When I heard The Hunger Games was being turned into a movie, I was a bit skeptical. The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, is a very violent book, and it has a lot of themes that would be very hard to highlight in two and a half hours. But all my concerns were wiped away when I saw the movie.

The movie followed the book so closely; it seemed like the cast, costumes, sets, and locations were exactly replicated from the book. Even the extra things, like more insight of the control room added a better look in to Collin’s amazing world. I did feel like you should have read the book before seeing the movie because the movie couldn’t possibly fit everything in two and a half hours.

A better cast could not have been chosen! Jennifer Lawrence was meant to be Katniss Everdeen and her performance with Josh Hutcherson (Peeta Mellark) was stunning.  Stanley Tucci as Caesar Flickerman was the best, especially with his blue hair! Child actors Willow Shields (Primrose Everdeen) and Amandla Stenberg (Rue) were unbelievably spectacular even if they were young and inexperienced.

This movie could not have as much intensity and bloody violence as the book because of the large number of kids that wanted to see it, but the movie did not skate over much. The graphics were amazing, especially during the beginning of the Games and when Katniss hallucinates.

The only complaint I have is that the movie did not feel like two and a half hours! It went by in a blink of an eye. I even went to the movie twice, and it was more than worth it!

People seem to think that this series will become the next Twilight franchise because of the “teams” (Team Peeta and Team Gale), but that’s too bad because The Hunger Games is so much better. The Hunger Games is all around a great movie, and I would highly recommend it!