"May the Odds Be Ever In Your Favor!"

I forgot to mention, hubby and I went and saw The Hunger Games movie last week.

It was the first movie we recall going to since we saw Conan the Barbarian 3D (mmm barbaric Jason Momoa!!) for my birthday. Last August.

Anyways, I finished the whole trilogy a few weeks before and hubby thought the movie looked good from the trailers so we made an effort to get out and see this one in theaters (seriously, I'm soooo behind in movies I want to see it's not even funny!).

WARNING: Spoilers Ahead!

What I Loved:

• The settings really were pretty close to what I had pictured them being! So that was neat!
• How they brought Katniss' Capitol Clothes to life, from the parade outfit on fire to her interview dress... that was just great!
• The behind the scenes of The Games. The book is in 1st person from Katniss' point of view so this was a nice element of the movie, plus it developed Scenca Crane's character a bit more, as we only hear about him briefly in the books.
• Scenca's death sentence - that was just great! Lock him in a room with nothing by Nightlock to eat. Genius!

What I Missed:

• They cut out Madge - the mayor's daughter who's sort of Katniss' friend and we learn later there's a family history with their mothers and The Games. In the book, it's Madge who gives Katniss the Mockingjay pin and we learn of the pin's history/significance later. Kinda sad, as they could have easily left her in...
• No bread from District 11! In the book, after Katniss does her memorial thing with Rue before the hovercraft lifts her body away, a parachute arrives with some bread that Katniss recognizes being from District 11. It's a token of their gratitude for what she just did and she thanks them for it in the 2nd book which causes their district's uprising to begin (not like how it happened in the movie).
• No Avox's! Seriously, where were they??
• Katniss and Peeta in the cave - she tells the backstory about Prim's goat and also she drugs Peeta so she can sneak off to The Feast to get his medicine.
• Katniss losing it in the Hovercraft (which were also pretty much not present!) after The Games.
• Cinna wasn't as... flamboyant as I had imagined him. I LOVE Lenny, and I liked him as Cinna, but... iono, he needed more. I pictured Cinna to be this stylist like the ones you see on Bravo or whatever crazy reality show these days has stylists. But he was just in a boring old black suit with gold eyeliner. He needed some color - a crazy colored tie or gloves... or a scarf! Something to make him look a little more flamboyant. I mean, I get she says in the books he's more down to earth than the rest of her stylist team, but he's still a stylist. Even more flamboyant in his movements would have helped in my opinion.

What Needed Clarification:

• The 3 finger salute - I had just the read the books within a month or so of the movie coming out and when hubby asked me what it meant, I honestly couldn't recall. And they did it several times throughout the movie. That could have definitely used clarification, as I've read others were confused by it and its meaning as well.
• Effie Trinket - while Elizabeth Banks did a GREAT job as Effie... um, I don't recall them actually ever saying her name, let alone introducing who she is and what her job is. I assume most people that didn't read the books just thought she was the Capitol liaison/handler for District 12, but still... like I said, I don't recall them ever even saying her name!
• Peeta and Katniss flashback - I don't think they really made it clear what was going on there as Katniss looked more sad than starving and it wasn't really obvious that Peeta was out there to get to the bread to her. Plus, they didn't look young enough - I imagined them being like 10 (okay so they're supposed to be 12, but still).

iO9 gives a pretty good list of other stuff I didn't already mention here too.

I think how they did it, it works. Obviously they had to make some cuts for time as it was already 2 and a half hours long and of course they can't fit in EVERYTHING from the book, so there's going to be things people that read the books miss or didn't like. Some people I know personally said it felt like The Games lasted a total of 2 days, which disappointed them. And I'm sure you've heard about people being pissed to learn that Rue is black. I'll admit, reading it, I didn't necessarily picture her as black, just very very tanned due to working in the fields all day... so I guess I pictured her as a light-skinned black girl, but my mind didn't really make the connection (and BTW, can authors just come out already and say that a character is black and not describe them as "tan"? Just say black or African American - this is 2012 for crying out loud, we can handle it!) But I thought the girl they picked was perfect for her. Thresh on the otherhand... not gonna lie, I totally pictured him as being a Hulk-like character, the way they describe him as being big and strong and how he just easily breaks Clove, lol... terrible, I know, but yes, I pictured him to be like the Hulk, lol...

Anyways, that's just my thoughts regarding the movie adaption of the book!

BTW, I thought Jennifer Lawrence was great and look forward to her career taking off - in case you forgot, she played Bill Engvall's teenage daughter on his self-titled sitcom that ran for 3 sesasons on TBS. On Wiki, they said it took her 3 days to accept the role as she was "initially intimidated by the size of the movie and what it may mean for her fame."

Have you seen the movie? 

Did you read the books beforehand? 

What did you think?