"The Hunger Games" reviews: What critics are saying

Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen in "The Hunger Games."

/ Lionsgate

(CBS News) Reviews of "The Hunger Games" are in, and the odds seem to be in the film's favor.

Critics, overall, have been positive about the highly anticipated adaptation of Suzanne Collins' dystopian novel, praising both director/co-screenwriter Gary Ross and actress Jennifer Lawrence, who plays heroine Katniss Everdeen.

Pictures: "The Hunger Games" cast in NYC
Pictures: The world premiere
Who's who in "The Hunger Games"
"The Hunger Games" scores big with midnight debut

"Relax, you legions of Hunger Gamers. We have a winner," writes Rolling Stone critic Peter Travers. "The screen 'Hunger Games' radiates a hot, jumpy energy that's irresistible. It has epic spectacle, yearning romance, suspense that won't quit and a shining star in Jennifer Lawrence, who gives us a female warrior worth cheering."

Entertainment Weekly's Lisa Schwartzbaum gave the film an A-, writing, "This 'Hunger Games' is a muscular, honorable, unflinching translation of Collins' vision. It's brutal where it needs to be, particularly when children fight and bleed. It conveys both the miseries of the oppressed, represented by the poorly fed and clothed citizens of Panem's 12 suffering districts, and the rotted values of the oppressors, evident in the gaudy decadence of those who live in the Capitol. Best of all, the movie effectively showcases the allure of the story's remarkable, kick-ass 16-year-old heroine, Katniss Everdeen."

"'The Hunger Games' runs nearly two and a half hours in length but is the rare film that never drags and doesn't overstay its welcome," said the Associated Press' Christy Lemire. "It could keep running as long as Katniss does, and we'd want to be right there every heart-pounding step of the way."

Others wondered if the film - rated PG-13, despite the violent events depicted in the novel - went far enough.

David Edelstein of New York magazine writes, "Watching 'The Hunger Games,' I was struck both by how slickly Ross hit his marks and how many opportunities he was missing to take the film to the next level - to make it more shocking, lyrical, crazy, daring."

"It's also clear that the need for a PG-13 rating dictated moderation; a film accurately depicting the events of the book would certainly carry an R," said Todd McCarthy, of the Hollywood Reporter. "That said, 'Hunger Games' has such a strong narrative structure, built-in forward movement and compelling central character that it can't go far wrong."

Ross, writes Manohla Dargis, of the New York Times, "has a way of smoothing even modestly irregular edges. Katniss, who for years has bagged game to keep her family from starving, was created for rough stuff -- for beating the odds and the state, for hunting squirrel and people both -- far rougher than Mr. Ross often seems comfortable with, perhaps because of disposition, inclination or some behind-the-scenes executive mandate."

Tell us: Do you plan to see "The Hunger Games"?

28 Photos

"The Hunger Games" cast takes NYC

[drrealitycheck]

Fantastic movie, inferior reader reviews. That sums it up.

[vozofawoman]

This movie was awful! With all of the hype I thought this was going to be a blockbuster but it turned out to be a HUGE snoozer! Don't waste your money folks.

[moviesuno1]

Please save your money. Walked out 2/3's through the film. You've got to be kidding!!!!!

[cbcollectively]

The movie left much to be desired. It dropped the immediate threats of the Capital and even the heaviness in each of the districts because of the government control. I am interested in seeing how the second film will pan out since everything the second movie should be based on was left out of the first movie. I wrote about this in my blog, too: http://www.christinacollectively.blogspot.com/2012/03/hunger-games-one-subject-two-mediums.html

[andrew11299]

To: Jim01234567890 What a load of crap, comparing this to the classis Lord of the Flies. Clearly you have not read it. The only thing crappier than your misguided comment is this movie. Read Lord of the Flies, if you know how....

[dylan555555]

I read the book and finished just days before the movie came out, and I was highly disappointed. I went to see it again, thinking it would be a little better the second time, and i was even more disappointed because I saw everything I didn't see the first time. They did talk about District 13 but very briefly, in the video the showed before the reaping. If you didn't read the book then you probably thought that this movie was brilliant and amazing. I think in the movie they should have gone more in depth and said what Katniss was thinking, because that is pretty much how the book is, Katniss narrating the story.

[rider1956]

read the cliff notes about this first book and am not fond about seeing a movie about state oppression and the butchering of teenagers for a reality show.

just make a movie about Columbine or the Ohio shooting and be done with it. that's reality

[RichZubaty]

What schlock hype. What a dull stupid movie. They had to promote the bejesus out of it to make all its money in its first week because it is such abysmal garbage.

[katnis]

I have read thousands of books and have seen many of them become ovies and have always tried to keep an open mind. The work by Suzanne Collins in The Hunger Games was in my opinion a very well writen set of books,so naturaly when they put it into a movie I was excited only to find myself let down and wondered how Suzanne Collins could allow such a butchery of her work and found she would of been better off having teens write the script as they would have a better understanding then who wrote the movie script and still angered that i spent that money for a ticket wont be going to see the next one and shame on suzanne for the scam to her followers

[exhaledhippo]

not a bad review, the film was good and it had its moments but after seeing it and thinking about it. The movie was missing something, aside from the close fighting scenes where you couldn't tell what was going on, it just seemed like there was something missing. Check out my full review at http://thistrailersucks.com/ tell me what you think.