Dreadful adaptation of an amazing book = bitter pill to swallow.

Rating: 2/10 (24 March 2012)

***May contain spoilers, haven't decided yet.***
Quick summary : In post-apocalyptic America, the government dictates each District must provide via lottery-style drawing one boy and one girl between the ages of 12-18 to fight to the death for their viewing pleasure. Katniss Everdeen, a resident of poverty-stricken District 12, volunteers to go in after her sister's name is drawn and has to fight for survival in a whole new way against 23 others.
Let me just start by saying, the book made me cry. If you've read it, I'm sure you can figure out which scene it was, but the fact is that a book made me cry. As a result, I had ENORMOUS expectations for the emotional roller-coaster that the movie should be.
Key word there being "should". Director Gary Ross presents a future in which kids slaughter each other for the Capitol's jollies as if they're all just having a big ol' tea party. A book that left you feeling drained by its matter-of-fact telling of shocking horrors that children (yes, people, please do not let Hollywood make you forget that these are CHILDREN) must go through just to survive, was basically put forth in such a way that you're expected to cheer when a 16-year-old is hacked to bits. Oh, but don't worry - in spite of a truly gruesome novel, the movie kept it PG-13 in order to sell more tickets so you don't actually SEE any real violence.
Peeta has been dreadfully miscast, as the actor portraying him comes across something of a pansy. Jennifer Lawrence does what she can with a ridiculously amateurish script, but still, she ain't so great either.
There is ZERO character development - Cinna, Katniss' stylist, is portrayed as a slightly metro, rather flat dude that just sticks her in dresses and that's that. We all know he was a good deal more substantial in the book. Her prep team isn't mentioned at all, and considering the roles they have in the remainder of the trilogy, that strikes as a rather glaring omission. The Avoxes are left out completely, which considering book 3, is also another questionable decision filmmakers made. Clove is tiny, Jennifer Lawrence isn't exactly a shrinking violet, so their scene together is a bit...um...odd. Also done poorly, considering how the scene went in the book. They changed a number of other things for no reason that I could think of, except maybe they think their target audience is a bunch of utter morons that couldn't put 1 and 2 together without getting 5.
You're never, not in the slightest, given a reason to give a damn about Peeta one way or the other. There's no banter between the two, and the major plot point of feigning a relationship to provoke interest and thereby gain sponsors was for all intents and purposes ignored. Another horrendously botched relationship is what develops between Katniss and the little girl from District 11, Rue. The time with Rue is so abrupt and mishandled that you find yourself wondering why Katniss mourns her and THAT was where the film really started becoming unbearable.
Long story short: The film jumped from scene to scene in a way that felt rushed, was two and a half hours long without going deep into ANYTHING, and crucial plotpoints were left out completely. What should've left you emotionally drained and depleted instead left you wondering what the hell genre this pile of crap would be classified as. I thought after I read Mockingjay that I couldn't possibly be more disappointed in this trilogy. Way to prove me wrong, Hollywood.