When I first picked up Ender's Game as a kid I loved it immediately. Ender became and continues to be my favorite character of any book or series I had read before or have since read. Ender is so well-written that no other character in any other book even comes close. I childishly refused to read the other books in the Ender series simply because Ender in Ender's Game was so perfect and I was scared that he would get ruined (I still haven't read them by the way, but I fully intend to at some point).
I often wondered why Ender's Game hadn't already been made into a film since it was already wildly popular both inside and outside of the sci-fi/fantasy world. I mean, they teach it in English classes in some schools for heaven's sake. My only thought was that Card wouldn't let them make it into a movie because he didn't want it ruined. Well, I don't know what the reason was, but they've made a movie now.
If you want to read a fair and balanced review of Ender's Game you may want to look elsewhere. I am clearly biased by my love for Ender as a character and unfortunately, as the IF commanders do in the book, the producers and director sacrificed Ender for the sake of an entertaining, aesthetically pleasing film that might appeal to a larger audience. In doing this, they took away the entire purpose of the book: Ender.
There is always good news and bad news. I've always been the type of guy who wants to hear the good news first.
The good news is that Ender and Bean were both magnificently cast.
Okay, now on to the bad news........
But seriously.
I will attempt to group my criticisms of the film into categories starting from most offensive to least offensive.
Ender Wiggin
I don't know who that was on the screen but it sure wasn't Ender Wiggin. Don't get me wrong, Asa Butterfield did a great job and he definitely looked the part. I was okay with them making Ender older since that's how I pictured him when I read the book in the first place. Ender is just impossible to connect to as a 6 year old kid. My problem was that the producers and directors sacrificed important character building of Ender for the sake of plot, which was a huge mistake since Ender is important to the book and plot is not. The book could have been about anything, any of the details changed, as long as Ender was Ender. The main problem was that Ender was a smart-ass, likeable (by the other boys), leader straight from the get-go. Ender never went through the crucible of isolation that made Ender who he was. Ender didn't get a chance to win anybody's respect, he just had it right from the start. Even later, when Ender was meant to be a leader, the movie got it wrong again. Ender might have had fun winning in the games, but he was still alone and somewhat depressed the whole time. Ender's weariness never showed either. These are some of the most emotionally charged parts of the entire book because the readers have been wondering the entire time when and how Ender will finally break. This extends past the battle school to the final scene where he wins the war with the buggers. At that point he literally breaks and is done, finished. It isn't until days later that he even realizes that the games were real or the implications of any of that. I'm not saying that Ender in the movie was a terrible character. I think he was a great character. It just wasn't the character Ender Wiggin. In short, they made Ender's Game with a new character that had Ender's name and face, but few of the traits that made him the best character ever written.
All other characters
Since we have already decided that Ender's Game is a book built on characters (Ender in particular) and not plot, the other characters that they did wrong (which is all of them) were also major problems with the film. We will take them one at a time roughly in order of appearance.
Stilson: It is ironic that I am about to say this, but Stilson is the only character that SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN CAST OLDER!!! Wow! The characters that are supposed to be older are too young but LITERALLY THE ONLY CHILD WHO IS ACTUALLY SUPPOSED TO BE AROUND ENDER'S AGE IS A FREAKING GIANT! That is all.
Valentine: I have few complaints about Valentine except that at first I thought Valentine looked younger than Ender. It was just the camera angles in that first scene in the bedroom but it was okay after that.
Peter: He was cast wrong and his character was not developed at all. The reason this is a mistake is because you have to understand Peter and Valentine before you can even begin to understand Ender. Valentine was developed enough, but more for her would have been nice too.
Mom and Dad: They were fine. They are not important enough to the story for me to care although I did imagine dad as having glasses with a briefcase and newspaper (not exactly, but you get the businessman feeling from him in the book).
Graff: As a Harrison Ford fan it plagues me to say this, but he might have been the worst of the main characters in the entire movie. It isn't because he was cast wrong (on the contrary, he could have done Graff proud) but instead because he was so flat the entire movie. It was hard for me to tell if he even cared about Ender or the war or anything at all. HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT since Graff is in my inner circle of most important characters in the book.
Anderson: Although I pictured Anderson as a white man, I was fine with Anderson being a black woman. The complaint that I have is that Anderson was too compassionate (more about this later). I realize that Anderson always tried to balance Graff, but Anderson always came off strong to me, as a partner with Graff, just with more of a conscience.
Dap: What the hell? Worst casting decision of the entire film. Nuff said.
Petra, Alai, the absence of Shen, Dink (perfect!), Fly Molo and Bernard I was okay with except for the fact that Bernard lacked an accent. They throw in random races and accents to everyone else but Bernard doesn't get one? That was a dumb move.
Bonzo: Sorry, THIS is the worst casting decision of the film. I realize that Moises Arias played a feisty Bonzo, but I seriously couldn't take him seriously with him being a whole head shorter than Ender. Was Bean taller than him? Just kidding.
Mazer: I was okay with it other than I pictured him with a pretty gnarly beard for some reason.
I don't care about the Strategos or any of the other guys that barely appear in the book.
Ender Scenes
This is similar to the Ender section, but I will talk about specific scenes and everything that was wrong with them, not just the Ender parts. I will try to go chronologically.
Beating up Stilson: We've already discussed the fact that Stilson is too big, but Ender should not have been that scared during that scene. Ender was freaked out inside, but he wasn't like that on the surface. If you wanted the audience to know how he was feeling, the cut scene to Valentine was a perfectly fine way to show all that. Ender reacts logically, not emotionally and that entire scene was done wrong, including the way Ender chose to fight (grabbing random objects, not planned out, etc).
Choosing Ender for the IF: I just wanted to do a quick shout out because I think this scene was actually really pretty good (except why was Anderson there? I guess it's okay.....).
The shuttle and Bernard in general: Skipping this scene was a vital mistake because it is a huge Ender character developing moment. Also, the decision to make Bernard an ally was idiotic. I see why they did it (Ender brought all the kids around to his side, even Bernard), but that is not how it was supposed to work.
Ender's first battle with Salamander: Ender's not freaking Neo from The Matrix. What was up with those stupid moves like letting go of both guns, flipping, getting them again, shooting everybody and everything? That was not Ender's first experiences in battle.
Ender as Dragon commander montage: Okay, let's force all of Ender's character building moments into a 5 minute montage that focuses more on the cool tricks he is doing rather than the actual character growing that Ender is going through.
Bonzo fights Ender: Kudos for tactfully showing this scene but it was a little laughable, mostly because of the bad casting decision for Bonzo that I already mentioned earlier.
Bonzo, Petra, and Ender with Graff: This scene is completely unnecessary since it is not in the book AT ALL!!! Ender doesn't give up on the game because of Bonzo. Oh wait, I forgot you don't want to build the character of Ender, you want to build a new character that is not Ender but more Valentine than anything who definitely would not have been able to win the war with the buggers.
Ender and Valentine: It was a bit silly but I honestly don't know how they could have done this scene without coming off really super cheesy.
Command school: Again, where is the crucible that Ender is supposed to go through? Why are we telling him who Mazer is right from the start? Why are all his buddies there right from the start?
Ender fails a battle: THIS PISSED ME OFF! ENDER DOES NOT LOSE! ENDER NEVER LOSES! Petra makes mistakes, not Ender. Ender never loses. Can I say that one more time? Ender never loses.
Ender is upset about the war: The way it happened in the book was perfect. This way was really horrible. It just makes it seem as if Ender is too much Valentine, not enough Peter. Not enough Ender.
Miscellaneous problems of varying offensiveness
Girls at the battle school: I'm sorry that we live in a world where girls might feel offending if there aren't enough of them in the movie but suck it up. There aren't supposed to be very many girls at the battle school (none that I know of except Petra) but the way they set this up it seemed as if there were tons of them. There were several in Ender's launch group.
The hook: The hook was stupid. I don't really know what else to say about that.
Buggers: Why did they intentionally avoid using this phrase? Is it offensive in some way that I am unaware of? It was supposed to be offensive.
Petra love: Making it seem as if there was something between Ender and Petra was bunk. Just total bunk.
Mazer has to help Ender figure the buggers out: Ender figures the vids out for himself while he is still at battle school. He doesn't need Mazer to hold his hand and explain everything to him.
Mind game: More vital character development of Ender that they cut out. The mind game was a joke they way they presented it.
No Intelligent Progression: They present Ender as a Launchy/Salamander/Commander all at the same time with no progression to follow. This was a huge injustice to developing Ender's character properly.
Bean in the launch group: I was okay with this. I even thought that they stumbled onto genius when I thought they might combine the characters of Bean and Alai (which they didn't). I would have liked to see a bit more of Bean's development, but oh well.
I can keep going, but what's the point?
I heard the suggestion given that they should have done this movie in two movies. I still think it could have been done properly in one, but if they did make two movies then even an idiot should be able to get it right, just follow the book. The details about Ender matter. The details about everyone else doesn't matter as much. If they did split it, I would end the first movie with Ender becoming Dragon commander. The obvious benefits of drawing the movie out into two is that they could actually spend the correct amount of time developing Ender slowly (since that's how he develops!). It would also let the progression of exhaustion show which I think was a major drawback in the movie. I don't feel like Ender EVER felt exhausted, just angry or sad or some other powerful emotion.
Needless to say it was the worst book adaptation I have ever seen (you heard me right my friends, worse than Eragon) and I will not be seeing it again if I can help it.
