The Giver

In a placid future community, a young man (Brenton Thwaites) is selected to be the next Receiver of Memories, but as his training under the present Receiver (Jeff Bridges) advances, he begins to see that his society isn't perfect at all—in fact, it's oppressive and (on the screen, literally) colorless. Directed by Philip Noyce and adapted by Michael Mitnick and Robert B. Weide from Lois Lowry's award-winning novel, the movie is most charitably described as Aldous Huxley for children. Ross Emery's cinematography, a blend of color and monochrome, lends an intriguing look, but the fuzzy plot demands a suspension of disbelief that only a child can make. Perhaps it worked better on the page with an 11-year-old hero than with the 24-playing-17 Thwaites. Meryl Streep co-stars as the society's unctuous tyrant.