My review of "The Hunger Games" Movie....EXTREME SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!

The Hunger Games Movie Review, by L. Anne Wooley

"May the Odds ever be in your favor."

And so begins the first movie installment of the widely popular trilogy by Suzanne Collins.  I have read all three books of the trilogy twice, and I highly recommend them.  Some movies are close to the books (i.e. Bram Stokers Dracula, however you get sympathy for Vlad in the movie, not so in the book), some are not so close (Harry Potter).
As far as a movie adaptation...this was pretty close to the actual books with some glaring discrepancies.  First, the Mockingjay Pin that Katniss gets, was actually given to her by Madge, the daughter of the mayor.  The movie shows her getting it from (probably)  Greasy Sae.  She gives it to Prim, who gives it back.
Secondly, on the train and in the Capital, Katniss and Peeta are shown stuffing themselves to almost sickness with food.  In the movie, I did not see them touch one scrap.  The book basically shows them using the food to bulk up to survive better in the games, and the fact they never have enough to eat, which should have been brought out more in the movie.
The GLARING screw up, was putting the riot in District 11 in this movie....it happens in the SECOND book...not the FIRST.  The riot happens when Peeta and Katniss are on their victory tour of the districts.  It happens after Katniss thanks Rue, and the other tributes families.  So I have no idea how they are going to handle that when that comes up in book 2's movie.
The scene with Rue was handled exactly as it was in the book....and yes, I bawled.  I'm not ashamed to admit it.  It was very touching.
The costumes were amazing, especially Peeta and Katniss's fire costumes.  Pretty much everything else is very close to the book.  So I was not displeased.
Overall, I felt the movie was well worth the price of admission, and did not soil the book, or sour the book for me.  I give it a big thumbs up!