Book/Movie Comparison: Game Over

            My next book to movie comparison came via a suggestion from my friend John Fredrickson who I have known since High School. He wanted me to compare the book and version versions of Ender’s Game. The book was written by Orson Scott Card and the movie version was directed by Gavin Hood.

            Orson Scott Card knows how to write an entertaining science fiction story that keeps you entertained from beginning to end. Though the book is almost thirty years old it was interesting to see how the main character was bullied similar to children today. The descriptions of the different training activities and games made the book very easy to follow. It made me kind of wish I could go to a space age military training school or at least experience the activities and games that Ender and the other cadets did. The reasoning behind the training reminded me a bit of the movie Starship Troopers but with more tactics and less military combat.

            When the movie originally came out last fall I was not very interested in seeing it because I didn’t have much hope for Hollywood doing a good job of adapting a young adult novel that was originally released when I was just a child. I finally watched it after it was released on video and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it. The movie does move along at a very fast pace so some characters and not developed very much and while that doesn’t hurt the majority of the movie it does hurt the viewer’s chances of connecting with certain ones. The special effects help bring Card’s words to life and that is clearly evident in the zero gravity battle simulations. It might look like laser tag in space but it is so much more.

            Ender’s Game was the first movie I watched this year before reading the book. I think watching the movie helped me when reading the book because it was easier to picture a number of the characters based on who played them in the movie. My biggest qualm with the movie was the fact that it all but ignored the storyline about Ender’s brother and sister from the book. Once Ender is taken to training we only see his sister one more time. The political commentary plot between Peter and Valentine Wiggin play a larger part in the book and its later sequels. Possibly Hollywood knew they were only going to make one movie from the series thus decided not to include that part. I personally would have liked to see it and it would have only added another 15-20 minutes to the movie. I would gladly recommend both the book and movie to people if asked for a suggestion. In the years to come I can see the movie becoming one I watch on an annual basis.