Good Adaptation of the world but....

Rating: 8/10 (30 March 2012)

The Hunger Games is one of my favorite novel that has came out in the past 5 years. As I am writing this review now I am on Part 2 of Catching Fire so I can't say that its my favorite trilogy in the past 5 years. The actual story is compelling, yet not original but it's still satisfying either way. So lets get started!
After I saw the trailer which I think was an excellent trailer because of the fact that it didn't show any of the games, just the build up to them. By watching the trailer I felt as though they were going to follow the book very closely, considering that Suzanne Collins helped write the screenplay for the movie. So I was really excited that we are actually gonna see this world come to life and get to see the story unfold and see how another person would put together this world from what they thought it would look like.
Gary Ross who directed the film did succeed in making the world and the characters come to life. From the rundown and poor life style of District 12 to the crazy, colorful, and futuristic style of the Capitol, he nailed it spot on. Its not only the places that came to life, but also the characters.
The acting in this movie is extremely good. Jennifer Lawrence is the only person I can see in this role. She had already proved herself in Winters Bone, and once again she proves herself here. She makes Katniss come to life and plays her flawlessly. Josh Hutcherson I think did a fine job, even though I'm not a big fan of him at all. Woody Harlenson and Elizabeth Banks both did a really good job themselves in their roles. Donald Sutherland is up there with Lawrence in his role. He makes you hate President Snow as soon as he shows up on screen, fantastic job. Stanley Tucci also is amusing and does a good job.
In the movie I like how they give you a feeling that they keep reminding you that you are watching a gameshow. By using the announcers tell the audience certain things that Katniss tells you in the book, the announcers do in the movie. I thought that was a great and creative idea. I also like how they show to people that haven't read the books, the gamemakers control room. Once again a creative way to help move the plot points.
Now yes this movie does a good job adapting the source material, but it doesn't do a good job in exacuting them. By that I mean the biggest flaw of the film was character development.
The character development I feel is unacceptable in every way. Now the movie is 2 hours and 20 mins its already pretty long. In that time span they decide to cram every detail of the story, or I should say "big set pieces" of the book in there. Which is fine but not fine if a character dies who we should care about, but completely don't due to the fact that both those characters had 5mins of screen time together, and what feels like an hour time of day for the characters in the film but is really a few days in the book.
Personally I felt the movie seemed short due to the cramming of all the key points of the book in there, so I think the movie would have benefited with 10 more mins of character develop in there. Some might argue that the film would have been way too long and boring, but if it helps me connect with the characters I'm all for it.
The Hunger Games does a fine job adapting the novel and making the universe come to life, I just wished I actually felt more emotion towards the characters and actually cared what happened to them.
This one is really hard for me because I like the story of the book so much that I felt cheated on the saddest part of the book, next to the ending which they left out and I was disappointed.