As good as the book? Not even close but then again the book is an absolute ten out of ten classic. That the movie stays so close to, and does so well to replicate the book is it's strength... and weakness.
Fans of the book will be happy that despite much truncation (especially Battle School) the heart of the first two thirds of the story stays faithful to the ideals of the text. In a word, "leadership". And even none readers will enjoy the journey of a young boy from "boot camp" to "Napoleon".
It's the back third and it's dense morality dilemma hidden behind all the action and CGI that is the true pivot of the story. And this dictates the end of the film (and not a setup for a sequel as so many reviewers seem to think). And this too can be summed up by a single word but one I must leave out... spoilers.
And this ending will probably loose two thirds of non-book readers in truth. The video-mind-game-link-in is there but given the condensed nature of movie time-lines feels a little under explained and very deux machina. And the hero, to periah, to hero epitaph is there but so quick and perfunctory as to be lost in translation. Faithful to the book yes but not well executed (and to be fair, I'm not sure if there is any way to do this well on film).
Over all a brilliant adaption, and an almost brilliant film. True to the spirit and intent of the novel and despite leaving non-readers a little confused with the end, entertaining for all.
And by the by, I selected the words "hero epitaph" with care as the books sequel is called Speaker For The Dead. And that should give non-book-readers some idea of the ending Orson Scott Card was aiming for with Ender's Game.
8 /10
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