Good, but watered down and detail lacking compared the the book.

Rating: 6/10 (24 March 2012)

This was one of those movies i was very excited for- one of my favorite book series, that i read back in 08 when they came out being turned into a movie! I was pretty excited for this, despite my worries they would turn it into a twilight-esque cheesy romance to attract more of the teen crowd. The romance is a part of the book, but definitely not the most important part! One of the things i noticed: time passes way too fast. I know this is a 2 hours and 20 minutes movie, but time just barely passes. It almost feels like the whole games started and ended in a day. While in the book, Katniss' alliance with Rue lasts for about a week, taking up a good portion of the book, but in the movie it appears to start and end the day she wakes up from the Tracker Jackers. Peeta and her are in the cave for several nights constantly kissing and getting soup for it, not just once or so.
Also, i noticed several times, the other tributes would know something they couldn't possibly know without seeing the games, which, they cannot, being in the arena. Eg. Clove saying "Wheres loverboy?" mocking Peeta and Katniss. She couldn't possibly know that, Peeta hadn't left the cave and presumably the careers hadn't found the cave or they would of killed him and Katniss. Also, in that scene, Thresh says "Just this one time, for Rue." Which, he couldn't of seen, they don't show their deaths at the end of the day, and Clove hadn't said anything to reveal it.
The shots in the game makers rooms were great and added depth to the Capitols idea of what to accomplish. Entertainment for the Capitol, and keeping the districts in line, which is shown in the book through Katniss' thoughts. Haymitch, which some complained wasn't destructively drunk enough, was actually my favorite role. He started out very mean, and eventually decided to help them, which was pretty interesting, even without the intense alcoholism.
The gamemaker's parts were very entertaining. Katniss thinks about what Cladius Templesmith must be saying in the book, and actually hearing and seeing it fed into the games realism.
There wasn't nearly enough gore, but what did you expect for pg13? My only complaint was Cato's death, which was supposed to be awful and haunt Katniss for ages, was not gory at all. And it was another example of the time thing. In the book, Cato is gradually devoured by the mutts over the course of days before Katniss decides to be merciful on him.
Peeta doesn't have a prosthetic limb, which is new, but the prosthetic limb was unnecessary. As well as Madge and Greasy Sae being removed, unnecessary characters to start with and not a big deal.
I did like it, and it's definitely one of the better releases this year, but it was severely watered down, which is a given, considering the book is a pretty heavy read and a first person narrative, unlike Twilight, for example.
6/10 for good show.