"The Giver" Review Roundup: Despite a cast that includes powerhouse actors like Jeff Bridges and Meryl Streep, "The Giver" disappoints most film critics.

With the recent popularity of young adult dystopian novel film adaptations such as "Divergence" and "The Hunger Games," "The Giver" had a lot of excitement to live up to. Furthermore, the adaptation has the added pressure of being a long beloved literary novel that has graced middle school reading lists since its debut in 1993. With it's star-studded cast including Jeff Bridges and Award Winning actress Meryl Streep, hopes were high for the popular book's adaptation. Sadly, based on the reviews that are coming in on today's Friday release, 'The Giver" perhaps belongs in its original format and nowhere else.

Esteemed film critic Manohla Dargis of The New York Times says, "By the time the sounds of the Von Trapp children warbling "Silent Night" drift through "The Giver," you may find yourself wondering what fresh movie hell this is." 

Scott Foundas of "Variety" extends the disappointment by stating that, "'The Giver' reaches the screen in a version that captures the essence of Lowry's affecting allegory but little of its mythic pull - a recipe likely to disappoint fans while leaving others to wonder what all the fuss was about."

Additionally, the current Rotten Tomatoes rating of the film, a website the pools critics from across the U.S., has the film currently rated at 29% rotten with an average rating of 5.2 out of 10 stars..  

Finally, although some might argue that a decent amount of diehard fans of the novel might still make an appearance at the theaters this weekend, even BoxOffice Mojo predicts that the top film will still be "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles". They only predict "The Giver" to rake in just under $20 million over the weekend.

It would seem that part of the problem is that "The Giver" comes too late: both in terms of being released after many other teenage dystopian films, and also the late summer blockbuster release. Nevertheless, despite early critic disappointment, perhaps the film can still somewhat hope to rely on its star-studded cast to draw in a decent crowd.