Movie Review: "The Hunger Games"

I had been wanting to see this since I finished the first book. Of course, by the time I finished the first book, all my friends who had already read it had already seen it, so I had no one to go with, so I had to wait. My friend at work just bought it, though, so I finally got to watch it on Friday.

It was good. It stayed pretty true to the book, though it was missing a bit of explanation as far as the politics of the story go, which I think could lead to a bit of confusion for people who only see the movies when it gets to the last one. At times it seemed a little slow, but at the same time it felt like there were some things missing. One character in particular should have gotten more screen time, but I can't say more than that without spoilers.

My biggest complaint, though, was the casting of Peeta. Josh Hutcherson is not the good-looking strong blond from the book. He did a fine job, but I couldn't get past the fact that he was so not right for the role. There were times when it even crossed my mind, "Oh, that was so good! He would have nailed it if not for the fact that he can't overcome the fact that he's not Peeta." I also didn't care for the casting of President Snow (Donald Sutherland) or Caesar Flickerman (Stanley Tucci). I could get past them, though. Woody Harrelson was also not how I pictured Haymitch Abernathy, but he did well. And then there was Lenny Kravitz as Cinna.

Totally not what I had envisioned, but I absolutely loved him. Definitely my favorite casting move.

The location was great, the costumes were great, the sets were great. Overall a very good adaptation of a book. If only I hadn't been so distracted by the wrong Peeta.