I remember reading this book in 7th grade and being so incredibly confused as to what was going on and what the heck was being “given” by The Giver. The only scene I remember reading was about a boy stealing a baby and giving it a memory of heat so that it wouldn’t be cold in the winter. Why the boy stole the baby? No idea. How the baby was receiving a heat memory? No clue. Why that one scene stuck out to me? Because it was super strange! Thank goodness they made this into a movie because Lord knows I’m not reading this book again, and the movie did make sense for the most part. Yay for Jeff Bridges.

Now there’s a few things I really liked and then a few things I didn’t. I shall start with the positives because if I start with the negatives you might not watch it, and I do believe it’s worth at least one viewing.

Pros:

1. Jeff Bridges and Meryl Streep are in it which basically means it can’t be horrible.
2. The actor that plays Jonas, the main character, is supposed to be a 17 years old in the film. Luckily he is 28 in real life, so ladies, it’s not weird to OGLE. And he is ogle-material FO SHO.
3. The people in this world that has been created in this film/book can only see in black and white and they have no memory of history or feeling or love or pain. However, the more that Jonas starts to be “given” memories and emotions from “the Giver” his view of the world changes. I especially liked the day he was given the color “red” then when he biked home he only saw things that were red but everything else stayed black and white. It seemed like a hard thing to edit, so props to That Guy that had to figure out what was red in the film.
4. It has a happy ending. Not a lot of movies these days have that ya know. So I appreciate a movie with a straight up happy ending, no plot twist at the end, no “just missed it by a second” tragedies, and no accidental bystander death. Just a good old fashioned Disney princess happy ending.

Cons:

1. The acting was a bit dramatic. Which I know sounds like an oxymoron, but the day that Jonas was given the memory “war”, he was crying and wanted to quit his “receiving” job. Now I’m not saying that war is not worth crying over, it most definitely is, however the scene that Jonas was given to show “war” was him hiding next to a friend and then the friend being shot and then Jonas being confused and sad. It was definitely not the opening scene of “Saving Private Ryan” which DEFINITELY should have had him in tears. Instead, he saw one person get shot and then hid in the bushes. In my opinion, Jonas should have also gotten injured so that he would also feel pain and loss and THEN that would have justified his reaction for sure. Again, I think he was a bit over-dramatic at times. And over-dramatic male characters are my least favorite.
2. Taylor Swift does a cameo in this movie and she’s TERRIBLE.
3. The world that is set up in this film is basically like Divergent except way less exciting. The same “brainwash” concept is present in both worlds, but Divergent is just so much cooler with their factions and color-coordinated outfit and super attractive adults! I literally didn’t see a single 20-30 year old in “The Giver” and I was extremely disappointed. You were either 17 or Katie Holmes.
4. Jonas’ friends were SUPER annoying. He had one girl friend, Fiona, and one guy friend, Asher. Fiona was fine because she just played the damsel in distress, but Asher was infuriating! He got jealous by seeing Jonas touch Fiona’s hand for like one second, and he got super pissed when Jonas tried to ride his bike after curfew, which by the way, Asher was out after curfew as well – WHY ARE YOU ARGUING. Asher was also really excited about his job, which was flying a drone aka the job where you sit at a desk and fly an object around a black and white town. Could your job BE less exciting? (said like Chandler Bing). Freaking Asher.

Popcorn Rating: 3 popped corns and 2 kernels

Overall this movie makes you feel good and has an interesting story line especially if you haven’t seen “Divergent”. Actually, if you have seen “Divergent”, don’t watch this because it’ll just disappoint, but if you haven’t seen “Divergent” definitely watch “The Giver” first! You’ll love it.

Sincerely

PFP