“Ender’s Game” is Minor Outer Space Drama

imageFor most of its duration, Gavin Hood’s outer space saga Ender’s Game (C-) is like supervising a bunch of kids at a Laser Tag park; it’s a whole lot more fun for the little ones. In a future when children such as the protagonist played by stoic Asa Butterfield are subjected to war game simulations as a test for battles against alien races, Harrison Ford and Viola Davis are talent scouts for a major war on the horizon. Lots of seen-that-before basic training activity ensues but with kids and with subpar effects within uninspired sets that look like discarded EPCOT pavilions. There were honestly some better flight effects in Hocus Pocus. This battle hymn of the pre-pubescent only gets good in the last 15 minutes or so when some moral weight is added to the proceedings. None of the actors gets to shine, and there are loose plotlines aplenty in what feels like the latest franchise that’s likely not spawning a sequel since Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins or Catwoman.