ender's game movie (spoiler, for those who care)

[gardenmom5]

my adult kids went and saw it today.  as soon as I walked in the door - they pounced so they could vent how awful it was.  one even said  - I want my money back.

 

they did really like the actor who played Dap.  that was the only good thing they had to say.

 

they combined bonzo and rose the nose - I was told he became a Chihuahua. he was shorter than ender.   girls are common, so petra isn't a novelty.  bean isn't short.  there's a queen to hand over the cocoon.  the planet doesn't blow up.   anyway - the list of complaints was very long, and they will never go see it again - let alone buy the dvd.

[Chris in VA]

I knew they'd ruin it. 

[JudoMom]

My brother (a huge fan of the book who has been looking forward to the movie) asked for his money back.  He didn't get it. 

[athomeontheprairie]

I couldn't help clicking this link a it will be weeks before it makes it to our theater (if it does at all). Thus is so disappointing! If it doesn't make it to us, I was willing to drive into town (75 miles away) to see it. So sad! ! !

[ocelotmom]

Bean not being short could be considered to be continuitous given that they adjusted everyone's age up, and in the books, Bean is getting tall by that point. So if there are future movies planned, it might have been a necessary change. But it does seem like it would undermine his position in Ender's Game, along with Petra not being a rare girl. (Haven't seen the movie, just making speculation.)

[Snickerdoodle]

Thanks for the info.  

[Lizzie in Ma]

What??? Hollywood ruined another book-based movie?  Shocker.  With the exception of LOTR, and only because with all it's flaws, Peter Jackson let me live in Middle Earth for awhile, I have never seen a movie based on a book that was close to the book.  Not ever.

Fortunately, I do love movies and don't have the expectation that they will be like the books so I tend to enjoy them anyway.

The only movie I ever saw that I liked better than the book was PS I Love You.  Wretched book, fantastic movie.

[gardenmom5]

What??? Hollywood ruined another book-based movie?  Shocker.  With the exception of LOTR, and only because with all it's flaws, Peter Jackson let me live in Middle Earth for awhile, I have never seen a movie based on a book that was close to the book.  Not ever.

wonderworks version of the little princess.

1ds said game of thrones is very close to the book.

[theYoungerMrsWarde]

:cursing: :cursing: :cursing: :cursing: :cursing:

Dh and I were going to see it in theaters. Now I know I can wait for Redbox. Thank you.

[Crimson Wife]

We saw it tonight. It was visually stunning (worth seeing on the big screen if you're going to watch it at all). However, it seemed like it lacked the "soul" of the book, if that makes any sense. By the time of the final battle in the book, Ender was psychologically a mess and on the verge of a complete breakdown. The use of the M.D. device on the planet was essentially him giving up and saying (if you'll pardon my French) "F.U." to Rackham & Graff. In the movie, it seemed like a cold-hearted but brilliant tactical maneuver. Totally changes the story.

[vonfirmath]

We saw Ender's Game today.  It's not a home run. But considering they had to do it all in 2 hours, I think they did a fairly good job.

 

There were NOT a lot of girls. Petra retained her rare spot. Bean was not ultra tiny, but he was shorter than the others. Mostly, his story was stripped entirely and that is sad because I REALLY like Bean.

 

My husband was upset that they basically put FTL travel in the universe by having the Command school be at a planet instead of the asteroid belt. But we did understand why they made that choice at the end.

 

I really love what they did with the Command School battles. Oh and the battle room was really cool too, though of course cut very short.

 

I see VERY few movies twice in the theater (two so far -- Matrix and Hobbit). I'm not at all tempted to go see this one again.

[Word Nerd]

A guy whose taste in books and movies is pretty similar to mine said it's one of the best movie adaptations he's seen and that it was actually rather faithful to the book. Interesting how people can view it so differently. I'll still keep my expectations low but maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised.

[vonfirmath]

A guy whose taste in books and movies is pretty similar to mine said it's one of the best movie adaptations he's seen and that it was actually rather faithful to the book. Interesting how people can view it so differently. I'll still keep my expectations low but maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised.

 

I could see that. lines I kept thinking they'd put in, my husband came home and showed me were IN THE BOOK! Word for Word!

[Vida Winter]

I'll stick with the book.

[Halftime Hope]

I haven't read any of the other books, just the first.  But I did read online that the movie is actually a combination of the first and another book, which one I wouldn't know.

[theYoungerMrsWarde]

I haven't read any of the other books, just the first.  But I did read online that the movie is actually a combination of the first and another book, which one I wouldn't know.

I believe they added some stuff from Ender's Shadow, which is a parallel book of Ender's Game from a different character's (Bean) perspective

 

Thanks! I think we're still excited to see it. Ds liked Ender's Shadow more than Ender's Game. Bean is his favorite character. We'll just try to enjoy it as it is.

Me, too!

.

[readwithem]

I went to a preview screening of Enders Game last week and sat by the guy who wrote this review - we talked about it afterwards and I think he nailed it.  I particularly liked this part of his review -

 

We don’t get the privilege of seeing his development into messianic war commander play out in even a remotely organic manner, though admittedly the scenes of zero gravity laser tag are pretty fun. There’s no sense of learning or growing. Ender’s Game hurtles from one moment to the next, barely germinating the scantest connective tissue to bind each scene together in sequence; they’re only related because they take place in the same environments and feature the same characters. Put another way, the film plays in the most rote way possible – this is CliffNotes level stuff, capable of conveying a basic sense of cohesion but ill-equipped to mine the inherent value out of Card’s words. You’ll understand what’s happening, but you probably won’t give a damn.

 

 

[ocelotmom]

A guy whose taste in books and movies is pretty similar to mine said it's one of the best movie adaptations he's seen and that it was actually rather faithful to the book. Interesting how people can view it so differently. I'll still keep my expectations low but maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised.

 

I was heavily involved in Ender's Game fandom (yes, it exists) in my teens and early 20s, so have a lot of super-hard-core EG fan friends. They seem to agree that it is overall a decent adaptation, and not what they were fearing it could be.

 

(I'm seeing it tomorrow or Friday. The joys of having kids and living in a podunk town that isn't going to show it for who knows how long.)

 

 

I haven't read any of the other books, just the first.  But I did read online that the movie is actually a combination of the first and another book, which one I wouldn't know.

 

In the past, it was stated that it would be a combo of Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow (which basically covers the same time period from Bean's POV), and that could be what you read. It sounds to me (having not seen it or read about it in greater detail than this thread) like they didn't really do much with the Bean/Shadow part. But it could still be considered a combo of the two if they integrate any of those elements.

 

I'm also told that there are some relatively minor changes from the book that integrate elements from Speaker For The Dead (the second book in the original series).

[Happy]

I saw this tonight and fully expected not to like it. I was pleasantly surprised! I really enjoyed it...yes, I missed some of the stuff in the book, but I think the movie does the story justice.

 

It was fun to see on a BIG screen. The special effects are fun. The battle 'ball' was very well done, imho.

 

[Hen]

I went to see it because the kids liked it, I hardly ever go to a movie.  I really enjoyed it, but** I made the decision to not read the book till after I saw the movie. I wanted to enjoy it without knowing what was going to happen next.  I'm going to read the books now, I'm looking forward to it, I know the books are always better.

[Mergath]

I was heavily involved in Ender's Game fandom (yes, it exists) in my teens and early 20s, so have a lot of super-hard-core EG fan friends.

 

 

I was into Pern fandom, myself.  When I tell people that, they always think it was something naughty. ;)  Next time I mention it, I'm going to say I did some hard-core Pern in my teens.  Lol.

[Mergath]

As for the movie, I'll wait to see it myself.  I like to judge movies on their own merits, not based on how closely they follow the books they're based on.

[Truscifi]

We saw it tonight. It was visually stunning (worth seeing on the big screen if you're going to watch it at all). However, it seemed like it lacked the "soul" of the book, if that makes any sense. By the time of the final battle in the book, Ender was psychologically a mess and on the verge of a complete breakdown. The use of the M.D. device on the planet was essentially him giving up and saying (if you'll pardon my French) "F.U." to Rackham & Graff. In the movie, it seemed like a cold-hearted but brilliant tactical maneuver. Totally changes the story.

 

I agree with this. I don't think it was terrible, at least not the way I was afraid it would be, but it also didn't capture any of the spirit that makes me love the book so much. The battle room and command school scenes were very pretty though.

[Laurie4b]

I  liked Ender's Game but read it some years ago, so I am not into the details of the book (as I am into LOTR and could hardly stand parts of the movies!) That being the case, I thought they did a really good job with the movie. I thought they carried through the main plot line, did a good job of portraying Ender's internal moral battles, as well as themes about the morality of war, the motivations, and the choices made along the way. 

[ocelotmom]

I went to see it because the kids liked it, I hardly ever go to a movie.  I really enjoyed it, but** I made the decision to not read the book till after I saw the movie. I wanted to enjoy it without knowing what was going to happen next.  I'm going to read the books now, I'm looking forward to it, I know the books are always better.

 

I think that's a good strategy, and maybe I'm reconsidering my position that I posted earlier in the thread about waiting until DS has read the book. I re-read it immediately before seeing the movie (it had been at least 5 years since I read it previously), and think I would have enjoyed it more if every little change or exclusion hadn't been quite so glaringly obvious.

 

But I did enjoy it. Some guys sitting in front of us at the theater said that they took a lot of liberties with the book. I really didn't feel they did. Most of the major changes can be put down to time and viewpoint limitations. And it lost a lot in that translation, but it wasn't another Starship Troopers or anything, where there was only the most basic resemblance and the entire story got totally twisted.

 

I was into Pern fandom, myself.  When I tell people that, they always think it was something naughty.  ;)  Next time I mention it, I'm going to say I did some hard-core Pern in my teens.  Lol.

I was briefly on a Pern RPG, but never managed to get into it. RPGs are apparently not my thing.

[Mergath]

 

 

 

I was briefly on a Pern RPG, but never managed to get into it. RPGs are apparently not my thing.

 

That's neat, which one was it?  Please indulge my stroll down memory lane. :D  I spent a lot of my time in Black River Weyr.  Mostly 'cause I created it, lol.  And Veridian.  And one other one I can't remember.

 

(Sorry for the brief hijack.)

[ocelotmom]

That's neat, which one was it?  Please indulge my stroll down memory lane. :D  I spent a lot of my time in Black River Weyr.  Mostly 'cause I created it, lol.  And Veridian.  And one other one I can't remember.

 

(Sorry for the brief hijack.)

Oh, heck if I know. Looking through some lists, I'd guess either Harper's Tale, DragonsFire, or PernMUSH (leaning towards Harper's Tale, because I'm pretty sure the only MUSH I attempted was X-Files related), but it's possible it was something else that's fallen away into obscurity and isn't on the existing lists or changed names. It was a relatively prominent one at the time (probably somewhere around 1998, give or take a few years), but I think it was either not very active, pretty cliquey, or I didn't give it enough chance to figure things out socially.

 

(That, and I've never been able to get into RPGs, even the one I ran for years. I ran it, but didn't participate IC much).

 

To get the thread back on track - the one I ran was (is - it technically still exists though I think mainly as a social thing for a handful of people who were into it Back Then) an Ender's Game one :p

[vonfirmath]

I was into Pern fandom, myself.  When I tell people that, they always think it was something naughty. ;)  Next time I mention it, I'm going to say I did some hard-core Pern in my teens.  Lol.

 

My member ID here comes from my heavy involvement in Pern. Online first (SouCon, PernMUSH (Yarra, blue Jidranth, stands impression at Igen Weyr), Dragonsfire MOO (Palina, Gold Meleketh, Fort Weyr) <-- queenrider and janitor here for a time) and then offline (Mostly Telgar Weyr, 5th pass) Vonfirmath was my brown dragon at Telgar.

 

Be careful. In Pern Fandom, hard core... could mean more like what what non-Pern folk will think when you say it.

[Mergath]

My member ID here comes from my heavy involvement in Pern. Online first (SouCon, PernMUSH (Yarra, blue Jidranth, stands impression at Igen Weyr), Dragonsfire MOO (Palina, Gold Meleketh, Fort Weyr) <-- queenrider and janitor here for a time) and then offline (Mostly Telgar Weyr, 5th pass) Vonfirmath was my brown dragon at Telgar.

 

Be careful. In Pern Fandom, hard core... could mean more like what what non-Pern folk will think when you say it.

 

My username was one of my dragon's names from when I did Pern fandom, too. :)  

 

Wow, the fandom has evolved since I played years ago, lol.  Or maybe I just hung out at the wrong Weyrs.

[Swimtaxi234]

I know they had to condense the story lines, but I feel that by ignoring the torture from his older brother was a mistake.  Every thing Ender wanted to avoid in life was because of the torture he faced with his brother.

 

I also think the passive/aggressive nature of Graff was missing, plus Ender was so emotionally/physically fragile at the end of the book and the movie couldn't capture that without the references to his brother and the constant, endless "training exercises".

 

All four of us finished the book just before we saw the movie, so the book was fresh in our minds.  We forgave most of the condensed story lines because we liked the visual results, but we only rated the move 2.0/5 stars.

[Lizzie in Ma]

I was into Pern fandom, myself.  When I tell people that, they always think it was something naughty. ;)  Next time I mention it, I'm going to say I did some hard-core Pern in my teens.  Lol.

 

How I loved those books, still do, dd is reading the series at last and is madly in love already. ;)

[GailV]

We just saw it this afternoon -- cheap matinee, only 5 people in the theater.

 

Dd and I had both read the book, plus Ender's Shadow (plus I'd read some others in the series, and have a tendency to forget which plot points belong in which book).  There were moments we both rolled our eyes during the movie.  Dd said she did't even bother to listen to one scene because she knew she would dislike it (one of the scenes at Command School, with Graff and Mazer Rackham).  (Major eyerolls for Ben Kingsley's makeup job, which reminded me, in an unfortunate way, of Chakotay on Star Trek Voyager. I like Ben Kingsley, but sometimes I question the roles he chooses.)

 

BUT, overall, we thought it was a pretty good movie.  A friend who'd not read the book said she enjoyed it, too.  

[theYoungerMrsWarde]

I was into Pern fandom, myself.  When I tell people that, they always think it was something naughty. ;)  Next time I mention it, I'm going to say I did some hard-core Pern in my teens.  Lol.

 

 

How I loved those books, still do, dd is reading the series at last and is madly in love already. ;)

 

My best friend in high school had a fire lizard as an imaginary pet! I discovered Pern in HS and I have maybe 80-90% of the books (NOT counting the new ones written by Todd. I'm not reading those.) I re-read the series every 12-18 months. :) I keep thinking I briefly joined a fandom forum, but I'm thinking that was during a time that I blocked from my memory for other reasons.

[Mergath]

My best friend in high school had a fire lizard as an imaginary pet! I discovered Pern in HS and I have maybe 80-90% of the books (NOT counting the new ones written by Todd. I'm not reading those.) I re-read the series every 12-18 months. :) I keep thinking I briefly joined a fandom forum, but I'm thinking that was during a time that I blocked from my memory for other reasons.

 

Oh god, those books by Todd should be burned from existence.  I read three of them, I think, and it wasn't just that the writing wasn't great, but he completely threw out all the rules by which the universe ran.  Dragons didn't act like dragons, riders didn't act like riders...  He ruined everything about the series that made it great.  Why Anne approved those books when she was so protective of Pern that she didn't even allow fanfic for years, I will never understand.

[dirty ethel rackham]

We saw it tonight. It was visually stunning (worth seeing on the big screen if you're going to watch it at all). However, it seemed like it lacked the "soul" of the book, if that makes any sense. By the time of the final battle in the book, Ender was psychologically a mess and on the verge of a complete breakdown. The use of the M.D. device on the planet was essentially him giving up and saying (if you'll pardon my French) "F.U." to Rackham & Graff. In the movie, it seemed like a cold-hearted but brilliant tactical maneuver. Totally changes the story.

 

:iagree:

I think they really glossed over the emotional turmoil Ender endured.  He came across cold-hearted even in his confrontations with the bully in the beginning and Bonzo, rather than someone who making desperate choices in desperate situations.  I did enjoy the movie in spite of the book, but felt like it was missing something. But, then again, I went in with low expectations.

 

ETA:  I was also disappointed that the pretty much messed up a chance for a sequel with Speaker for the Dead.  I don't know how they will reunite him with Valentine for that.