Customer Ratings & Reviews

Jonas lives in a seemingly idyllic world of conformity and contentment. When he begins to spend time with The Giver, an old man who is the sole keeper of the community's memories, Jonas discovers the dangerous truths of his community's secret past. Armed with the power of knowledge, Jonas realizes that he must escape from their world to protect himself and those he loves -- a challenge no one has ever completed successfully.

Incredible combo on this movie! You get the Blu Ray, the DVD and the digital version - all for one low price! The film is very good. Love Ms. Streep as the "baddie"! LOL Fascinating Bonus material - especially about the film was made after languishing for several decades.

Retaining the uniqueness and magic from the pages of a book is sometimes a difficult task for a director to accomplish. There have been great successes in this feat, however, very few ever truly give the book the justice it deserved. Part of that reason is what artists and critics alike like to call, "artistic license"- the right to make any changes they want to a story or piece of art when given permission to do so. Even the universal success of the original Jurassic Park movie is criticized because the book had so much more. At several hundred pages, it would be difficult to capture every detail. People criticize the Twilight saga and Harry Potter films for changing a characters purpose, or gender, or leaving them out entirely, or adding new characters that never appeared in the books if but for a few lines. Did that happen in this rendition of the timeless classic, The Giver? Honestly, I don't remember. The book itself is quite small, yet there are countless critical writings about it in literature. It was one of those stories that broke the social norm, and gave people something to talk about. And because it was written for younger audiences, yet had adult like themes, it was a great way for young kids to branch out into deeper, more thoughtful stories. I read the book long ago, but what I remember of it, I can promise, it was all in this movie. Was it worth seeing in the theaters? Not exactly. Did it have great actors? yes. Is the story well delivered? Yes. Are the special effects a good representation of our times? Not exactly, but the sets were different and strange, in a good way. All in all, my concluding statement is, if you read the book, watch the movie. Its fun. Then go read the book again. See for yourself.

I have not read the book, but I have seen the play (and will see it again in a couple of weeks). The movie-makers could do a lot more than a stage-bound production can offer, but seem to have gotten lost in the wilderness once the protagonist makes his break from orthodoxy. The film is fine until the last fifteen minutes, when they trimmed out some “journey” and left me wondering just where this guy was going. The deleted scenes feature helps to fill this gap - it should have been left in. But the bottom line is that he traverses a lot more territory than his map indicated he would he seeing - I’d be interested to know how the book treated this segment. As a story, it’s engaging (until that last quarter-hour) and thought-provoking.

I've read all four books in The Giver Quartet (yes, there is more than one) and have loved every single one of them. I was a bit nervous to find out that there was going to be a movie, so many movie adaptions fall short, but not this one. This one was everything a fan of the book could possibly hope for plus some. In the bonus features there is an interview with Louis Lowry and even she has said that the movie was everything she could hope for, so you know that it is going to be good.

The basis of this movie is finding the lost "human feelings" from a robot like community. A secluded community, governed by Streep trying to hold on to the state of "No human Feelings" while Jeff Bridges is trying to find a Giver that can re-establish the state where human feelings such as Love exists. This is a good philosophical movie and worthwhile to watch several times to really understand the underline story.

This movie is quite interesting. One word of advice, do not adjust your television color when you first start the movie. It is SUPPOSE to be black and white. I had to do a factory reset on the television half way through the movie to get my colors back... You have been warned! Overall... a very good movie, but would recommend you get the details in a good afternoon's worth of reading.

I am a big fan of the book series, but have been disappointed in many book adaptations in the past. I entered with low expectations and it was a decent movie. As aa reader of the series, I did appreciate many of the golden eggs throughout. This is more a review of the content than the actual dvd itself. It reached my expectations as far as dvd quality, but I expect nothing less from best buy.

awesome movie. a movie about society not knowing anything such as color or discrimination and foul language. however, you will notice that life is dull and boring without things such as color. the humans need to change their flaws. great movie about someone growing up in their teens that discovers this hidden truth that a futuristic society tried to remove with medication.

A great book based screenplay. I have been waiting for this great release. Fully satisfied with the Blu Ray quality. DVD would not suffice to experience the graphics and action the director used to share his vision. A definitely one for the collection for the whole family. Very pleased with the movie after all the hype built up prior to its release.

If you like sci-fi and futuristic movies.. you will like this one. We do.. and enjoyed it a lot. Not 'the best' movie we have seen ever, but it gets your attention. There is some level of mystery that is also enjoyable. Finally it gets you to ponder about the future of humanity and where we will end...

Is this as good as the book it's based on? Not really, some things were changed or deleted. If I never read the book[s], would I enjoy it? Probably. Read the book first or watch the movie first? It doesn't really matter...but please do both...I think you might like both despite their differences.

This movie raises a lot of questions as to whether or not human nature is inherently good or inherently evil while providing lots of action and adventure along the way. The contrast from black and white to color was well done to show what everyone was missing out on.

The Giver is a family favorite, so we were all excited to see the movie version at last. While it strayed from the book a fair bit, it felt true to the tone and themes of the story and was an enjoyable movie even for those who have never read the book.

Hold somewhat true to the book. Very good acting, and interesting story. What would life be with out color, choice, joy, pain? The Giver is asking some serious societal questions while remaining very entertaining. Looking forward to the next installment.

This movie took me back to my childhood. I watched it for the first time in theaters and bought it immediately when I saw it on the shelf. I read the book years ago and the film lived up to my expectations of what I thought it'd be.

You will have to suspend your disbelief and tell yourself that emotion can indeed be stripped from a human being by something as simple as a needle injection. If you can believe this, then this movie is for you.

We purchased for our daughter after she read the whole series. She was disappointed and said it was nothing like the book. I have not read the book or seen the movie, so this is just on a 13 yr old's perspective.

I remember reading the book as a child and loved it. I had no idea they made a movie until I stumbled across it while aimlessly browsing best buy... Needless to say the movie was awesome and brought back memories of my younger days

I went to see this movie with my fiance because she had read the book and wanted to see it in theaters. This movie was surprisingly good. I wasn't expecting much since it was a film made after a book, but it exceeded my expectations.