Bump.
Saw it. It was... okay.
Spoiler Alert:
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As I stated I'm a big fan of the books and have read all the "Ender" and all the "Shadow" books as well.
The book has Ender being up in Battle School for a couple years and its understandable that they couldn't make that work in a movie, but the whole thing seems rushed. We only get two battles in the arena, none of the animosity toward Ender from the other kids is really shown in any great detail, and the Brain Game is condensed into two or three scenes.
Bean is of age with Ender, is short but not undersized (an important distinction in Bean's spinoff "Ender's Shadow" book series) and they're friends in the movie (the books will have them respecting eachother eventually, but they'd never be called friends)
The movie has them space-travelling in typical Sci-Fi fashion, FTL and stasis pods, whereas the books tackles the problems of relativistic time in regards to near light speed travel, including the years it would take to accelerate to and decelerate from near light speed (which becomes VERY important in the sequels)
They do not properly show Ender's frustration with the school and the way he's been treated and while the final battle ends the same (with the destruction of the Formic home world) the intention is different. The movie has him just wanting to win and seeing the planet as a way to win. The books have Ender intentionally destroying the planet specifically because his teachers have told him NOT to and he's so frustrated that he thinks he's quitting so he's basically just trying to piss off his teacher.
The egg is on the asteroid that the humans set up their forward base on instead of on a Formic colony world and a Formic isstill alive and guarding the egg which contradicts the notion set earlier in the movie (and repeatedly in the books) that the Formic Soldiers can't live without the queen.
And finally Val doesn't go with him when he leaves at the end, which also jacks up possible sequels (the Ender book sequels focus on his and Val's adventures together)
Overall I'd say it would be a mildly entertaining movie for someone who hadn't read the book, but if you're a fan like me it'll probably just piss you off.
[This message has been edited by OKflyboy (edited 11-08-2013).]
