The first and last half of the movie was solid. The middle was a little too make believe. A boy hates his living situation, runs to save his aunt from certain death, and the next scene is so smitten by love that his emotional connection built during the first half of the movie was severely weakened or erased. The entire middle of the movie felt disconnected and disappointing.

Fun & engaging

I loved the book so it was hard to watch the movie away so far away from the book’s story line at times. I thought it was funny and visually stunning, though. I wonder how people who haven’t read the book will take it- I felt like we were really thrown into the plot with very little character/oasis development. It worked for me but I have the book as background.

More for teenages, than adults