29Joshua D
Certainly! Here's a review highlighting the ways in which the "The Giver" movie adaptation falls short of the original book:
---
**Review: Why "The Giver" Movie Fails to Live Up to the Book**
The film adaptation of Lois Lowry's acclaimed novel "The Giver" attempts to bring the dystopian world of Jonas to the big screen, but unfortunately, it falls short in capturing the depth, nuance, and emotional resonance of the original book. Several key issues contribute to its shortcomings as a faithful adaptation.
**1. Loss of Depth and Complexity:**
The novel immerses readers in a carefully constructed society, exploring themes of memory, emotion, and individual freedom. The movie, constrained by runtime and visual storytelling limitations, simplifies many of these themes, leading to a superficial understanding of the society's oppressive nature. Crucial philosophical questions and moral dilemmas are glossed over, reducing the story to a more straightforward adventure.
**2. Shallow Character Development:**
In the book, Jonas's internal struggles and growth are portrayed with rich detail, allowing readers to connect deeply with his character. The film, however, presents characters in a more surface-level manner, making it difficult to feel invested in their journeys. Jonas's transformation feels rushed and lacks the emotional weight that the book masterfully conveyed.
**3. Visual and Artistic Choices:**
While the film's visual design aims to depict a sterile, controlled environment, it often feels muted and uninspired. The lack of vibrant color and the minimalistic aesthetic fail to evoke the emotional contrast present in the book, where memories of color, music, and emotion play a vital role in Jonas's awakening.
**4. Narrative Alterations:**
Certain plot points and revelations from the book are either altered or omitted entirely, diminishing the story's impact. These changes often undermine the buildup of suspense and the thematic messages about freedom and individuality.
**5. Missed Opportunities for Emotional Impact:**
The novel's poignant moments—such as Jonas receiving memories of love, pain, and beauty—are powerful because of their depth and context. The movie struggles to recreate this emotional intensity, resulting in a less memorable and less meaningful experience.
**Conclusion:**
While "The Giver" film attempts to bring Lois Lowry's dystopian world to audiences unfamiliar with the book, it ultimately fails to capture the complexity and emotional depth that make the novel a thought-provoking classic. Fans of the original story may find the movie disappointing, as it simplifies and sanitizes the profound themes that made the book impactful.
---
Rated 1.5/5 Stars •
Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars
05/16/25
Full Review
Tyler S
I thought the concept was really good. The main thing I thought that held this movie back was that it was wayyyyy to short. Now, I haven't read this book in like 6/7 years so I knew the general concept. With such a complicated story, I kinda wished they would've made it longer to better develop characters and the story more. But thanks to having a tiny bit of experience with the book, it was fine, but nowhere near perfect.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
04/17/25
Full Review
Audience Member
Worst movie I have personally ever watched. I have no words to describe my watching experience. Completely untrue to the book, has a dry and artificial romance, and is just a crappy movie. The writers added so many small, insignificant changes and left out important plot lines. This movie is so overwhelmingly carried on the shoulders of the overused violin music. Other than that, the only saving grace of this movie is the set design, which does fit the book's description quite well. It's the first movie I've watched that has made me want to throw up. Terrible script, acting, camera work, and just everything about this movie screams two words. CASH. GRAB.
Rated 0.5/5 Stars •
Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars
03/20/25
Full Review
Robert A
The Giver
The Special Story
Genre: sci-fi
SPOILER ALERT!!! IN THIS REVIEW I WILL BE SAYING MOSTLY EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED DURING THE MOVIE. “The Giver” was made by Lois Lowrey and released in 1993. This book was then turned into a movie in 2014. The main characters are Jonas, Chief Elder, The Giver, and a special guest was Tayler Swift. This movie was made kids and for the now adults who read the book when they were younger. This movie has won one award and that was the John Newbery Medal. Now enough with the facts about the book and the movie now let's get started with what is making you read this. Today I will be reviewing this movie and giving you guys my thoughts about it. This movie was an ok movie. The reason I say this is because they skipped a lot of things. Although they did a very good job on it, they just didn't really meet my requirements. First of all, the beginning of the movie was pretty accurate to the book. After that they had the ceremony of 12. Although they did do the ceremony, the part when they kept repeating “Jonas” kind of creeped me out. Anyways, After that Jonas went to his first day of training. A cool thing that I liked about the movie is how there is a big piece of land and it's surrounded by clouds. I just find it interesting how no one was brave enough to go past the clouds until Jonas was born (I will get into that later). Once Jonas got to The Givers place, he was asked to sit down. The Giver then says to get closer and tells Jonas that there is nothing he can do to prepare him for what's about to come. The Giver then puts both his hands on his arms and shows Jonas what's past the clouds and shows him what the world really is. I am not going to lie, this part was very interesting and cool. I say this because it's like showing so many new things about life to a little kid. This is also kind of scary at the same time because you then know new things have bad things that come with it. For example, The Giver accidentally shows Jonas the memory of war which scared the hell out of Jonas and made him scared of dying and others dying too. Moving on to the next part. Jonas finds out what having someone released means (killing them) and also finds out that they are releasing Gabe (baby that Jonas has a very special connection with). He then tells his friend/girlfriend that he is leaving and going beyond the clouds and asks her to come with him. She says she can't but she does help him escape by acting like she's taking a baby with her while running away from the people who try to catch Jonas and prevent him from escaping. He's then being chased by them and then BOOMMM, he jumps into the clouds leaving the people confused. He's on the run now and having planes look for him to return him. His friend Asher is one of the pilots and once he finds Jonas, Jonas then says “friends forever” then tries to run away, but then gets captured. Asher then lets go of Jonas flying over a river. Asher then gets a call through his glasses by the Chief Elder (main leader) and asks if she killed Jonas. Asher says that the job is done then flies back to the piece of land, leaving Jonas and Gabe to find the pillars. The whole reason why Jonas is escaping is to save his friend/girlfriend from dying and to give the whole city the ability to see color and make it a better place. Jonas then walks through deserts, rivers, and mountains. At the mountains, he passes out with Gabe in his hands and wakes up to find a sled. He rides it down this hill and eventually goes through the pillars. This causes everyone in the piece of land to finally see colors and feel emotions and not live like robots. This also saves the life of Fiona (the girlfriend). Overall this movie was a 3.5 out of 5 because there could have been a lot more things that were in the book but it's ok because there were some cool things in it. Thank you for reading this and sorry if I spoiled a lot more than you expected.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
02/13/25
Full Review
Coolin's M
Hated the movie just like I hated the book
Rated 0.5/5 Stars •
Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars
12/16/24
Full Review
Croft T
The Giver, a 2014 Phillip Noyce film that takes place in what seems to be a utopia. A community free of war, violence, pain and suffering due to its strict conformity of ridding the community of emotions and memories. Brenton Thwaites plays a character named Jonas, a smart and capable teenager that is selected by “the community” to be the receiver of memory, which grants him access to learn about the rest of humanity and the truth of the real world throughout history. Jeff Bridges plays a mysterious man that’s known by the community as “The Giver”, The Giver acts as a mentor to Jonas and reveals the truth of how his community came to be and all of the shady actions that must happen to keep the utopia running.
The film’s plot attempts to display all the themes in a simple format but is unable to balance the story plot’s depth with a simple understanding. Despite the very interesting plot, the fast pace storytelling makes the story feel rushed. The setting is excellently portrayed throughout the film as it displays the patterned perfection of the community with a clean monochromatic aesthetic. As Jonas experiences memories of the “real world” the world slowly gains vibrance. Lastly, the character development varies from person to person. For example, The Givers character balances his wisdom and mentorship attitude with fear and melancholyness, because he knows how hurtful and powerful the memories of the real world are. Similarly with Jonas, he has an advances character arc that you see unfold, he starts with the same knowledge as every other clueless citizen but as he learns more he starts to question everything about his reality, and does a great job at displaying all the moral dilemmas with keeping the truth a secret from the community. However, for other characters like Chief Elder, played by Meryl Streep, who has significant importance throughout the climax, however, is very underly explained, leaving a gap of the story unknown.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
11/21/24
Full Review
Read all reviews
Continue with Google
>
