The CGI Games

Rating: 5/10 (25 November 2013)

This film was nearly 3 hours of an emo Cabbage Patch Doll delivering monotone monologues to other angst-ridden emo teens in strange outfits.
But seriously, I was just hoping for the film to exceed its predecessor and it did on some levels but was just flat out SLOW & full of unnecessary and random scenes. They could have cut out several of the pointless character-intros and had a much more powerful film. I mean, do we really need to see a tedious action sequence of people fixing up a man's whipped body? I guess that was for the ladies.
Now, I do like how they are going for the 1984-feel, and I realize this is based on a book (I did not read) ... But this film's universe DOES NOT feel lived in whatsoever. Not only is it too reliant on CGI spectacle, but it does not challenge the viewers to any serious moral questions. It has chances to do so but follows the movie cliché of thinking the audience is too dumb to swallow anything besides Black Vs. White, bad guys are bad, good guys are completely innocent in every way, paradigm.
And maybe they describe this world better in the book but it is absolutely ridiculous to think that the only thing this society ever talks about 24/7 is the HUNGER GAMES. Really? This prospering government with endless resources and military power spends their every living moments talking about the annual hunger games? Where are the factories or businesses that profit on the war toys or the amazing fashion technology, architecture, transportation, etc? They absolutely push the limits of dumb by pretending this world would be so obsessed with the hunger games instead of other issues in their very vast infrastructure. Just not sure how any society could thrive over anyone when their only concern in the world is the stupid annual game where emo teens kill each other. Okay, the have "sponsors" which are not really discussed in this film but they could have at least explained why the only thing on TV is talk about these stupid games. Just saying, it is a paper thin reality, unlike a more detailed universe like Harry Potter or LOTR.
5/10 because it had some intriguing action, interesting twists, and funny CGI monkeys. Me like CGI.