Jonas’s world, which he navigates with his best friends, Fiona (the stunning Israeli actress Odeya Rush) and Asher (Cameron Monaghan), is one in which all conflict, hatred and distinction has been erased by cultural values of conformity and obedience. As “The Giver” begins, Jonas and his contemporaries are about to find out what jobs they’ve been assigned by the chief Elder, played by Meryl Streep in a long gray wig that recalls Holly Hunter’s blunt-spoken separatist leader in the series “Top of the Lake.” It turns out that Jonas — who, unlike his friends and family, is able to see color — has been chosen to be a Receiver of Memory, meaning that he will soon learn all that happened before the world became the reassuringly predictable and consistent bubble in which he grew up. Brenton Thwaites and Odeya Rush exist in a conformist society in ‘The Giver.’ (David Bloomer) Jeff Bridges and Taylor Swift in ‘The Giver’ (David Bloomer) Katie Holmes and Alexander Skarsgard in ‘The Giver’ (David Bloomer) Jeff Bridges mentors Brenton Thwaites in ‘The Giver.’ (twc) 
 
 The Giver shares with Jonas memories of snow and rainbows, of dissent and bravery, of cruelty and war and love. “Precision of language!” Jonas’s mother scolds him when he shares his feelings one night over dinner.
– Excited to head back to your school reading days with the new flick The Giver? You may not be after reading what the critics have to say. Despite big names like Meryl Streep and Jeff Bridges, the film adaptation of Lois Lowry's classic 1993 novel has just a 29% approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. Here's why: "Another week, another movie about a special adolescent who saves society from the forces of darkness," writes Liam Lacey at the Globe and Mail. The Giver is too much of "the same old, same old" in which "Lowry’s serious but simplified ideas get reduced to a barrage of visual kitsch." "The Giver was ahead of its time as a book. But as a movie, it’s too late," writes Joe Neumaier at the New York Daily News. He's one of several critics to note the similarity to recent flicks like The Hunger Games and Divergent. He acknowledges, however, "young audiences may become aware of touchstones" like Nelson Mandela or Tiananmen Square "that they might normally have tuned out." Oh, and Taylor Swift appears in "an unnecessary cameo." "The cast is good" and there are strong scenes when the Giver, played by Bridges, passes his knowledge on to Receiver Jonas, played by Brenton Thwaites. But the movie "just falls flat, in almost every way. It exists and not much else," writes Bill Goodykoontz at the Arizona Republic. "It's all too predictable, and way too heavy-handed." Ann Hornaday at the Washington Post apparently didn't get the memo. Lowry's novel "comes to life," she writes. It's "handsomely directed" with "an appealing, sure-footed cast," including strong performances from Alexander Skarsgard and Katie Holmes, who play Jonas' parents. Overall, it "perceptively caters to its teenaged fans' own cardinal desires and anxieties," she writes.