My quick thoughts on The Hunger Games, the movie.
I’m not going to go into great detail, there are many great bloggers that saw early premieres that took care of that. (Great examples here and here) I’m just going to discuss my thoughts.
My first thought after the movie ended and credits rolled. It was the best movie from a book that I’ve ever seen. They did it such wonderful justice it only expanded on the book and made it better.
Top of the charts was the setting, you could tell that Gary Ross, read, understood and loved the book. He imagined the world of Panem just like it was in my head. I did want to see a little more animal looking Capital Couture though.
Then there was the acting, like most of you I had my reservations about Jennifer and Josh and Lenny. Even Lenny didn’t disappoint. Which, a lot of stated that it was just Lenny in gold eye-liner, but he had maybe a handful of lines. But they were all amazing. Hats off to Jennifer Lawrence, she was phenomenal. She could carry a scene just with her eyes. Her and Josh became the characters, I saw only Peeta and Katniss.
Book-stick-it-to-it. There were only a few discrepancies, but understandable because of elaboration on back-story. They had so much to cover and didn’t have time to explain the intricacies, that small side-plots were left off. Things that they didn’t explain that I thought might confuse “non-book-readers”: The bread scene. It didn’t really explain that this was a turning moment in Katniss’ life, which I think is poignant. It also didn’t explain the “extra” names in the pool. Just that Prim had 1 and Gale had 42. But, it did not explain why, which confused our non-reader companion.
Then the DRAMATIC IMPACT – which was the shining star, over the top, beauty of the movie. It was just a moment to moment, scene from scene emotional and reactionary tale. My favorite scenes, Peeta’s confession, the tracker jacker…even Peeta’s hiding in the mud were done so well they became real. I was balling my eyes out half the time and so were my companions.
Gary Ross took THG and made it real for me. He did an amazing job and I wanted it to just roll into ‘Catching Fire’.
Side not, I did not see ‘The Host’ teaser in my IMAX experience but I did get to see Breaking Dawn II and The Avengers, along with Prometheus, which looks freaky.
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Thank you so much Rach for sharing this! I’ll be watching the movie tomorrow night and I cannot wait!!!!
I do hope you enjoy sweetie.
Fantastic review! I agree with everything you said. I chose to not focus on some of the things I wished were in the movie in my review because since the movie was done so well, I just didn’t even care, lol.
Yeah…thanks Jenni. I didn’t care either.
I wasn’t sure about Lenny either. He is not how I pictured him at all. I am so glad you liked it. You are so lucky to have seen it so early. I will be going later this weekend.
I had to see it early, I just couldn’t wait LOL
Auuuurgh! *gnaws on knuckles*
*snicker*
I finally got to see it Saturday evening. They seriously could not have cast better for Caesar Flickerman than Stanley Tucci. I’ve always loved Tucci, but he MADE Caesar Flickerman just come alive. Every scene he was in was just one of my favorites. I laughed and laughed.
If he doesn’t get some kind of nomination for that role, well…well!
I have to see it again. I will see it again.
OMG I seriously can not wait! I’m going this weekend. Thanks for the low down.
Enjoy yourself Juju – can’t wait to hear your thoughts.
Best book to movie?? YAY!! I’m even more excited now! (Although here is where I admit I didn’t read much beyond that because I’m hoping to keep a lot of the info a surprise when I go see it this weekend!)
-Jac @ For Love and Books
We got back from the movies a couple of hours ago and OMG it was goooooood! There were some minor flaws but they were all forgiveable. I actally thought Lenny was the weakest link of the main cast, oh well it is good that we all can agree to disagree in some matters
Lenny was the weakest, definitely, I just didn’t think he was THAT bad LOL — he wasn’t what I pictured Cinna to be at all, but well, you can’t get them all right.
No, that would be impossible. I didn’t mind terribly, but Cinna for me had a sparkling exterior and interior
It was good. I thought they did a good job with the time they had. Left a lot out but that is to be expected.
Oh we didn’t have any trailers. It just went straight into the movie.
How did that happen, LOL — I thought it was mandatory to watch trailers.
I completely agree with your assessment especially the assertion that it is the best book to movie adaptation. I also saw the same previews that you did.
I had hear that they had The Host new trailer on some, maybe it wasn’t the IMAX version — how well, I was looking forward to seeing that big big.
Thanks for the heads up: Note to self, bring tissues. I haven’t read the books. I hate violence on children and by children, and powerlessness. One of these days I will bite the bullet.
Take care, Steph (Come by and enter my contest) Fangs, Wands and Fairy Dust
@fangswandsfairy
steph@fangswandsandfairydust.com
OH Steph, you have to read the books. I know it is children and carnage, but its more of the emotional impact of the world and a fight against the powers that be. I’m not saying it’s not wretched in places, but it is about hope and not just gratuitous violence. And yes, bring tissues, we had a box and kept passing it down the row.
YES! I agree with everything you’ve said…I loved it! I saw it with people who hadn’t read the book either, and it was interesting getting their thoughts. The extra names in the pool thing was something I noticed more than them. There was a brief reference to it when Katniss says goodbye to Prim, about not taking anything from them as she didn’t need to have her name in more times, but it wasn’t much. I too thought that the flashbacks to the bread scene didn’t truly get across the importance of it to Katniss either…but it was all still WOW! I was either crying or had goosebumps! Definitely one of the best book to movie adaptations!
I’m so glad you loved this movie! I’m seeing it today in like two hours, and I’m so pumped! Thanks for the heads up, because I’m going to bring tissues with me! I’m just screaming my head of right now because of how stinking pumped I am! I’m going to look out for what you said though, so I know when I’m going to have to explain to my friend I’m going with, who, unfortunately, did not read the books.
I took my little girl to see it last night (she’s nine) this was her first PG 13 movie, and it was such a great experience. I love the movie! and for the first time ever- I liked it better than the book, I really felt the tension and experienced the over all feel of the world in a way I failed to do when I listened to the book (maybe I should have read it instead).
I totally agree with your review, which by the way is awesome as usual.
Thanks Rachel.
A nine year old to The Hunger Games, how did she react? It is such a horrible story and I do not think that a child that young can fully understand what the story is really about. I would never even have considered taking a elleven year old to watch it(that is the age limit set here in Norway for THG).
Mari — they had bus loads of middle school kids that they brought to the movie when we were there. Freaking, middle school, which I think is 4th grade to 7th or 8th, so that is about 9 – 12. I guess the were reading it in school. Personally my little girl is 4 and I don’t have many kids around me at that age, so I can’t judge maturity level. But, I remember in 6th grade I was reading Stephen King and contemplating it. I might not have been as aware of the intricacies as I am as an adult — but granted there are some adults that didn’t get the intricacies…LOL.
Here there has been some debate as to how it was possible for the Norwegian Media Authority to set the age limit as low as eleven years. There were notes in our cinema where the crew there strongly advising against bringing children younger than thirteen to see the movie. I’m not sure how these rules varies from one country to the next but here that means that kids as young as eight years old can watch the movie if they’re with an adult.
I’m not for any kind of censoring books from kids but it’s a whole other ballgame when we’re talking about movies, I think. I’m actually quite surprised to read that there were busloads of kids as young as nine there, my perception has always been that censorship in the US have been a lot stricter than here in Norway(and especially so when it comes to banning books, that rarely ever happens here).
She reads a lot, (she has read over 150 books) and she asked me if she could read the book, I thought a bout it, and knowing my girl, I though she could handle it. I’m older mom, I had my daughter when I was 38, and my husband was 45, she’s an only child and is around adults a lot, which sometimes worries me, but thank God she’s doing great.
I love my child, she’s the love of my life, and I would never put her in a situations she’s not ready for.
And she love the movie.
Great Great review!! I saw the movie yesterday and I LOVED it!! Probably one of the best book to movie adaptations I have seen in a really long time!!
I loved it! I was with two people that hadn’t read the book…and I know one of them really loved it too. I don’t see how the movie could have been better and still work as a movie, you know? They had to change things/cut things and gah! I just loved it. I don’t compare the books and movies though. It doesn’t bother me when thing are different, because I mean, it has to be. Otherwise, it would be an audiobook set to pictures…and that would never work. LOL
Yeah, I agree with your review. One of the best film adaptations, I’ve ever seen. (Although, I loved the “Devil Wears Prada” film and I thought it was even better than the book.) The ending was a bit different, though with the mutts. All in all, I loved it. Mr. Ross should’ve done the Twilight movies. Hmmm, wonder if he’s interested in a doing a film adaptation of “Beautifully Broken”. hehe
Great review! I agree. Although there was no in depth explanation about the names in the draw Katniss did say to Prim not to take any extra food from the capitol so her name doesn’t go in more than once. Not sure if someone who hadn’t read the book would catch on but at least it was there. Such a great movie!!
Hey, that’s funny you bring up the entries into the games aspect. My husband (who has not read the book) turned to me at that moment and asked how does Gale have 42 entries? So, it was confusing to non-reader.
Plus, “The Bread Scene” was one of my favorite parts of the book and the number one reason I am a Peeta fan. He won me over with his generosity and YES it was a MAJOR turning point in the story for Katniss, for it gave her the will to continue surviving – it was the catalyst which made her the strong hunter she was when we start reading about her. Before the bread she was ready to give up, after the bread she had new inspiration an vigor.
I haven’t read HUNGER GAMES, but I have to say that the movie trailers were making it look really good. I saw it last night and now I have so many questions that I’m going to be picking up the second book (Catching Fire?) as soon as I can. I’m been debating on whether I need to read the first book since I thought that the movie portrayed the story great. Of course, that’s without knowing of any sideplots or anything.
I have to say though, I’m definitely curious to see what happens with Gale, Peeta and Katniss now and I don’t think I want to wait until Catching Fire comes out (especially since they just decided to make the sequels).
My advice would be to pick up the first book, I think there were somethings in the Katniss/Peeta/Gale relationship that you will be missing out on if you don’t. The adaptation was great, don’t get me wrong but there is a lot more to the story, that a booklover shouldn’t miss out on
I saw the movie this weekend and I think your review is spot on. Honestly, I was worried how they would pull it off because so much of the book is in Katniss’ head or seen through her eyes that the movie could have gone a little wonky. The parts that were added showing what was going on outside the arena were really good. I read some of the other comments and I have to say, I left my 10 year old at home because I think she just isn’t mature enough yet for this material. I took my 13 year old. I asked him what he thought after we saw it. It was interesting that he focused on the big, gory, scary stuff but skimmed over most of the adult, subtle or nuanced material. His 15 year old friend picked up on a little of it. I guess experience really does make a difference!
So glad to hear that you loved Josh’s performance as well. I don’t understand why some people are against him as a choice after seeing this movie because he really was Peeta for me in this as well as Jennifer being Katniss. I could understand reservations before because some people haven’t seen them play the parts yet, and they probably aren’t how some people may have imagined the characters but after this movie I thought casting was pretty spot on.
Spot on review, this is my favourite book to movie adaptation as well. You can really tell that Suzanne Collins helped with the screenplay and producing…it was so faithful to the books! I agree the bread scene, extra names and a few other bits weren’t properly explained; and I also felt it lacked a lot of the intricacies of the book epecially in terms of character relationships BUT there’s only so much you can do in a 2hour film and I appreciate that…going again this week
The Cait Files
I really agree with everything that you said. I thought it was a great book to movie film. Jennifer and Josh did wonderfully and even the few things that were different/left out didn’t bother me at all because they made SENSE to leave out and not elaborate on because of time constraints and what-have-you.
I’m thinking about going to see it again tomorrow by myself (saw it on Saturday with the hubby), also thinking about re-reading the books! <3
In all honesty they could not have done a better job then they did on “The Hunger Games.” In so many movies about books, most of the book gets lost in translation, but in these books so much of it, most of it didn’t. It was absolutely stupendous. I could not have asked for a better movie.
I mostly agreed with everything you said.. although I was a bit disappointed at a few changes that were made.. most weren’t that important to me, but I really didn’t like the change they made to Katniss getting the mockingjay pin..