A young-adult remake of many already-made films, writes Christine Powley.
Director: Gavin Hood
Cast: Asa Butterfield, Harrison Ford, Hailee Steinfeld, Abigail Breslin, Sir Ben Kingsley, Viola Davis, Aramis Knight, Suraj Partha, Moises Arias, Nonso Anozie
Rating: (M)
3 stars out of 5
Apparently in the future the people best equipped to assess vast screeds of data and make quick-fire decisions will be children.
So the military will spend huge sums of money training baby generals to lead humanity against evil insect aliens. It is a scenario that flatters child readers of young-adult science fiction but is unlikely to convince their mothers who know how hopeless they are at everyday tasks, despite high Xbox scores.
In Ender's Game (Rialto), a worried Colonel Graff (Harrison Ford) has identified Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield) as a Caesar or Napoleon type: the perfect tool to finally knock out those aliens. Ender, while he agrees that he is the smartest kid in space camp, is worried about just how he is going to do it and make a few friends along the way.
Watching Ender work his way through the training process, outwitting bullies and forming strategic alliances keeps your attention without ever breaking loose from being a pint-sized version of any induction to the military movie you have ever seen with adults in the lead roles.
In a way, it is the Bugsy Malone aspect of it that is appealing: you may not buy the child commander premise, but they just look so darn cute in their little spacesuits.
Best thing: Ford as Colonel Graff injects some humour that this earnest film badly needs.
Worst thing: Sir Ben Kingsley's turn as a mystical Maori warrior with a cockney accent and full facial tattoo is just weird.
See it with: Anyone who daydreams about playing paintball in zero gravity.
