Recently we read Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. Enders Game is a futuristic fantasy novel featuring Ender Wiggin, the third child in a family of child prodigies. Ender is recruited by the I.F. or International Fleet to battle the Formics and put an end to their kind for good. He is taken to Battle School where he learns new skills and tactics and faces brutal training. The plot follows Ender through his time at Battle School, conquering seemingly impossible tasks preparing him for the ultimate battle against the Formics to save the human race. Again, like most movies made from novels, the movie was partly similar and partly different from the actual book. Directors make theses changes for many reasons to “benefit the film” but sometimes it does the opposite and detracts from the movie. There were many details in the movie that were unlike the book.

One major difference was Ender’s age. In the beginning of the novel, Ender was, a young boy, maybe six years old. In the movie he looked like he was about 12 or 13. I noticed this difference when the scene where Ender fights with Stilson came on. In the novel, they were little six year olds and Ender was surrounded with a few other boys around the same age. The fight seemed pretty drastic in the book because of how young they are, but in the movie were teenagers. I think that the director made the actors older than in the novel because it would be pretty gruesome to the audience if they showed little kids beating each other up like how they did in the book. Another reason for changing Ender’s age could’ve been to save time. I think the director had Ender start off as a teenager to save time in the film, and also so they didn’t have to get more actors to play Ender as he grew up. An additional change was that in the book, Peter apologized to Ender and tells him that he loves him. This was not in the movie! I felt that this was a very important part of the story that needed to be included! It showed that beneath everything, Peter loved Ender. I’m not sure why this part wasn’t in the movie but I feel it should’ve been. Also in the novel, we read about Bonzo who was the mean, tough commander of Salamander army. I pictured him to be a tall muscular Spanish guy, but in the movie they had a small tiny boy (shorter than Ender) play him. I don’t know why the director would choose this actor to be Bonzo. Maybe the director wanted to make the audience laugh at the irony of his size. I feel that they should’ve had a different actor play Bonzo, it gives people who didn’t read the book a different idea of what Bonzo was really like. Another change was Ender’s dialogue. In the book he didn’t talk back to Dap, or anyone for that matter, but in the movie he talked back to Dap and was giving him attitude. Especially in one scene where Dap was talking to all the launchies in their sleeping quarters. I think that they had Ender challenge Dap to show Ender’s personality and thoughts. Another difference is that there was nothing about Locke and Demosthenes, I think that the director took those parts out of it because it would take up too much time. But even though it would take up a lot of the movie, it was still an important part in the novel.

The boy that played Ender, Asa Butterfield, was a very good actor. He played Ender just like I imagined him. Ender’s character is very kind and conscious of others feelings. He avoids drama and tries to keep his head down most of the time For example, when Ender was going up to Battle School with the other launchies, Ender didn’t want to draw attention to himself, and he was upset that Graff praised him and made him seem like the best. Like Ender, the actor that portrayed him was very humble and reluctant to be a leader, but very aggressive he needed to defend himself. Although he was a good actor, I think that they should’ve added more of what Ender was thinking, like they could narrate his thoughts. In the novel, there’s so much going on in his mind, and it would help if they said some of what he was thinking.

All in all, my mind is made up. The book is always better than the movie. I say this because everything happening in the book is described in detail and you can know what the character is thinking. Sometimes the movie doesn’t even make sense if you didn’t read the book. But it’s also cool to watch the movie and see what the book is like in real life perspective and compare it to what you saw in your head. So in my opinion, you should definitely read the book before you watch the movie. That way you know what’s going on in the story as you watch.