A movie that misses the point of the book it is based on

Rating: 6/10 (23 October 2014)

Reading a book right before watching the movie could be a double-edged sword - and the movie version ended up impaled on it this time around. It's kind of ironic because the trailers for the film got me to pick up the book in the first place. I enjoyed it so much that it took me less than 24h to finish it. Based on the trailer I was already inclined to like the casting choices for the characters and was really excited to finally see the film. And then ended up spending half the film battling with an overwhelming sense of frustration.
I've started noticing that the "book adaptation" scripts I often have issues with, are the ones that were not done/written by the book's author. (as is the case with this film) The part that frustrated me the most was the sense that the director was "dumbing down" the story. Part of the appeal of the book is that they feel just like those boys while reading it - clueless, guessing, emotionally invested, with very little to go on in terms of understanding why they are there and what is going on. Trust the movie version to hand it to the audience on a platter way too early.
The book did resemble Lord of the Flies in many ways - it is not just about the mystery and adventure, it also takes a closer look at human nature and what lies underneath when you take away societal norms and distractions of "normal" life. Characters were insufficiently developed making it harder for audience to connect to them on an emotional level. I'd recommend this movie only to those who haven't read the book yet, who are usually drawn to this genre and are only looking for a bit of mindless cinematic distraction that will not leave any sort of major impact on their mind or life. Kind of a waste of a great cast in my humble opinion.