So. The Hunger Games Movie.

I FINALLY saw The Hunger Games movie after much much anticipation and excitement. Like, no, you guys don't get just HOW excited I was for this movie. When the Lionsgate gates opened, I started pawing my friend's shoulder and going "OH MY GOD IT'S STARTING. OH MY GOD. OH MY GOD. HERE IT COMES. I AM GOING TO DIE. DIIIIIIIIEE. I CANNOT HANDLE IT," and I was all slouched in my seat and panicking and my legs felt jittery. Then I sat still for 2 and a half hours analyzing every aspect of the film.

Am I the only one that didn't find it to be amazing?

Look, I get that they cannot include everything from the book. They made a valiant effort though. I mean, I did say two and a half hours, didn't I? There were just some major flaws that kept me from loving it.

I'll start with the good (you're about to arrive on spoiler island, so be prepared):

• Jennifer Lawrence was the PERFECT Katniss.
• Cinna, Effie, Caesar, Thresh, Rue, Peeta, Gale, and everyone else was also fantastic.
• The scenery! It was gorgeous and totally brought the setting to life in a way I didn't know possible.
• District 12 and the entire reaping scene!
• The District 11 scene!
• The game-maker scenes!
• The President Snow scenes!
• THE BEARD.
• Gale getting extra screen time! (This may confuse some people, as I publicly HATE Gale. But nearly every time they showed Gale, he was watching the games and was in pain. I LOVE WATCHING GALE IN PAIN. ((Also the actor was hot so.)
• "THAT IS MAHOGANY."

Now, for the bad:

• There was NO DEVELOPMENT. No character development, and all of the relationships save for Katniss and Prim's seemed rushed and fake. (Peeta and Katniss, and Katniss and Rue, mostly. Like, I did not even tear up at Rue's death, guys.)
• Katniss never seemed to open up to Peeta in the cave scene. It was all Peeta.
• The train scene? WHERE WAS MY HEART-BREAKING MOMENT? WTF?
• The muttations were not nearly as scary as I'd imagined them to be. (Nor did they have the other tribute's eyes)
• Thresh's scene was super important to me, as you get to see his wall come down and get to know him much better--even if it is only a second. This was not done right at all.
• There was no couch in the final interview,
• That scene where Katniss was playing with her wall in the room? 45 seconds of screen time that could've been used for development. When she was hunting the deer? Another 45 seconds. Haymitch trying to get Katniss sponsors? MORE SECONDS. You get the idea.
• I felt like if you'd never read the book (which you should, by the way), the movie left far many too questions.
• Katniss and Peeta's first costumes just seemed kinda lame to me.

So for me the movie was not bad, and I REALLY enjoyed parts of it, but because of a lack of development I was never nearly as invested in the movie as I should've been. I'm definitely in the minority here, though. Anyways, I'm dying to know: what were YOUR thoughts on the movie?