Yep.
The movie aims as the above author stated, as a satire, which mostly misses the mark of Robert’s book.
Heinlein’s books, read in the order in which they were authored, shows an incredible range of evolution in the themes he was trying to play with. His fiction is rife with philosophy and investigations into the corners of human interaction.
Doesn’t mean everything he wrote was pure gold, but every bit of it was interesting for what it was...
Agree with you wholeheartedly. While I enjoyed the movie, it was a silly satire about fascist militarism and a war with a bug planet. — It is a fun visual movie. However, it is a movie which marginalizes some great philosophical ideas the author had on the preservation and protection of freedom-loving republics and the causes of their assorted downfalls.
I finally got around to reading the book fairly recently and it is a very prescient commentary on the self destruction of the various republics and Heinlein (USNA (1907?) graduate). The political/philosophical discussions during the protagonist’s education are very thought provoking. And, there is actually very little discussion of the bug planet.