My opinion on this movie is a giant mixed bag. One side of me thinks it got some humor I enjoyed, had a hidden charm to its joyfulness, and did some risks by making it much more cheerful than the book. The other side of me thinks its a giant disappointment, made changes that was for the worse, and didn't feel like what made the book so special. For example, Alex was a little emotionless (like Alan in the book) and Jack, while American, was some Japanese fanatic. The biggest flaw, however, was definitely the terrible choices that made the movie much worse than the book. The best example was the scene in the book where Alex was chased by guys in motorcycles, which was so memorable. That wasn't even IN THE MOVIE. Another great example was the scene where Nadia Vole pretended to help Alex, betraying him by making him walk into a trap (which was my favorite scene in the book). The trap was till there, but not the betrayal that highlighted the fish tank scene. In the end, I found it an OK movie at best. Still, it was very disappointing.

Growing up in the late nineties and early two-thousands, I noticed how popular fantasy and junior secret-agent movies were with young children. It seemed everywhere kids were playing with action figures, wearing apparel from the latest adventure movie, or quoting and impersonating their favorite movie hero. Such films of my generation that were quick, run-of-the-mill fads were the two Agent Cody Banks, the Spy Kids trilogy, and maybe throw in The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl for good measure, to keep with the fantasy-adventure theme. These films couldn't have mattered less to me - I was too busy watching TV I wasn't supposed to be watching and getting films from my uncle that were far too thematically mature for my age.However, as I grew up, my curiosity to the strange and relatively broad array of junior actioneers from my childhood had surfaced and I began watching these types of films every now and then. The only action film from my childhood that seems to have held up is Spy Kids. Both Agent Cody Banks films are hopelessly ordinary action-fare with not much more than a few cool gadgets and the occasionally watchable action sequence. Alex Rider: Stormbreaker, the first in the planned-series of Anthony Horowitz novel adaptations, however, is about as ordinary and as forgettable as a teenage action film can be. It's named after the first book in the Alex Rider action/mystery series by Horowitz, all of which were once planned to have a film counterpart. After Stormbreaker's disappointing numbers at the box office, the sequel and all other films were scrapped, leading to an upset Horowitz and a practically stillborn franchise.Stormbreaker, as it's simply called in everywhere but America, isn't a bad film by the usual standards, but plagued by indifference, monotony, and the usual spy-movie offerings with a younger hero who may as well be a special effect. Alex Rider is played by Alex Pettyfer, a fourteen year old boy who is ejected from his typical life to avenge his uncle's death against the ruthless computer hacker Darrius Sayle (Mickey Rourke), whose most evil attribute is possessing the ability to talk in a rigid voice and chew on a toothpick simultaneously. The "Stormbreaker" in the title is a powerful super-computer which will be placed in every school in America and, after being launched by the Prime Minister, will have unknown consequences far from the planned ones, which is to provide people with smooth technology.The film has all the right components for the genre such as the love-interest, the helplessly ordinary teen boy, the cool gadgets (the Nintendo DS with interchangeable cartridges that will provide a different weapon is pretty damn slick), the ruthless villain who looks more frightening then he is, and the grand finale. When I say the "right" components, I mean the relatively predictable ones. Films like Stormbreaker are hard to make because everything the novel seemed to touch isn't unfamiliar to audiences. Even without reading the novel, I can see Anthony Horowitz had the pleasure of grabbing the pen for the adaptation of his film, showing the material doesn't stray too far from the book.The purpose of the Alex Rider books is to give kids some harmless escapism that, while fun, isn't really necessary reading. Like the Artemis Fowl series, it would seem these kinds of books are best left to the page. This way, even if the reading is light and rather formulaic, kids will have the ability to imagine the action in their heads and exercise their right to dream and envision things. Having a film based on books like these isn't really vital because they dilute that sort of imagination. When it comes down to this series, if one needed to choose, kids should be given the novel of Stormbreaker - not the DVD.Starring: Alex Pettyfer, Mickey Rourke, Alicia Silverstone, Bill Nighy, Sophie Okonedo, and Missi Pyle. Directed by: Geoffrey Sax.

I am actually astounded that this movie isn't in the bottom 100. Honestly, I never thought I would see a movie that wasn't on the bottom 100 that would make "The Happening" look good. But wow.If you enjoy seeing crappy movies that have good budgets, see this (especially if you've read the books).Seriously though here are the elements that make it bad. It is a spy thriller, these are typically a parody of themselves (bond etc..). First off, the movie overdoes the parody, and then overdoes that about 50 more times. I have read the first book, I am not obsessed with it and I can guarantee that if I had never read the book I would have felt the same way. In theory the movie did a good job if you see the movie, and then read the books and get similar pictures of the characters as you saw them in the movie. Well some characters were OK (Wolf) some were just off par a tad (Mr Blunt...?)Overall very little of it made any sense why it would happen. Half of the decisions made no sense either.I don't usually say movies are actually BAD. I usually spend ages pointing out all the flaws, but at the end of all of it say 'still worth 12 bucks'. You are wasting money if you watch this film, luckily I watched it on TV.

First let me say I need a lower rating for this film made available. Gouge my eyes out Awful! I have a couple of questions for the creators of this monstrosity. This is not directed at England in general, just the writers of this movie. Everyone knows England is the center of the universe already.Why waste money on developing a computer with a virus that kills people? why not just kill people?.. or maybe brainwash people. you know, something to validate the development of a new computer system. why was the kid afraid of the computer dinosaur? what kind of accents did the blonde chick and the red headed dude have? do the British always portray the French, Germans, Russians, Americans and people from everywhere other than england as the villains? Do they think everyone living outside of England think England is the center of the universe? why did random people not get sucked into the photo booth? Is there a guy there monitoring everyone who walks into the booth? Why would they want to stereotype themselves as ignorant white people and speak Japanese and mocking Japanese culture while eating sushi? why is there a jelly fish that does not exist in real life in the bad guy American's house? why put a smoke bomb in a Nintendo ds when you can just give the kid a real smoke bomb? it takes more time to find the cartridge and put it in the ds, start the ds and load the program than to just through a smoke bomb. why did the kid have to ride a horse when the car made it across the field in about the same time? Why would a millionaire American kid move to England with "the greatest school system in the world," and get made fun of for living in a trailer and smelling bad? Why would the producers of this film think anyone but Englanders would relate to this? how did they convince all those famous actors that this would be a good film to be in? why is the fail safe button for releasing the virus so hard for the bad guy American to get to? Answer me these questions and maybe I wont kill myself thinking of this movie.After watching this movie I feel the urge to develop a lethal virus that kills all the people who made this film. do not watch this movie unless you hate yourself or you are a 10 year Englander. Really never ever ever watch this film. Ever. Even if you are just curious.(note to self: submit the restrained review of this film, not the one that says really horrible things about this film)