Very disappointing...

Rating: 1/10 (30 May 2012)

I am one of those people who had read the book before watching the movie and I absolutely loved the book. I could not put the book down and read it in two days. So I was excited to see the movie and I definitely had high hopes but I felt like the movie did not have the essence that made the story so powerful and suspenseful. I understand you cant exactly match the book with the movie with everything that happens in the book. With the little time movies have but the movie should at least give you that feeling of WHY this story is important and WHY certain things are happening. My boyfriend who did not read the book had a lot of questions to what was happening in the film and I had to explain a lot of things to him. A lot of things were left without explanation. That would definitely confuse many people. I have no idea why there is such hype over this film. If you want to fully get the story and characters, read the book! The book is amazing.
Why I am disappointed- I did not feel or see much of the suffering the characters experienced in the story. Especially with Katniss. In the book she was starving and dehydrated in the arena. I felt like she was struggling continuously in the book which made it more exciting as well as the other characters. There are no depth to the characters and their relationships. It made the movie dull. I did not feel the undying love Peeta had for Katniss. Nor did I really feel that Katniss was confused between her feelings for Peeta and Gale. Katniss spent more time with Rue which developed her trust for her. They slept together in the same sleeping bag in the book. There were no night goggles. That would have made the movie more interesting. Peeta's leg was so bad that he could have died because of infection but it miraculously healed with a ointment in the movie. And Katniss was so worried about him dying, I did not see that at all. There is no explanation of the mockingjay pin which is a significant symbol for the story. The scene with Peeta and Katniss when they first met was poorly done. They looked the same age as they were. I did not even feel like it was a long time ago. I barely remember Seneca Crane in the books but he had a huge part in the movie which confused me. They should put more in depth of why the president is mad, he just looked somewhat intimidating but thats it. The ending was horrible to me especially with their interview, Katniss is supposed to be playing an act in the interview, trying to make everyone believe her and Peeta are completely in love but is really just for show and survival. The story was also supposed to end with Peeta kind of mad at her and Katniss feeling like shes losing him. But that was not shown at all. There is no explanation of why Katniss was in a very rough spot in the beginning with her being the only one to support for her family since her father passed away. The other players in the arena also were struggling because they were starving tremendously at one point, I did not feel that at all in the movie. I just felt like they were just there and wanted to kill each other. They did not explain why Peeta joined the alliance in the arena.
Overall, I feel like they could have made this movie more moving and exciting. You should pity the characters and feel their struggle to see the importance of the movie. I felt no connection at all to any of the characters, not even Katniss. The movie is just a huge let down. I never felt this way about a movie that I read a book for. Even harry potter series were enjoyable and tolerable even thought they left some stuff out. I could not even enjoy this movie. The only thing I liked about this movie were the actresses and actors that were casted for the parts. They were perfect for the characters from the book but the movie was not able to showcase their personalities and relationships. It had so much potential while I checked the casting before watching it.