Based on the popular book, the prequel to the Hunger Games series is set during the 10^th annual Hunger Games with a young Coriolanus Snow who is mentor to District 12 Tribute Lucy Gray Baird. The film stars Tom Blyth, Rachel Zegler, Hunter Schafer, Josh Andres Rivera, Viola Davis, Peter Dinklage, Jason Schwartzman, and Fionnula Flanagan.

I thought the movie was good. I read the book and I read the original books. I enjoyed The Hunger Game books and enjoyed the movies when they came out. I think The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes has a great cast. Tom Blyth really shines as a young President Snow. The character is drastically different than the President Snow from the original movies played by Donald Sutherland. That is the point. Coriolanus Snow was a different person before the events of the original movies. Rachel Ziegler does a good job as Lucy Gray Baird. She has a good singing voice as well. Viola Davis was another standout as the sadistic Dr. Volumnia Gaul. It is a different role for Viola Davis compared to other things I have seen her in which include How To Get Away with Murder and her role as Amanda Waller in the DC movies.

There is a lot more music in this movie which makes sense given Lucy Gray is a singer. The songs she sings work well with the movie.

There are some references to the original movies but there are not too many. The movie stands well on its own and does not harp on the original movies too much.

The movie is different than the original movies which makes sense since the book is different than the original trilogy. That is not a bad thing, but it did feel a little too long at parts. Again, that would make sense as well since the book is substantially longer than the original books.

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is a solid movie with a solid cast. It’s a good prequel that gives a better look at the young man who becomes the villainous President Snow in the original movies.