The movie Ender’s Game is the film rendition of the book, Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. In the world of Ender?s Game, the world was being attacked by a species called “Formics”, dubbed as “Buggers”. After the First and Second Invasion of the Formicines, the government was looking for a new leader to take over their last one, Mazer Rackham. The government decided to find their new leader among the children of Earth. The leader they found was Andrew ?Ender? Wiggin, a child prodigy in strategy, tactic and military works. After three years of being observed through a device called a monitor, he was found positive to be accepted into the Battle School, after becoming a Third in his family. A Third is a third child allowed to stay alive after a first and second, since three children isn’t allowed. After accepting the invitation into the Battle School, a school for aspiring leaders to someday join the army against the Buggers, he would be trained to new lengths and tested in his strength of mind, will, and physical ability.
When watching the movie, I took notice of events that were also in the book, whether changed or similar. I had taken notice of the age group Ender fell in in the movie, which was around the age of 12 years old. In the book, Ender started off at only six years old, barely in what we consider second grade. This huge skip in age was a probably done to make Ender?s actions seem more reasonable, for some of them are violent at times. As Ender progressed from Earth to Battle School, there were little changes that made a difference. Ender’s first friends and development in gaining them changed in the movie. Ender?s first friend was Bean, and he gained his trust by showing his potential in the Battle Room. In the book, Alai was the Ender?s actual first friend, having been the one who learned with Ender in the Battle Room. In both medias, though, Ender was the one who showed them that “The enemy’s gate is down”, to help them know and calibrate themselves in the Battle School’s Battle Rooms, where it is null gravity. This was probably done to be able to introduce both Bean and Alai at the same time, seemingly killing two birds with one stone in matters of time management. After, Ender comes to meet the Giant’s Drink. When Ender encounters the Giant, it’s seen as a game that tested whether or not he could choose the correct choice out of two, in both medias, leading to his frustration of his inability to somehow choose the correct drink. So he shoots after the Giant, defeating it instead of getting defeated by the Drinks. This brings him to “FairyLand. Although, in the book, Ender goes through various places and before reaching the end, these challenges showing development in Ender?s mind of finishing the first battle, and finishing all the battles that were to come. In the movie, the small adventures of in Fairyland are replaced with Ender?s first contact with the Buggers; being met by the Bugger Queen-turned-Valentine, who showed Ender the Bugger’s chance of survival if they were to ever lose this interstellar war. This was probably made to also cut time, and was actually well executed in the movie.
Despite these different take-outs and add-ins, the movie gave beautiful animations and acting to make up for it. They worked well with what they had and made it intense and enticing. They made the days of the Battle School fun, but intensely dangerous at the same time, showing it as a place meant for kids, but kids that are being trained to inflict damage when they see fit, and to do it carefully. This was exhibited through Bonzo Madrid, who used his power in the way he thought was the best out of his fury, for he had to give up one of his veteran soldiers when Ender was promoted to his army, Salamander Army. This small story in Ender?s Game was greatly portrayed in the movie showing the growth of Ender through other’s actions and how he reacted to them, whether they turned out good or bad. They also greatly paced the events in the movie despite the portrayed amount of time almost every event in the movie was shown to have taken, which was around 28 days and 12 hours or less. But they outdid themselves when they shown the build up and event of the Third Invasion, which was beautifully animated and acted through, making you sit at the edge of your seat wanting to see it through the very end.
As I progressed from the beginning to the end of the movie with the book in mind, I started to notice some kind of pattern with the various events. There was great acting and portrayal of the characters during the different occurrences, yes, but there was something missing. That missing component was overall character development in the story. The actions of the characters throughout the movie were impacting, but because of certain actions that were taken out in the movie just made those actions seem like they only scratched the surface on what the book achieved. But the movie achieved what the book couldn’t, which is clear visuals of what was happening then and there, and more. If you are choosing whether or not to read the book, movie or both, I suggest going after what you prefer. If you want to find out about the story of Ender through visuals and acting, I suggest watching the movie, for it has great acting and still stays with the story. If you want to see the story with more depth and development, I suggest reading the book. If you can go through both, do I suggest going through both medias, just to see the differences and similarities of both for yourself.