Thresh saving her and killing Clove, it was very powerful. I did not like the genetically engineered dog mutations at all, but I really loved Cato's acting when they were standing on the cornucopia and he was holding Peeta in a headlock and he started crying and talking to Katniss. I was very pleased with that. For the most part, the movie was very good! I can't wait until Catching Fire! I hope this review is helpful to fans of the book who are debating whether or not to see the movie.