In the past week, movie theatres in Vancouver were filled with youth lining up for “Ender’s Game”. After watching the long-awaited feature, certain themes and concepts stood out. Through out the film, Ender Wiggen explores complex issues, including the consequences of violence, maintaining humanity, and morality during wartime.

Though recent young adult book-to-screen adaptations, such as “Beautiful Creatures”, “The Host”, and “The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones”, have all seemed to be rather unsuccessful, it doesn’t mean the movies aren’t worth watching. An online poll, from goodreads.com, claim that people who’ve read the books prior to watching its motion-picture tend to enjoy the movie more. So, make sure you read the book before watching the movie!

In terms of content, the violence is ever so minor and can be considered acceptable for children. Targeting a younger audience, makers of the movie were attentive on excluding gore. Without doubt, ”Ender’s Game” delivers an astute Sci-Fi adventure that can be appreciated by both the children and their parents.

In the fictional world of the movie, the audience is pulled into the future where kids are being trained for space battle by Colonel Hyrum Graff(Harrison Ford). With a strong purpose in mind, the International Fleet is preparing for the next attack by an ant-like alien race known as the Formics.

In particular, Graff is looking for “the one”, like Neo in “The Matrix”, who has superior instincts. After careful selection, the colonel puts his faith in Ender, hoping he will become the saviour of the human race.

Asa Butterfield*(Ender Wiggen) successfully characterized the young hero. Variety affectionately writes that the young actor “has grown into his big blue eyes, if not the rest of his body, since “Hugo (2011)” and that he makes an “ideal casting for Ender.”

Looking back at the actor’s history, “Ender’s Game” is certainly a highlight in Butterfield’s career so far; The Telegraph, which wasn’t a fan of Butterfield’s performance in “Hugo,” says the young actor “gives a much more intrepid and complex performance as Ender Wiggin.”

“Ender’s Game” is a movie about youngsters made for youngsters. The motion-picture strongly targets a youth audience; the themes of bullying and friendship are exceptionally prominent. For adults, the storyline might seem quite blunt and meaningless. For the picky parents out there, the MPAA rating is PG – 13.

7.5/10

*You can follow Asa Butterfield on Twitter here.*