Ender's Game (2013) Review

     Books that get made into movie's and depending on the fan base and how hard core they are the movie about the book can get ruined for them.  I have fallen victim to this a lot, and have been pleased or displeased depending on what is done when changing mediums.  Ender's Game seems to have done well a well enough job putting the story on the silver screen and even with some minor details from the book changed or left out it still makes for a good movie.

Note to bullies, don't pick on a kid named "Ender".

Ender's Game like many sci-fi films takes place in a future where the earth gets attacked by aliens and although earth won, feels the need to prepare for the next wave.  The film is narrated from the perspective Alexander Ender Wiggins, the title character played pretty well by Asa Butterfield who seems like he's just transcended into his adolescence and fits well into a character of the same age.  For some reason, younger tweens are ideal for training them into commanding strategists for the earths defense army against these aliens according to the films premise so you'll see a lot of ant bullying and overcoming themes in the film during Ender's training.  Harrison Ford plays the recruiting commander of the tween earth force and I don't know if it's me but some scenes of his performance didn't look like he was into the role at times.  Luckily, he's not the focus of the film and Butterfield along with the other young actors and special effects occupy most of the screen time.

There's a lot of character building that moves fairly quickly so be prepared to pay attention as it is not just some fancy special effects and alien battles.  The senior actors are the most familiar faces in the film and you get a nice surprise performance from Ben Kingsley mid way through.  Ender's Game was released a week ago and is rated PG-13 if you're still interested in seeing it.  It performed well on its opening weekend and if you are a fan of the book, ( I was lucky enough to have one with me) you'll be satisfied with what was done in keeping the story line solid enough as a movie. Unlike, World War Z which pretty much only used the title.