"The Giver" But What Am I To Receive?

The Trailer:

Director: Phillip Noyce
Cast: Brenton Thwaites, Jeff Bridges, Meryl Streep, Odeya Rush, Alexander Skarsgård, & Katie Holmes

Synopsis: In a dystopian community that knows no pain or war or inequality, Jonas (Brenton Thwaites) is chosen as the next Receiver whom will gain the memories of true pain and much more about the world.

I read the Giver about a year ago and enjoyed it quite a bit. It's a dystopian novel, but still feels very contemporary and relevant. The book's author, Lois Lowry, is a minimalist in her writing style, so that left a lot of room for creative freedom on the screenwriters part, which worked in some instances and bombed in others. The atmosphere and setting the movie creates is one of interest and wonder: It's futuristic without feeling too distant that we can't relate to it. All the actors did a phenomenal job with the characters they portrayed—given that the book doesn't give much character development for the secondary characters—, especially Jeff Bridges as the Giver and Meryl Streep as the Chief Elder. Brenton Thwaites also did a fabulous job as Jonas, the quiet, polite and curious boy who is to be the new Receiver. All the memory sharing scenes, I really enjoyed as well. The memories meshed well with the rest of the movie even though their tones were much different from the monotonous tone of the rest of the movie. They were colorful, wondrous, and alluring, and also disheartening and sometimes chilling, especially for Jonas who had never experienced any kind of emotional elevation or depreciation in his entire life. Now, these are examples of what I liked that the screenwriters added to the story or, rather, built upon the original content of the book.

(Spoilers Ahead)
Now for the liberties I didn't like. I didn't especially like that the characters ages were bumped up. I understand that this was done so there could be romantic interest among Fiona and Jonas, but I didn't feel it was necessary and took away from the innocence of how Jonas experiences everything. I also wasn't fond of how the Chief Elder is now a villainous person, whereas in the book she is hardly ever mentioned. This change leads to a very "intense" ending with a chase and punishment for those who helped Jonas escape. Speaking of people who helped Jonas, Fiona and Asher both assist Jonas in his grand escape, when in the book they didn't know anything about it. Also, the fact that Jonas hastily decides to leave the community in order to save baby Gabe is a new addition; in the book Jonas carefully plans his escape. Additionally, what I really would have liked to see in the movie is how when the Giver gives a memory to Jonas, the Giver loses the memory. In the movie it is implied that the Giver still retains the memories even after giving it to Jonas. And now for the biggest let down: the ending! The ending becomes too Hollywood in the movie. I mean, now there is this great chase scene, and the "worry" that Jonas won't be able to cross the Boundary of Memory in time to save Fiona, and the fact that Asher actively defies the Chief Elder by not "losing" Jonas. These are all tacked on the movie to give it a more suspenseful ending, but I felt it cheapened the very ambiguous, imaginative ending that the book has to offer. In the book, we don't know what happens to the community as Jonas crosses the Boundary of Memory—which, now in the movie is a physical boundary whereas in the book it is more metaphorical—, we're not even really sure what happens to Jonas. And that's what I loved about the book, it left room for wondering and speculation among the readers and the movie's ending was simply to definite.

While I enjoyed the movie for the most part, I wasn't particularly impressed by it and more so frustrated at the changes that were made. Would I watch it again? Yeah, probably, but it's not one of my favorites.