'The Giver' disappoints: film adaptation of young adult novel simplistic, unsatisfying

Based on the popular novel by Lois Lowry, "The Giver" (2014) hit theaters as one of the summer's final dramas. As the box office figures show, however, it proved an anticlimactic end to the season. Lowry's story received the 1994 Newbery Medal and has been lauded as a provocative young adult book — the type that conveys large ideas elegantly and clearly so that both children and adults can engage with them. Today's college students will no doubt remember the novel as a well-loved staple of their middle school English curriculums. Unfortunately, this retelling — which also targets a youthful audience — fails to transform into anything beyond a run-of-the-mill children's film.

The story itself provides an interesting twist on the familiar dystopian tale. Centuries into the future, Jonas (Brenton Thwaites) lives peacefully with his family and friends in a colorless community established on principles of conformity. Everything seems pleasant until the day that Jonas is assigned to take over as the new Receiver of Memory from a man known only as The Giver (Jeff Bridges). As Jonas acquires knowledge of the world as it was before the rules of "Sameness" were imposed, he begins to discover the ugly secrets hidden in his seemingly perfect society. Jonas, plagued by these mysteries, sets out to improve his world at the risk of losing the people he loves most in the face of the power and dissatisfaction of the Chief Elder, played by Meryl Streep.

Perhaps "The Giver" is disappointing because it follows in the formulaic footsteps of so many dystopian-future films released in the last few years — "The Hunger Games" series (2012) and Divergent (2014) being the most notable. (The film included numerous action scenes that were not present in the novel, helping to ensure an unflattering comparison to "The Hunger Games" series.) The film's political statements critiquing totalitarian government and touting the freedom of choice, while certainly still cogent, are at this point clichéd. True, "The Giver" succeeds in generating a good deal of suspense and a sense of urgency for its purpose — thankfully without another teenage love triangle — but loses much of its philosophical significance amid all the added excitement. One can't help but wonder if, after all these years, Hollywood chose to bring "The Giver" to the big screen because of its artistic merits or, more likely, because it happened to fit a popular and growing genre.

Nevertheless, "The Giver" excels with top-notch cinematography and visual effects. To avoid the risk of colors posing any accentuating differences, the people of Jonas' world have been stripped of all memory and live in a drab and colorless environment; therefore, the film begins in simple black and white tones. It is only after he experiences memories in vivid hues that Jonas, and with him the audience, begins to see the full color spectrum in his own surroundings. After 15 minutes of cheerless black and white scenes, the first splash of color is the breathtaking memory of a red sunset. This visual manipulation invites viewers to fully appreciate how empty a black and white world would be.

The movie, likewise, uses blurring and pixelating effects to convey memories of fear and beauty in surprisingly effective ways. One particularly touching memory montage draws on images of current events and heroes, such as the late Nelson Mandela, to show the meaning of courage and to remind the audience of the value of diverse cultures and practices.

The film's biggest faults lie in its unimaginative script and somewhat lazy character portraits. Thwaites, in his leading role, and Odeya Rush, who portrays Jonas' love-interest, Fiona, do a reasonably good job in their respective roles despite their occasionally corny lines. Not surprisingly, however, more seasoned co-stars, Bridges and Streep, are able to depict much more interesting characters — a great testament to their skill as actors, since the script leaves them as little more than simple archetypes. In particular, Bridges shines as Jonas' wise and caring, if somewhat gruff, mentor — a Dumbledore-like figure who shows Jonas the true value of love and deep emotion. The saddest failures concerning character development involve Asher (Cameron Monaghan), Jonas' best friend, and Rosemary (Taylor Swift), the disgraced former Receiver of Memory-in-training. Monaghan likely did the very best he could with a role completely eviscerated of all its interesting attributes — the novel, unlike the film, paints Asher as the trite comic relief insert. Additionally, if the filmmakers had grand hopes for Taylor Swift's acting skills, she failed to meet expectations. Her character remains flat and almost superfluous to the storyline. "The Giver" is a good pick for moviegoers looking for light entertainment or searching for a film that caters to kids. Almost everyone else will be better off reading the book. Note: those familiar with the novel's haunting conclusion should be prepared for a slightly different ending. Perhaps most disheartening of all, while "The Giver" had a chance to be very meaningful and thought-provoking, it isn't. As the Oscar season approaches once more, audiences will have to look to other films that take the time to say something new.