Movie Review: The Giver

The Giver

Release Date: August 15th 2014
Studio: Weinstein Company
Director: Phillip Noyce
Writers: Micheal Mitnick, Robert B. Weide, Lois Lowry (novel)
Main Cast: Jeff Bridges, Brenton Thwaites, Meryl Streep, Odeya Rush, Alexander Skarsgård, Katie Holmes, Cameron Monaghan, Taylor Swift, Emma Tremblay
MPAA Rating: PG – 13

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Storyline: The haunting story of THE GIVER centers on Jonas (Brenton Thwaites), a young man who lives in a seemingly ideal, if colorless, world of conformity and contentment. Yet as he begins to spend time with The Giver (Jeff Bridges), who is the sole keeper of all the community’s memories, Jonas quickly begins to discover the dark and deadly truths of his community’s secret past. With this newfound power of knowledge, he realizes that the stakes are higher than imagined – a matter of life and death for himself and those he loves most. At extreme odds, Jonas knows that he must escape their world to protect them all – a challenge that no one has ever succeeded at before. THE GIVER is based of Lois Lowry’s beloved young adult novel of the same name, which was the winner of the 1994 Newbery Medal and has sold over 10 millions copies worldwide.

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The Giver is a film that was due for our generation to be able to witness. If you read Lois Lowry’s novel years ago then you know exactly what I mean with the comment. The message that you walk away with after seeing The Giver leaves you feeling renewed and ready for a change. Our lives nowadays are busy with school, work and family that we forget to just admire what is around us and enjoy it. So we get careless or lazy. The Giver will inspire anyone that views the movie to look at the world around us again but with new eyes. Because even though this is a film that is based of a work of fiction, could mean that if we keep up the way we run our lives and planet, could lead us to becoming a society like you see in The Giver. I personally love seeing in color, imagine having that taken away from you.

I will admit I never got around to reading the novel first, so my review will solely be based off the film portion. With that being said I truly enjoyed every second of the film. It’s one of this year’s top movies for me. To be awestruck in your theater seating because the movie just captures your mind, heart and soul, not every movie can come close to claiming such a feat. I really encourage everyone, young, old, male or female to witness The Giver.

The story itself can carry the movie but what really takes the film to another level is the superb acting. Jeff Bridges (The Giver) & Brenton Thwaites (The Receiver) have fantastic chemistry together, they were meant to play their roles. The visual aspects of the film are beautiful, the way they went from the bland muted society in the present to slowly seeing the way the world was before as Jonas (Brenton Thwaites) receives his memories from The Reviewer was perfect. Honestly I didn’t see anything I can point my fingers at that I didn’t like, enjoy or agree with. The whole cast was brilliant, kudos to the casting department. They really nailed that on the head. They cast made the movie come alive.

Thank you to Allied and Weinstein Company for inviting me to see The Giver in advance. I can’t wait to see it again with my boys. The Giver is in theater right now, so make a date with the movies to see The Giver.