Ender's Game

Hey! A review of a movie I saw when it was still in theaters and also current! Groundbreaking. The lengths I will go to for NaBloPoMo...
I love the book 'Ender's Game' so when I saw they were actually going to make (and release) the movie (it's been promised on and off for years) I was both thrilled and terrified.
Thrilled because it's a great book and has the potential to be a great movie and then terrified because if it's a horrible movie I can't un-see it and it will ruin my reading of the book in the future.
I am happy to say I can still read the book and not hate the images that come to mind.
Much.
Tarzan, ATL and I went last night to see the flick and I was surprised at how much it was like the book and how much it wasn't; impressed at how it had all the correct pieces of the story and yet wasn't at all like the story.
Very strange.
The typical criticism is that the speed of the movie was such that instead of 6 years in training, Ender spent about 6 weeks. I have to agree completely. The movie wasn't overly long so an extra 5-6 minute montage to indicate that time is passing would have made me less angry. 
I can say that the battle room - where they fight the zero gravity battles - was excellently done. FAR better than my imagination could do. Truly exceptional and I wish more time had been spent there. All the space graphics and effects were brilliant. Battle School, Command School, all superbly done.
Harrison Ford as Graff was decent, and the writers made Anderson less than I expected/wanted, but Asa Butterfield was a really good Ender. Equal parts emotive and independent, though - because of the time issue noted above - I never got the impression that Ender was exhausted, frustrated or lonely; three things stressed in the book.
The parts of the story that had been edited out were smart and didn't detract from the main thread and I know why they toned down the violence and I guess it's a good call but I think it made the story less forceful.
Overall, it was good...but not quite enough for someone who had just finished reading the book (for at least the 15th time in her life) on Friday.

This is me and who knew I would ever ask for more montages?