In a word: Perfect. (Containa spoilers...)

Rating: 9/10 (23 March 2012)

My favourite scene in The Hunger Games was the Tracker Jacker scene. The interaction between Jennifer Lawrence and Amandla Stenberg was fairly accurate and the venom/hallucination sequence was filmed superbly well.
To review the film, I would give it a 9/10, purely because of my love for the books and because of the slight details they missed out here and there. There was a few lines from the book that I was hoping would be kept in and they weren't e.g. "You've got as much charm as a dead slug."
However, I think the additions into the movie were cleverly thought out and actually added to the overall quality of The Hunger Games. As much as I adore the books, Suzanne Collins perfectly depicts everything from Katniss' POV and as a reader, I always wondered what the reactions from the spectators would be as well as everything behind the scenes/construction of the games, so I was deeply impressed by all of those things.
I will also say that, after months of wondering and hoping, the (short) inclusion of Buttercup made my day! Although it's a shame we can't hear Katniss' inner monologue about their turbulent tolerance for one another, Jennifer's delivery of the line "I can still cook you" perfectly shows off part of the books that the fans know and love.
I was initially sceptical about the casting of both Jennifer and Josh as Katniss and Peeta, simply because I was afraid of how they would portray such iconic characters. After watching the film (and booking my ticket to watch in a second time tonight) I can safely say that the cannon has sounded to mark the death of all my doubts. Jennifer's portrayal of Katniss is very accurate to the book, despite us not really seeing the inner turmoil that plays out in Katniss' mind.
The only faults I have with this film are that I miss certain scenes/moments from the book that were not included/developed, but I can see why those decisions were made. For a fan who has read all the trilogy and been a fan for a very long time before the announcement of a movie, and for a fan of other books-turned-films e.g. Harry Potter, Twilight, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Inkheart etc, I cannot compare this trilogy to the previously mentioned books, because they are in an entirely different league. I can honestly say that I have NEVER seen a better book to film translation than I have witnessed with The Hunger Games.
To conclude, I watched this film last night with a variety of people (some who had read the books and some who hadn't) and we all left saying the same thing - that the film was amazing. For those who hadn't read the book, they are going out to buy and to read them because they enjoyed it so much. It's safe to say that fire is most definitely catching!