I liked this film and I am glad that I watched it, although it is definitely significantly INFERIOR to the book. Below, more of my impressions, with very limited SPOILERS.

As probably everybody already knows, this sci-fi war film is situated in the future, years after a failed alien invasion of the Earth. Fearing that another, even deadlier invasion can take place, humanity created a powerful space fleet and trained hundreds and hundreds of thousands of soldiers and officers. But in order to lead this huge armed forces, it was decided that a new kind of generals and admirals was needed, one able to learn and adapt faster when faced by complex and always varying alien tactics of space fighting. This film tells the story of a very promising recruit, young Andrew Ender Wiggin, who may just be the future war leader of the whole humanity - if only he manages to survive the excruciatingly difficult, increasingly painful and sadistically cruel training in which complex war games play a great role...

We learn those things in the first minute of the film and about the rest I will say no more. Young Asa Butterfield who plays Ender is simply AMAZING, as good as he was in "Hugo". Harrison Ford and Ben Kingsley give a great show as his teachers, with Viola Davis and Nonso Anozie supporting them valiantly as respectively war academy main psychologist and the hulking drill sergeant. Young actresses Hailee Steinfeld and Abigail Breislin play also important roles, those of Petra, Ender's friend in academy and Valentine, Ender's older sister.

Now, this film is an adaptation of an archi-classic of Sci-Fi letters, written in 1985 by Orson Scott Card. The book "Ender's game" made quite a splash when first published and got all the yearly awards a SF book can get and it didn't age at all - in fact it is still a DARN GOOD READ. But I understand that it was not possible to make a big budget Hollywood adaptation without significant changes - and also it was probably not possible to ask the young actors to do on screen some of the things that are done in the book... For that reason, Ender from the film is a quite different character than the one from the book - he is softer, gentler, weaker, more vulnerable and lacks most of the ruthlessness described in the novel. Also, at the very end of the film, his actions are not motivated by pity and mercy as in the book but by guilt and remorse - and THAT is, I believe, the one change that was not necessary and it REALLY hurt this film.

For the needs of the film many of topics were also completely abandoned and the whole training was shortened, with especially the number of fascinating war games significantly reduced.

Still, I can not find it in my heart to take away one star from the rating, because notwithstanding all the changes, the director and the actors did a hell of a job and this film is a very pleasant watch! Excellent actors, great CGI, good action scenes, a tense and dramatic narration, very honest dialogs, all this makes "Ender's game" a good, solid Sci-Fi film - and there is not so much of them around. I warmly recommend to see it in the cinemas as long as it still play. I certainly will buy the DVD when it is available. Enjoy! Read more ›

I know adaptations have to shorten the book, there just is not enough time, however I think the screenplay has been cut so far back it races through and too great a pace and largely glosses over most of the significant parts of the book (even making the Bonzo Madrid incident looking like an accident). It is however entertaining and if you have not read the book you may even like it.

I had high hopes for this film along with my husband who is a huge sci fi fan and would normally buy dvd's like this to watch again and again but although he quite enjoyed it he was glad he only rented it as even he wouldnt watch again. I expected (not having read the book) that there would be more fighting the enemy in space but it was just about training kids ready to fight the enemy so I have to say I got a little bored with it. I love Harrison Ford and his films as we know are normally pretty good and although he was good in this film he couldnt make it anymore exciting I'm afraid. This had the potential to be a really good film so a missed opportunity I'd say.

tried to do the book justice, got some serious actors in it but on the whole, just a bit "meh"...seen a lot worse but ultimately, this is one that you wont watch time and again or go on to be a sci fi classic

I guess Ben Kingsley and Harrison Ford were embarrassed to take payment for appearing in this terrible rendition of a decent book.

Probably quite entertaining if you're around 10-15 years old.
Not what I'd imagined at all, and really didn't hold my attention.

Having read the book (many times) the film was a huge dissapointment.

For me the lack of any suspense or pressure killed the film cold. There was no build up, no anticipation, no sense of the desperation of the teachers or the pressure Ender was put under. The casting was terrible, at no point did Ender come across as the mix of intelligent/ruthless/empath that he was in the book. As for Bonzo I almost laughed when I saw him, He was smaller than Ender. Did they actually even read the book?

As for cutting out the whole political angle with his brother and sister I was dissapointed, but not surprised

I think there were numerous ways to present the story better, such as building up the battle school section, or the mind game. instead the film felt more like an advert for a tv series.

Very poorly done cover of a great sci-fi book. Totally missed the point. Adding some pretty special effects to a largely psychological story in no way makes up for the rest of its shortcomings

The first hour is spent learning astro-quidditch and the rest is a video game. Ben Kingsley sounds like a South African Maori and Harrison Ford must have needed the money. Excellent special effects sadly wasted on this predictable tripe.