Yes, I realize that it took me a while to read the book and now to finally see the movie. I have... "issues" with movies based on books because some directors take a bit too much creative license. For example, the Lord of the Rings trilogy changes so many plot elements that I sometimes felt as though I was watching an entirely different story by the third movie. But I must admit, "The Hunger Games" surprised me. While the movie doesn't have all of the knowledge you get in the book by hearing Katniss' thoughts, all of the basic and important scenes, characters, and dialogue made the transition from book to the screen smoothly, leaving me feeling as though the book-verse and movie-verse were in harmony for this particular story. If you've read other reviews, you know that the acting, special effects, costumes, music, ... are excellent. But I want to stress that for the length of the movie, I didn't see Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson o