The movie Ender’s Game is based off the book Ender’s Game written by Orson Scott Card. In the Earth’s future an alien race called the Formics, or buggers attack our planet. We would have been wiped out, but military genius Mazer Rackham saved us at the last second. Now the IF (International Fleet) is working to find a new genius by training and recruiting the smartest kids this Earth has. They claim they have found this child whose name is Ender Wiggin. Ender is recruited by the IF to become a student at Battle School. Leaders from the IF watched him closely for special skills and traits that a leader and military commander should have. They were able to do this by installing a monitor in his head that allowed them to see and hear what he does. Ender is considered “the one” by IF leader Colonel Hyrum Graff even before Ender goes to Battle School.
Ender is launched into space following his agreement with Colonel Graff. Once he is in space Graff introduces him and other launchies to the battle room. Before he knows it, Ender is promoted from launchie to a member in an army. Ender meets Bonzo who is the commander of the Salamander army. They do not get along very much, and Ender does not get the practice he needs because Bonzo doesn’t let him. Then Ender starts secretly training with a girl named Petra Arkanian who is also part of the Salamander army. Bonzo doesn’t like this but there is nothing he can do about it because Ender then gets promoted to a commander. When Ender gets his own army things start to get a little tougher, but Ender handles it. The IF leaders make it unfair for Ender’s army by making them fight two armies at once. Sure enough Ender wins, but Bonzo is pissed. Bonzo gathers up some of his cronies to beat up Ender in the showers. Ender defends himself well and he accidentally kills Bonzo.
With a heavy heart, Ender is led to his last stage of training, which is at Commander School. Commander School is stationed on an actual bugger planet. His new teacher is the infamous Mazer Rackham. Mazer shows Ender some clips from the invasions and gets Ender ready for the battle simulations. In the simulation Ender commands a fleet that fights buggers in space. He and his fleet win almost every battle. Then Ender’s final battle comes and he must win this battle in order to graduate. The leaders of the IF watch closely as Ender maneuvers his way into a giant mass of bugger ships. They are way outnumbered but Ender utilizes his strongest weapon, “The Little Doctor,” to destroy the whole enemy planet. Everybody cheers and shouts, “Ender, you did it!” Mazer Rackham and Colonel Graff approach Ender and divulge a startling truth. Ender was not actually in a simulator. He was battling against the real enemy in space. Ender is furious because he didn’t know that he just killed off all the buggers. Ender finds his world spinning and needs to get a hold on what is happening. Ender sees himself in the world that was portrayed on a silly game that he played when he was just a launchie. Then he meets the queen of the buggers and makes a promise to try and restore the bugger race.

I thought that the movie was okay but the book was way better. The book offered great details and was dense with events while the movie often skipped some rather important events. While reading the book I pictured the setting differently in my head. Some characters in the book were introduced earlier in the movie, and some weren’t even mentioned in the movie. I think that the director had to cut a lot out so that the movie didn’t turn out to be 5 hours long. The thing that we may all agree on is how much of a disappointment Bonzo was in the movie. He was described as a very tough person in the book, but in the movie he was small and weak. This movie didn’t really focus on Ender’s brother and sister too much. In the book Ender’s siblings Valentine and Peter were actively trying to make their voices heard politically. The movie didn’t shed much light on them at all. I think that is because they want to save some meat to make more movies.

The theme of this movie based on the book is that trying to be an adult when you aren’t is junk. The IF is desperate to find a leader so they steal little kids from their families and send them into space far away from civilization. Then they brainwash those kids and make them learn complex strategies and turn everybody against each other. Ender was really affected by this because he was put under lots of stress. Lots of kids went mad because they just couldn’t do it. Kids should be able to enjoy their childhood while it lasts because it goes by very fast.

Overall I would rate the Ender’s Game book a 9 out of 10 because it has explicit details that support every event in the book. It also describes each character and how they changed through the whole story. I would give the movie a 7 out of 10 because honestly it just wasn’t as dense with events as the book was. It just seemed to graze over important parts and rushed through each scene. The acting didn’t help much either. It was like a soap opera at times. Sorry if I am being a bit bashful but it is the truth. Maybe it was just that the people who read the book were expecting too much out of the movie.