In a future where aliens have attempted to invade Earth, humans use the flexible minds of children to find the next great military commander who will save our species from the next attack.
Based on the series of books by Orson Scott Card (this being the first of four books in one quartet, with further series after), this movie takes a complex novel and attempts to condense it down into a manageable chunk for Hollywood standards. It succeeds in some ways, and does not in others... much the way my one-sentence synopsis of the movie fails to capture all the nuances of the movie. It's about how we treat our soldiers, it's about leadership, it's about family, and duty... far too complex to condense down to 114 minutes and include everything.
As entertainment, this movie works but feels understandably rushed. They had to condense years of battle training down or risk creating a mini-series of just the first book. And as tired as I am by movies populated with children, in this film it was required by the script, and thus forgivable.
The CGI effects during battle sequences are gorgeous, yet the animation during the storybook game sequence was terrible... probably due to the "uncanny valley". The actors were all amazing, even those whose appearance onscreen was almost far too brief to do the character justice.
As a movie for crafters, this is semi-okay, depending on your project and your level of concentration. Subtle facial expression and battle nuances will be missed if you're not paying attention. It will not affect your ability to follow the story, but it may affect your appreciation of the film as a whole, as only listening to it may make it feel very flat.
Three laugh out loud moments for me, and that's it. Possibly any surprise or shock value at events or the ending were ruined for me by reading the book first. Knowing what I did going in, there was very little to make me exclaim out loud, and I'm working a very basic stockinette stitch on a pair of mittens, so I can work those without dropping the needles to concentrate.
Ultimately, I give this a four out of five stars. There's just too much material, and too many nuances for this to be condensed down for this adaptation. It's no-one's fault really, except maybe Card's for creating such a complex piece of writing that defies Hollywood standards... and that's not a bad thing at all. This is good for a family movie night if you want to get a little knitting done yet still appease the sci-fi fans in the family, but the book is better, and I'd recommend the audio Whispersynch version if you want to try that for your Kindle.
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