Let's Get Excited About "Ender's Game"

About once a month someone else exclaims "They're making an Ender's Game movie?!?!? And it's got Harrison Ford and Ben Kingsley??? AND IT'S COMING OUT THIS YEAR? AND I DIDN'T KNOW?"

No more excuses, guys. The first teaser trailer has been released online. So watch it, share, and let the hype begin.

Of course, die hard fans have been worried about this adaptation for awhile, and understandably so. Orson Scott Card himself has gone on record talking about the difficulty of adapting Ender's Game word for word, and declaring that such an adaptation would be "Four hours long." 

But understanding that changes are happening doesn't mean that we can't accept those changes. For instance, making the movie with six-year-olds would be nearly impossible, unless they went with an animated film (which would not suit the tone of the book). The fact that they've made all the kids older makes sense. We also know that they're focusing more on the action of the second half of the book, which again makes sense. How it will all play out remains to be seen, but I'm reserving judgement until I actually watch it. Sometimes adaptations are horrible, and sometimes they're wonderful. I think, from all I see, that "Ender's Game" is going to be a really good movie, even if it's different from the book. And that's okay. Neil Gaiman's "Stardust" is both a fantastic movie and a fantastic book, even though they are very different. The book, translated directly to screen, would not have worked as well as the adaptation did. 

I believe, as long as Asa Butterfield can convincingly portray Ender, we'll get a movie worth the wait. Want to know the kid's perspective on things? Check out this interview. I'm not surprised that he couldn't get through "Speaker for the Dead", as that is such a radically different book and OSC himself believes it unfilmable. If "Ender's Game" does well and a sequel is demanded, they'd be much better following up with the "Shadow" series.