Overall, I was very pleased with the movie adaptation. Some of the added elements of the movie, in my opinion, enhanced my feelings towards the trilogy...
New Things I liked:
- I liked the exchange of the mockingjay pin from Katniss and Prim, then back to Katniss. I think it portrayed the sentimental importance of the pin; on the other hand, I was a little disappointed that the political importance of the mockingjay was not explained. Hence, one of the final scenes where Snow comments on the pin might be unclear without reading the books.
-I liked the needle prick that was used to identify the children. Trivial, yes, but I liked the futuristic feel to it.
- I loved the scene where Rue steals the knife. Very brief, but I felt it captured her character very well.
- I really liked the way the movie incorporated the behind-the-scenes and the televised commentary on the games. I got a better feeling of how the games were manipulated.
Things I Didn't Like (as a fan of the book series):
- I missed Madge in the movie and how she is the original owner of the mockingjay pin; this makes Katniss's acquisition of the pin less arbitrary because the historical importance is more clear with it being a gift.
- I pictured Haymitch to be a little more overweight. (I absolutely LOVED Woody Harrelson, though!)
- I would have liked more of the meetings before Katniss and Peeta rode away. It would have been very exciting if we could have seen the scene of Peeta's mother's last comments to her son about Katniss. (The few lines at the dinner table, when this issue is addressed, would have been better if it had been straight out of the book, "She's a survivor, that one." but maybe that's just me.)
- I wish more time had been spent on each district's attributes. I enjoyed reading about the parade, but this part is breezed through in the movie.
- The relationship between Katniss and Rue should have had more time to develop. It's hard to understand in the movie why Katniss is so attached to this young girl.
- The relationship between Katniss and Peeta isn't very believable. Additionally, I don't think you can tell that she's faking it. Maybe a talk with Haymitch before the games (or after) would have helped this plot complication, since I think that it should be important.
All in all, I thought the settings were very well done; District 12 and the Capital were almost exactly how I had envisioned them. I'm looking forward to the next movie whenever that may come out. I was reading on the Hunger Games Wiki that the actors are signed to four movies, which means that one book will be split into two films. Catching Fire? Mockingjay?
