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Brenton Thwaites has just heard some hard truths from Jeff Bridges in 'The Giver'

(WEINSTEIN)

"The Giver" is a story about bad people who have tried to make things too good, who have tried to turn life comfortable and easy — and, in so doing, have drained away everything real, risky and pleasurable.

It is a lesson lost on its own filmmakers.

The original novel — an award-winning children's book by Lois Lowry — had as its hero a 12-year-old. The new movie makes him 18 — mostly, it seems, so it can add in a plausible romance, and tap into an older audience with bigger allowances.

Except that the very fact the hero of the book was 12 or so was what made it powerful — it really was about the loss of innocence. And that made it matter in a way that the Narnia books and "Ender's Game" did too, and the current crop of YA novels can't understand.

This wasn't an already disaffected teen struggling to survive. This was a child.

But there's no utopia like dystopia, and so a powerful book has been dusted off and tarted up so it can — its studio clearly hopes — spawn a sequel (or two) and grab some of the teenage fans who already flocked to the suspiciously similar "Divergent."

Don't bet on it.

"The Giver" comes from Australian director, Philip Noyce, an odd choice — apart from the occasional backdated drama about racism or repression ("Rabbit-Proof Fence," "The Quiet American," "Catch a Fire") most of his films have been pure popcorn explosions like "Salt."

Yet working with director of photography Ross Emery — another filmmaker from big loud genre pictures — the truth is, he's given this film a delicate look. That's important; a central conceit is that, along with feeling, these future citizens have given up color. They see everything in muted black-and-white.

It's not a very subtle metaphor, but the film makes good use of it — letting its hero notice flashes of blurry hues at first, then letting single shades appear in otherwise monochromatic scenes, and finally moving on to riotously saturated reds, blues and greens.

If only the rest of the film were so vibrant.

But the inexpressive Brenton Thwaites — already an inconsequential presence this year in "Oculus" and "Maleficent" — does nothing here to establish himself as someone worth watching, let alone caring about. His girlfriend, Odeya Rush, is equally bland.

True, there is a certain snarky humor in seeing Katie Holmes playing the unquestioning member of a gibberish-spouting, all-controlling cult. But Meryl Streep's part as the Old Evil Person is pure YA cliche - the bossy parent who's running (and ruining) your life — while Taylor Swift's bit part is there strictly to get her name on the poster.

And although Jeff Bridges clearly, fiercely believes in this material (he fought for years to get it produced) as the title character, the keeper of all human history, he does too little and talks too much (and seems to do even that with a mouthful of marbles).

Despite that calamitous switch in character age, the film is otherwise mostly faithful to the book. The set design is interesting, and when it's speeding along on pure imagery — the waterfall the characters sometimes hide behind, the hologram-driven public rituals, the explosion of filmclip memories — the movie has some life.

But in a too-crowded world of young-adult franchises, mostly it succeeds best at providing only what its villains so fervently desire — unsurprising, unrelenting sameness.

Ratings note: The film contains violence.

'The Giver' (R) Weinstein (98 min.)

Directed by Phillip Noyce. With Brenton Thwaites, Jeff Bridges, Meryl Streep. Now playing in New Jersey.

★ ★

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