Rated PG-13. In Theaters March 23rd, 2012.
There are many types of games: Board games, role-playing games, card games, children’s games, drinking games, game shows, wild game… and the cruelest game of all: Jayceon Terrell Taylor.
No one wants to play unless Dad is watched carefully by an impartial observer.
In this gritty remake of Little House on the Prairie, the Ingalls (now called the Everdeens) are in for a tough time. The year is 2022 and the world has gone to hell. Food is scarce. The children of the 12 Prairie Districts are gathered in a stadium, where a drag queen chooses who will represent their Prairie in The Hunger Games (hey, a title!). Laura Ingalls Katniss Everdeen, portrayed by Jennifer Lawrence, steps up after her sister is chosen and volunteers herself instead to take part in the Games. Fortunately, she has been trained by a blind Cherokee warrior in the art of archery. She is primped and pampered before being stuck in the woods with 24 other Prairie Child Warriors, who must kill one another in true Highlander style. Because there can be only one. And that one’s Prairie District is rewarded with 24 tons of mutton.
Also, there is 100% more Nazi propaganda in the movie compared to the television show.
I give the film’s creative team credit for their edgy re-imagining of a beloved television program. All-in-all, the material is quite true to its source, though I don’t remember as many flying vehicles or brightly colored characters in the TV show. But I didn’t see every episode. The actors are quite convincing as children. And most of them look hungry. I think they could get some early Oscar buzz for Best Famished Actors in a Non-Documentary.
Yep, that’s the picture of starvation right there.
A cursory Google search returns a book with a very similar title, so hopefully there’s no legal issues with this film’s release.
If you’re feeling nostalgic for the Michael Landon series, you should probably see if Highway to Heaven is playing on Netflix. If you like brooding teenagers running wild in the woods and killing one another in a Lord of the Flies kind of way, then you should definitely give this movie a try.
I give this movie Three Broken Trailer Hitches and A Spare Tire, although it’s just one of those ‘donut’ tires – not the full size ones.
The Fourth Wall, Broken: This is a review of the entire movie based solely on the trailer and my imagination. Any spoilers are unlikely and coincidental.