“The Giver”, by Lois Lowry, was released in 1993 and quickly became an instant classic. As we all know, Hollywood almost always tries to make a movie version of every great book out there. On Aug. 15, “The Giver” came out in theaters throughout North America. This time, Hollywood managed to put together a solid remake of the book.

The film, starring Jeff Bridges as the Giver, Meryl Streep as The Chief Elder, and Brenton Thwaites as Jonas, earned $4.7 million dollars on opening day and finished 5th place on opening weekend. Its place on the box office sums up the quality of the movie. It was good, but had room for improvement.

The film started out in a unique manner. Having the first half hour or so of the movie displayed in entirely black and white was more of a pleasant surprise and showed a fresh way to stay true to the book. The viewer saw glimpses of color, just as Jonas did, as the movie progressed. When Jonas began to see everything in color, so did the audience.

This adaptation of the award winning novel stayed pretty true to its predecessor. It added some minor details here and there that were necessary to further the plot, but overall it stuck close to the original concepts. The futuristic feel of this utopia was enhanced in the film thanks to graphic design and special effects. One of the effects that was quite stunning was the birds eye view over the metropolis. It looked so real and gave the spectator a good idea of how the society was set up. The screenplay, such as the final chase scene where Jonas is being hunted down, was also good; to go with the cutting-edge atmosphere of the surroundings.

Overall, “The Giver” was a riveting movie that emulated the novel well. There were certain areas that could have been improved on, such as minor plot holes, but the good outweighs the bad. It brought back the magic of the book and kept the viewer thoroughly engaged from beginning to end.