It only takes a peek at Amazon's current top 100 titles list to understand that the literary world of popular fiction is taking on a familiar pattern; there is a plethora of authors churning out franchises, with many of them specifically targeted at the young adult market.

The hope, clearly, is to attempt the same kind of magic that JK Rowling created with her Harry Potter series, and the phenomenal success that came with it.

The problem is that the majority of these writers are merely opportunists, delivering sub par stories and characters in a desperate attempt to make a large amount of cash fast. This means that the market is therefore saturated with an alarming amount of fictional dross.

It's encouraging to see however, that something like Suzanne Collins' thought-provoking Hunger Games trilogy could prove to be such an incredible literary success.

Of course when this happens, Hollywood always sits up, takes notes then buys the rights – and not always necessarily in that order. What's even more encouraging though, is that director Gary Ross (Pleasantville, Seabiscuit) has produced a film that not only fans of the book should be chuffed with, but one that can also be appreciated by audiences of all ages.

The people of Panem are gearing up for the 74th Annual Hunger Games. This televised event was implemented as a way of preventing further rebellious outbursts from the population of its many districts.

It's a big hit amongst the wealthy residents of its Capitol (you can tell they've got money as they can afford to dress up as their favourite Quality Street sweets), but not so from the younger members of the twelve districts. This is because one boy and one girl are chosen at random, during an event known as the Reaping, from each district to take part in the games. And out of the 24 who take part, there can only be one winner.

For the victor, the prize is life; all that awaits the rest of the contestants is a grizzly death.

Sixteen year old Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) was lucky enough not to be chosen to represent her district during the Reaping, but her twelve year old sister was less lucky. However, Katniss makes the unusual decision to volunteer to take her sister's place in the games. Along with Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), they are accompanied by Effie (Elizabeth Banks) and their drunken mentor Haymitch (Woody Harrelson) to the Capitol to prepare them for the deadly games ahead.

Oh God, this is bad. Please tell me we don't have to watch any more of these Twilight films.

Considering that the last teen book-to-film sensation mainly resorted to a female lead pouting over a werewolf and a vampire for four films, it's refreshing to see that Lawrence's Katniss is a stronger, all-round female lead. Although there's a love interest or two for her, there's little time for any lovely dovey stuff when she's got a bunch of terrified youths baying for her blood.

It was also a brave move to make the film a considerably darker experience; its 15 rating means that it can handle more mature themes, and although it's not exactly a gorefest, there's no hiding from the fact that a large number of youngsters meet their maker along the way. The film would have obviously made more money trying to make the film work for a 12 rating cut, so it's nice to see the filmmakers had showed some integrity towards the source material, as well as its fans.

It may have strong echoes of Fukasaku's 2000 classic Battle Royale (which in itself is supposedly getting the now obligatory US remake treatment), yet Ross does just enough with the material to make it stand on its own two feet. For example, the perfect balance between the rich, high tech world of Capitol and the threats that come by way of nature and the use of basic weapons like knives and bows during the games itself.

Lawrence, on the surface, looks like she's doing very little; the truth is that she manages to juggle the physical side that the role demands with ease, whilst imbuing her character with interesting ethical and moral issues, as well as relationship dilemmas, along the way.

The film also manages to impress by feeling self-contained, despite the fact that sequels are guaranteed to follow. Unlike many teen franchises, it has a solid beginning, middle and end, which means that you're unlikely to feel short-changed by the film's end. The only worry for subsequent entries in the series however, is that there's a possibility that they could simply clone this film a number of times.

Once you get over the relief that this doesn't go down the dull Twilight road, it allows you to appreciate all the more the things that The Hunger Games gets right. It's a film that can be appreciated on more than one level – with its underlying social political observations on reality TV, wars fought by children etc – as well as merely as a piece of highly enjoyable entertainment.

The Hunger Games feels like it has an old head on young shoulders, that manages to thrill and provide food for thought at the same time. It's an unusual combo, particularly in these days of lite entertainment, but just goes to show that there's a real appetite for more substantial material that can be appreciated by young and old.

Let's just hope that the Brazilian Olympic committee don't get any ideas of implementing a version for 2016 after watching it. Then again...